Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire is a single malt from Atom Brands (the owners of Master of Malt and That Boutique-y Whisky Co). It comes from an undisclosed Islay distillery with 25% of the recipe taken from first-fill Oloroso sherry casks. I like the straightforward black-and-white label with a perfect sans-serif.
Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire 10 yo (40%, Atom Brands 2022)
Nose: seaweed and iodine indeed, with a bonfire on a beach and earthy peat. Charcoal and black pepper. All this is mellowed by generous toffee and red apple sweetness, salted peanuts and some medicinal herbs. Actually this is more complex than I expected.
Mouth: sweet peat. Now the sherry is more prominent. Peaches with burnt edges, hints of caramel sweets and vanilla pastry. Plum jam. Ashes and light chocolate. Overall rather modest peat. Never grabbing you by the throat, but a rather rich style nonetheless. Hints of aniseed later on.
Finish: medium length, on chocolate, honeyed cinnamon pastry and hints of dried seaweed. Warming smoke in the end.
While bottled at a low ABV, it offers the classic Islay markers in a nice way. Really affordable and offering a lot of ampersands for the money. Available from Master of Malt for instance. There is also a cask strength version if you prefer something a little stronger, or an 18 year old version. Some of them also add some Speyside whisky to the mix.