"Pure Scot" is Bladnoch's owners brand of blended whiskies. With beautiful, heavy bottles, they are trying to compete with some dinosaurs of the Blended Scotch Market. "Virgin oak 43" is one of their first expressions, the other two that i know are "signature blend" which i already reviewed and "Midnight Peat" which seems interesting. Lets get into business. Bottled at 43%abv, where it gets its name, this bottle has a burnished gold color. As soon as you uncork it you get this bourbonish aroma. On the nose, lots of american whiskey notes. Red chilli peppers, prunes and a bloody mary coctktail. Thick vanilla, Bbq sauce; hints of coconut. Feels a little young. Letting it breath will turn it to an exact cherry coca cola, not Dr. Pepper. Very grapy. It got a lot better. Thick very thick caramel. On the palate it is nice. Vanilla, new wood, wood polisher, prunes, chilli. Second sip was a toffee hard candy, spiciness has been tamed. Sour and bitter. A third sip was super sweet; all the sourness and bitternes appear if you hold it for 10 seconds. Toffee. Aftertaste is a little surprising and rewarding. Sawdust, hints of vanilla. Oaky, hints of tobacco. On the second sip it gave me something that i can only describe as "smoked almonds" (if such thing even exists), hints of milk chocolate. Overall, the virgin oak has left it a very bourbonish profile. If i were on a blind tasting event, i would have guessed this dram as an american whiskey. It is a solid, enjoyable dram, but intended to be drank by Johnnie Walker or Chivas drinkers. Not bad at all, i am actually going to work my way to the end of the bottle whenever i feel like having a normal dram, maybe in the beach. My score for it is 83 over 100.