Im not gonna go into the nose/ taste/ back end/ etc... because judging from these reviews, the taste is all over the place, so what one person tastes another might not. So I'll just tell you what I thought of it... I come from a limited history of scotch drinking But I know what I like! I prefer a smooth sherry cask with little to ZERO fire on the back end. The reason it took me so long to start drinking "whiskey" was because I thought it all tasted like Yukon Jack (like back in high school parties Haha). Thankfully I tried a triple distilled basic Jameson's that I quite liked. Damn that bottle for starting me on the journey of finding the best bottle. Luckily, shortly after, I tried a Kilbrins 10 year Oloroso cask whiskey. I LOVED IT! It was super basic but good! Shortly after that, I wanted to try something older, so I found a Glenfiddich 14 single malt. It was OK. It was a GIANT leap as far as complexity goes(compared to the Irish whiskey). It had that new band aide smell with a back end taste of the mermaids arm pit. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. Which brought me to the Glenfiddich 12yr Sherry cask on sale (as low as 21$ per bottle), so I bought a few. NOW THAT I LOVED! I still do. The only reason I'm not drinking it now is because I'm cheap and its not on sale. Which finally brings me t0 the actual review... I found the Grangestone sherry cask was on sale if I bought 3, which dropped the price to roughly 26$ each... First impression, good. Ther bottle and case is nice. Ther bottle is actually very thick and somewhat heavy. I don't mind tho but older drinkers with arthritis might have issues. The color of the alcohol is a nice mid/ dark cola. Second, the cork. As soon as I opened it, I could smell the good stuff! Smelled MUCH sweeter than the GF12yr sherry. I let it air out for a few hours but it didn't seem to change anything much. The GF12yr sherry needed to air out prior to drinking imho just fyi. Third, taste. I tried a straight shot, no ice, no water. I have to say its smoother than the GF(but also 40% compared to 43%). I didn't notice much of, if any at all, fiery alcohol taste either on ther front or back. It is SWEET tho! Very sweet, which I actually like but any sweeter I think would be too much. It does lack the heavy peet taste that most other scotches have. To me it drinks like a heavy Irish whiskey with a slight scotch flavor. I use it for mixing so im ok with it. Overall its great! It has everything I want in a sherry scotch but could be a little bolder? It could have more of that "scotch" flavor ya know? I deducted half a point for that... I can say that I didn't taste any "burnt" smells. No "rubbing alcohol" smells or taste . No saltines, etc... its your basic scotch/ whiskey finished in sherry casks. Nothing more, nothing less I use whiskey/ scotch in a "OC Manhattan". Orange County Manhattan. I added a lemon and a bit of maple syrup to a somewhat traditional Manhattan(master of mixes Manhattan mix). Recipe: In a shaker... 1 improved Mayer lemon squeezed or equivalent juice, 2Tbsp maple syrup, 4 count pour of your choice of whiskey/ scotch, top with a quick 2 count pour of the MoM Manhattan mix(more or less according to taste), shake for 15 to 20 seconds then pour over ice into a 11-12oz rocks glass, top with a few amaretto/amaro black cherries from Italy(trust me you'll never go back to traditional maraschino cherries after this). There you have a OC Manhattan (my family's from NY Brooklyn and I was the first born in OC SoCal after gramps brought family to the LBC docks after the Brooklyn yard closed). So I call it that for the added citrus Haha