Taster

Nose: Cheery, full summer fruit basket. ripe apricot, juicy peaches. Honeyed custard. Butterscotch. On the sweet side.

Palate: Soft and tender. Stewed fruit. Vanilla syrup. Spices gently emerge. Flavours lose their charm with water.

Finish: Soft and mellow with a nutty tinge.

Comment: A very pleasant summery dram. Quite fragile though. Water tends to wipe out flavours.

Score: 7.5

Taster

Nose: Rich and heavily spiced. Aromatic, exotic, some varnish, mint, Puy lentil, sweet polished oak. Good intensity.

Palate: More interesting to start: apple purée, flowers then the oak grips. Sappy.

Finish: Spiced, slightly tannic.

Comment: This is more about oak than the whisky. Seems forced: trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Score: 7.5