Dailuaine 16 Year Flora & Fauna

This has a pretty straight, malty taste to it. Not bad, but not special.

The review on here says something like: apricot and banana over a bed of wet flowers. That is accurate. If not for the malty, chewiness I would think this was a brandy. Finish like pipe tobacco and black pepper

Smell: Medium light intensity smell. Floral, minty, dark roast espresso, minor dark chocolate. On the second sniff, I get more almonds and dried fruits (raisins, figs and dates). Somewhat soapy. Taste: Follows the nose pretty well with a ton of dark chocolate and dark roast espresso. A ton more almonds and dried fruits than the smell. The mint and floral notes are still there but much more minor in here. Some candied oranges and light brown sugar. Finish: Finish is loaded with cacao, some oak tannins and pepper. Decent intensity and last decently long. Not particularly complex finish but still decent. Mouthfeel: Medium to light body and little to no oiliness. Quite disappointing but considering it's only 43 ABV and chill filtered, it was to be expected. Overall: They say this is aged 16 years in sherry casks but there is no doubt to me at all that those are refill recharred casks. There is a ton of roasted notes, so much so they almost come off as slightly smoky even though there isn't any peated malt in this. Not necessarily a bad thing but this whisky doesn't have the sherry bomb-ness and complexity I expected. At least it explains the super dark color. This is pretty good but has a couple of faults that cost it in the overall score. The light soapiness, low intensity smell, just okay finish and disappointing mouthfeel are all problems. But, at least, the taste is very good. Would have been much better at 50 ABV and no filtration.