Tastes

Gentle meat and barbecued meats on the nose. Warming gingerbread and tangy dark orange marmalade on the palate. There’s some chilli pepper too on the finish.

Almond and nutty flavours to the fore with some cherry and dried fruit on the palate - raisins, cranberries and a hint of cocoa. M&S claim this is “reminiscent of Christmas cake, which makes it a perfect winter drink”. I’m not sure it’s perfect, but is palatable at £16 for a 50cl (pretty) bottle.

A bright honey gold with notes of orange blossom and honey sweetness on the nose. A light, fudgey palate with sea salt and a finish of vanilla and citrus fruits.

Pleasantly peated, lightly coloured. It’s honest about it’s youth and all the better for it.

Smoked sea salt and wisps of barbecue smoke on the nose. The palate begins clean and quite sweet - almost piney - then develops with liquorice and the characteristic peat smoke. It’s light, a telling character of many of the blends Caol Ila is used in, but builds with a little more spice - some cinnamon and allspice. The finish leaves behind those wisps of smoke, a pleasant seaweed and brine. A very drinkable peated Islay.

It’s fine. I know what this is - mass produced, ‘designer’ blend for celebrities and socialites. And it does the job, though it’s rather sweet. A dessert whisky, as I call them. Apparently it’s peated - some Caol Ila no doubt - but I can’t detect a trace. Crème brûlée and vanilla dominate a very smooth dram.

Very pleasantly peated young dram with a soft smokiness akin to kippers. The nose is grassy and sweet, with white pepper on the spicy palate. That spice lingers like when a peppercorn gets stuck in your teeth. That grassy-hay, farmyard sweetness returns on a short finish.

Nutty, almond on the nose. A little Seville orange marmalade. That returns on the palate too. Honey and something winey, with a fudgey-vanilla quality. Then white pepper on a lasting warm finish.

Sweet marzipan - no, it’s the rest of a Christmas cake too! - on the nose. Honey, too, once the glass is wet from the first sips. An intriguing sweet smoke - thats the juniper I suppose - lingers from first taste to the finish. Sweetness dominates from the Sherry casks. It’s dessert whisky! The more I drink, the better it gets.

(Not the bottling in this picture) It’s heavily coloured - this surely influences the sweet and burnt sugar flavours on offer. It is, however, a surprisingly competent dram for the price. Derived from Speyside and Highland malts (I’m not sure quite where the peat comes from), honey sweetness is balanced by a dark chocolate finish - somewhat like a Cadbury Crunchie.