Tastes

Appearance: Nice deep gold, good legs. Nose: Pretty powerful vanilla, something a little toasty but dominated by the vanilla, some soft fruit, maybe a little apricot. A touch of coconut too perhaps. Palate: A hell of a lot of vanilla, some nice fruity notes and a touch of honey. Quite a chewy finish, with a bit more alcohol on the swallow than I was expecting. There's a lingering nutty sweetness but the vanilla rules the roost here for me. Overall: Very nice Speyside, bit of a classic nowadays and rightly so. Very drinkable, nice and sweet. Vanilla is the over-riding character, bordering on being a little over the top for me personally, but the late fruity kick and the soft honey sweetness rounds it off nicely.

Appearance: Nice and pale, straw colour. Some real legs on the swirl. Nose: Burnt wood, bonfires definitely, but for me, more of a ultra-smokey BBQ. There's a little seaweed, some iodine, but not as much as Laphroaig. Doesn't quite have the chemical/TCP/antiseptic nose I get with some. Palate: For me, this whiskey truely blows you away on the swallow. Huge smokey character, a lot of peat, some seaweed. Like standing on the coast on a rainy day and taking a huge lungfull of air. There's a sharpness too, an intense mineraly character which is almost like licking rocks at the seaside. Finish is pure smoke, but really late. There's an ash like quality that lingers around for a while but is really quite pleasant. Overall: I'm not going to hide the fact I'm a huge Ardbeg fan and a big Islay whiskey drinker. For me, this is the king of whiskeys, my personal favourite, and one of the best single malts on the planet. So complex, so gorgeous. Deep woodsmoke flavours all wrapped up in a subtle well rounded and punchy drop, touches of seaweed, peat and iodine all add to the complexity. Sublime.

Appearance: Nice golden, pretty good legs on the swirl for a more moderate strengh drop. Nose: Some honey, some soft fruit. A bit sweet and just a touch of something caramel like. There's definitely some vanilla too. Palate: Quite loose, a punch of alcohol, some nice vanilla quality. Soft fruits again, a bit sweet for my personal taste, but some will love it. Overall: Not bad but I'm just not a huge 'sweet' whiskey fan. There's some lovely fruit flavours coming through, and even some sticky, caramel or toffee notes and it's miles ahead of a lot of regular stuff, but I'm an islay man to my bones!