Secret Islay 2014 10 Year Old Black Friday 2024 Edition

Secret Islay 2014 10 Year Old – Black Friday (Master of Malt) is a heavily peated single-cask Islay single malt Scotch whisky, distilled at an undisclosed Islay distillery in January 2014 and bottled by Master of Malt in March 2024 after 10 years of maturation. The identity of the distillery has deliberately not been disclosed, so it should be marketed as Secret Islay, rather than attributed to a particular producer.

Matured for the full 10 years in a single Oloroso sherry butt, the whisky was bottled at natural cask strength of 57.4% ABV, with natural colour and without chill filtration. The single butt yielded only 711 bottles, making this a genuinely limited Black Friday release.

The combination of Oloroso sherry and powerful Islay peat delivers an intense profile of sticky caramel, dark chocolate, jammy fruit and dried fruit alongside earthy ash, pepper, charred oak and dense bonfire smoke. Its undisclosed distillery provenance adds another point of interest for collectors of independent and mystery Islay bottlings.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Sweet peat smoke with salted caramel, honeyed brioche and grilled peach, developing hickory smoke, strawberry sweetness, earthy oak and smoky black tea.

Palate: Dense toffee and powerful peat with cracked black pepper, dark berries and dried fruit, followed by dark chocolate, rosemary, robust oak and earthy ash.

Finish: Long and intensely smoky with meaty malt, charred fruit, burnt custard, wood smoke and lingering peppery peat.