Taster

Nose: Fruit cake with fresh orange peel, hazelnuts and walnuts. Releasing the serpent morphs those cake characters into biscuits instead – Garibaldis, to be precise.

Palate: A soft velvet mouthfeel with fruit cake flavours and sweet spice turns to dry, grainy white pepper with lemon peel and walnuts.

Finish: Chocolate caramel drops and chopped nuts with a slightly bitter tinge – walnuts and Brazil nuts, mainly.

Comment: Sugar and spice and all things nice, that’s what this Scottish dram is made of.

Score: 7.5

Taster

Nose: Dried grassiness, hay and dried tea. Floral in places, with green apples, clover flowers and mead. It takes time for the vanilla to show, bringing fresh peaches and lychees.

Palate: Viscous texture, though flavours aren’t forthcoming. A prickly maltiness – almost ash mixed in – leads into fizzy lemonade. Lime juice and mandarins, with the tart acidity of grapefruit juice.

Finish: Peppery. Brine in places, with grapefruit once again.

Comment: Not much wood influence at all to shape this one.

Score: 7.1