Taster

Nose: Toffee, bitter chocolate and toasted nuts, with late salt and pepper.

Palate: Toffeeish, then toasty. The distracting richness of these flavours introduces a shock of contrast when the seaweed and pepper suddenly burst through.

Finish: Powerful salt and pepper.

Comment: Not for Talisker purists, but a highly distinctive interplay of whisky and sherry.

Score: 7.5

Taster

Nose: A much sweeter aroma than the standard 10 Years Old, with the peat playing a much more liberated role with less spiciness. Soft sherry with a suet/sultana pudding heaviness to the malt.

Palate: Big, rumbling peat, first crisp and hard, then much, much softer. Again the mouthwatering grape keeps the spiciness to a minimum.

Finish: Peat and cocoa combine and the sweet/dry ratio remains in perfect balance throughout. Really big malt, this time free of the peat with the vanilla topping it all off.

Comment: Wonderful whisky: a rare case where sherry cask doesn't spoil but merely offers a variation on a theme. No peat-lover should miss this one. But don't expect the usual explosiveness.

Score: 7.5