Taster

Nose: Perfumed and winey: lavender, peat smoke, red fruits, strawberry jam, rhubarb and custard sweeties. Water intensifies the perfume: sage, peat smoke, orange, drying seaweed, heather.

Palate: Mulled wine beside a peat fire. Hessian, clove, sour cherry.

Finish: A little hot. Sweet. Smoky.

Comment: Like sucking a wine gum in a kiln. A little too winey for me.

Score: 8.3

Taster

Nose: Soft, gentle, sooty smokiness.

Palate: Textured, lightly toffeeish. Fruity. Interplay of brown-sugar sweetness and tar-like dryness.

Finish: Peaty, leafy, reedy. A certain sandy grittiness.

Comment: Wood finishes are still fun and may recruit new enthusiasts for malt. Dawn, Dusk, Voyager...this is becoming confusing. Of those three (Port, Bordeaux and Port again), Dawn seems the lightest all-round.

Score: 8.3