N: Mashed orchard fruit and bubblegum. Tart cherries, white bread pudding, apple pie a la mode. There's a sort of cough syrup nature to it - possibly the ethanol. Might be some almond extract - something with a nut butter smoothness to it. Nose comes across a bit flat overall - it lacks roundness and fully developed notes, or note patterns. P: Light vanilla cream with a tangy mineral water quality to it. Some dark chocolate at the edges of the mouth. Sweet vegetal notes. Honey and tea with something vague grassy behind that. Possibly something just slightly fishy and salty - even if that doesn't seem to make sense for this dram geographically. Finish almost nothing - just a little flash of heat that eventually lingers a bit near the end of the pour. There's a touch of bitterness too. I suppose I can say that's paired with more of that dark chocolate from earlier, but that chocolate is far away and fades fast. About a month ago I reviewed the Game of Thrones Cardhu and thought (out loud) maybe the versions without the TV show marketing tie-in (and maybe an age statement) might be pretty solid... said I might grab one next time I saw it. Well, that day came pretty quick and I spotted this on a shelf on my next shopping run. Decided to follow through. This is probably half a step better than the GOT Cardhu, but it also cost nearly twice as much. So, on the whole, this is okay, and you do get that sense of the Johnnie Walker blended taste - especially early in the palate - but a bit boring and it's a VFM loser. I wouldn't do this again. And I probably won't shell out for older Cardhus either.