Taster

Nose: Mature, with baked apple and orange mixed with a grainy fudge. With water, fruits leap to the fore and the sweet creaminess of evaporated milk.

Palate: A great balance between spirit and cask. Tinned fruit, watermelon and grass. Wonderful honeyed, syrupy sweetness.

Finish: Fresh, wet grass.

Comment: A classic all-round drinking malt in the Highland style. Good to see another bottling from this distillery.

Score: 8.8

Taster

Nose: Bready, freesia, hyacinth. Needs ages to open fully then a honeyed complexity, some semidried fruits, wax, tablet. Hint of herbs. Elegant.

Palate: Subtle. Spices lining up and giving it a zing. Excellent balance. This is in the space where wood and spirit are so integrated that the flavours have been taken into a new dimension.

Finish: Long, sweet, fizzing with energy.

Comment: An underrated distillery which, when on form, is up there with the best. More please!

Score: 9