The nose is right away full on sherry, light sulfur, no youth, px sherry, dark anise bread, musty, butterscotch, raisins, fresh leather, dry autumn leaves, xmas spices, spekulaas or clove and cinnamon, licorice and Tatin - french caramelized apple cake. The palate has good body, fairly dark and sirupy, sweet with notes of oxidised sherry, dates, raisins, also spices, woodspice, black pepper, ginger bread, fresh gingery, lightly herbal. The finish is fairly long (4/5) and oily, rounded with notes of dried apricot, blackberries, dark bread, quaility chocolate/cocoa beans, cashew nuts, pain au chocolat/sweet pastry and oaky bitterness. Overall I liked this bottle from first drop to last but it did not make me a Glendronach fanboy. The nose is intensely sherried with a good balance of PX and Oloroso notes, also spekulaas/xmas spices and my favourite note here, the Tatin - french caramelized apple cake note. The palate is fairly sirupy and it delivers even with 43%, at first sweet like dates and raisins and then the spices arrive with notes like black pepper, woodspice, fresh ginger and ginger bread. The finish has good length, it is oily and rounded with notes of dried apricot, blackberries and a lovely pain au chocolat note. Even though I haven’t became a fanboy, as i mentioned, but still, I would be happy to replace this bottle for a fair price. It is a good introduction to the style of a well sherried highland scotch. *this was still the non chill filtered version In comparison with: • GlenAllachie 12 - much darker and denser in smell and taste, more parfumy, quite different • Glenrothes 12 - it has more like a loud seasoned cask style of sherry in here, also more vanilla, nuts and sulfur but less body and less oily • Bunnahabhain 12 - it is very different but this comparison unlocked some notes here I haven’t had before. More nutty, funky, cheesy, minerality and a lovely tabacco/cigar note.