Taster

Nose: Mature and weighty. Dried fruits, crushed hazelnut, old apples, treacle toffee, honey cakes (baklava), walnut, tobacco pouch, polished oak.

Palate: Good weight. Treacle, dried fruits, walnut. Hints of resin balanced by appley fruit. Broadens as it goes.

Finish: This is is where it all happens. Highly complex.

Comment: Fascinating comparison with the Murray McDavid example. A different personality but equally good.

Score: 8.5

Taster

Nose: Apricot jam filling in a sponge sandwich. Madeira cake. Vanilla pod. Cinnamon. Spicy dryness.

Palate: Intense spiciness and fruit. Sherry trifle. Peaches marinated in whisky.

Finish: Sweetness rounded by drier flavours. Bitter chocolate. Peppermint creams. Restrained alcohol.

Comment: Very sherryish, but just enough of the Glenlivet's fruity-flowery character sings through. Beautifully judged.

Score: 8.5