Tastes

French vanilla, cinnamon stick, green apple, brown sugar, almonds and plained oak notes are laced throughout. This is an especially smooth single malt with a soft-as-a-pillow honeyed side. Too easy to drink!

A little heated to start, eventually flavours of walnut, apple, cinnamon and vanilla are revealed and make for a mellow, soothing fireside tipple. Iodine and peat are quietly woven in but do arise.

Pepper and peat lead the way in this lightly smoky, lightly salty 10 year version. Butterscotch and dried fruit flavours are concluded by lemony acidity and a teaspoon of honey. Classic Highland Park character but entry-level quality.

Though it spends 12 years in bourbon barrels it's that final 9 months in the sherry casks that really shine through, as oxidized, grape-y, golden raisin flavours override creamy vanilla notes. Gentle and pleasantly sweet, this is very approachable.

The nostrils get wider smelling all that ocean water, rubber and singed oil. For something so positively peaty and substantially smoky this is astonishingly approachable. Its popularity is warranted. Ironically there's no burn - florals, iodine and salt lend gentleness to the smoke.

Doesn't exactly hide its strength - or character. Smells almost sherried and has some burning medicinal cherry notes. Dried cherry on the palate too, in addition to a prominent cinnamon spice that almost tickles. Loads of vanilla custard. Pinch of brown sugar. The wood itself also transpires. Relaxing, I sank right into my seat.

I typically think of Laphroaig as the least polished of those big peated Islays but the Quarter Cask has surprisingly soft, sweet barley edges and subtle vanilla notes from the barrels. Mind you, it still has prominent iodine and rubber notes, an oily mouthfeel and smoky tar ripping through the aftertaste, just as you'd expect.

Not recommended for straightforward sipping. Actually, it doesn't taste like it was meant for it; flavours of simple syrup and ginger ale are predominant. Not even a pinch of spice. So dull!

The nose is corn flakes and other cereal grains. The palate is sweetish but otherwise fairly neutral; finishes with a good taste of peat smoke. Zero dimension. Should be a blending whiskey.

Such a sweet, cloying taste you'd swear it was ready mixed with cola. As if it's designed specifically for that. Such a superficial, candy-like vanilla flavour; completely, entirely empty.