Taster

Nose: Leathery and a little distant smoke. Has a cherry pie and custard edge to it too. Then more cinder toffee and milk chocolate notes comes through. Blueberry muffins and cherry lozenges.

Palate: Lovely dark honey and black treacle sweetness to it. Plum pudding. Ginger cake and butter with a little dusting of salt. Chilli and almond dark chocolate.

Finish: Long and mouth puckering with black tea tannins and sticky sweetness.

Comment: Some dram! Balances wood and sweetness perfectly.

Score: 8.4

Taster

Nose: Dusty old books, with a faintly sherried note to it – ripe red berries. Almonds and marzipane.

Palate: Spiced up-front; ginger and cinnamon while cloves bring a little more bitterness to it. The heat from this is kept in check by a fruitiness of apricot pastries, topped with almonds and walnuts.

Finish: Oakier than might have been expected from the nose and palate. Middle-to-long length with the sweet notes still persisting.

Comment: Decent stuff, drags you in one direction, then another.

Score: 8