Nose: Sherry, malt, raisins, tablet (a fudge-like Scottish sweet), toasted cereal, roasted nuts, a little orange zest and a smidge of vanilla. Crisp, clean oak cask. It has a full-bodied richness of aroma but no intrusive sulphur. Adding water brings out orange juice notes and slightly mutes the nose, but it's good either neat or watered. Palate: Sweet but firm arrival with stewed dark fruits, toffee, lots of malt extract, dark chocolate and espresso. Like the nose it has a fresh, crisp presentation. At first you think it will be a stereotypical “Christmas cake” sherried malt but suddenly the development jack-knifes and is overturned by a peppery explosion. The texture is good but not heavy. A dash of water tames the spices just a bit, reveals a little more complexity in the late development and adds a creamy quality to the mouthfeel. Finish: Medium. Sherried fruits sitting on a wave of pepper, chilli and hot ginger that slowly fades into a malty, dark fruit aftertaste. Adding water leaves the aftertaste a fraction sweeter. A good blended malt and an excellent example of just how good such blends can be. This is an exemplar of great sherry maturation and combination. Apparently (according to the Douglas Laing site) it contains Macallan, Mortlach and Glenrothes (among other sherried malts) and frankly I’d rather have it than the introductory versions of any of those named brands. Well, OK – maybe not the new Mortlach 12 - that's pretty nice. The bottle has the words “Small Batch Release” on the label but don’t think this is just meaningless marketing speak. This genuinely is a batch product and although the quality has been consistently high across the years the profile has drifted and recent batches have been spicier than it was on introduction. This tasting was from a bottle with the code “L 02 02 18 / Batch 15” (2018) that I bought in early 2020 and it is definitely one of the spicy ones. It responds very well to gentle dilution. A half teaspoon of water does not spoil anything but mutes the spiciness just a fraction, makes it a little more cohesive and lengthens the finish. A dash of water also immediately brings out a beautiful haze – this absolutely has not been chill-filtered, and I’d say it has only had very light barrier filtration. Bravo. This is a recommended dram for neat or diluted sipping, or for mixing where the spicy notes will work excellently against sweet flavours. Regular retail in Australia is $110 which is very reasonable. My bottle was $85 about a year ago on special and a bargain at the price - I should have bought several. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 rock-solid stars)