Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…so good! Magnificent even! Tastes like 44 long years did this whisky well! Nose: Truly sublime! It is absolutely dripping with sherry! An old leather arm chair sitting in a humidor, leather, sweet tobacco (reminds me a bit of your old pipe tobacco in the Crown Royal bag in the filing cabinet), sweet cherries (maraschino maybe) strawberry jam, Fig Newton cookies, very nutty, sugar coated pecans, behind the oozing sherry, there are tropical notes, sugar coated dried mangoes, chocolate dipped pineapple, maybe a little coconut. So layered and complex! The moments come in waves. Palette: WOW! I should just stop there. The sherry is the first thing that hits your palette, and boy does it! Bags of sweet red fruit, more maraschino cherries, sweet strawberry jam, the palette delivers on what the nose promises. All the flavours on the nose come through and more! Sweet tobacco and leather in the best way complimenting the red fruits, a touch or cherry cough syrup in a good way, the nuts come through like Glosette peanuts and raisins together, then some of the tropical fruit comes in as the syrupy sherry settles, but still covered in chocolate, the chocolate follows the entire palette through. Finish: Long and satisfying, after the sweet notes swell, there is a dryness that creeps down your palette to provide contrast and a memorable culmination to the event. It brings more aged leather with it and some lingering oak notes, and some pencil shavings. The red notes linger as the palette dries and there is even maybe a hint of menthol that lingers with it, kind of like the flavour left on your palette after you finish a cherry halls lozenge. The memory of the waves of enjoyment seems to linger forever at the back and sides of your tongue. Overall: This dram is the single best scotch I have ever had, and if I didn’t know it was blended, I would never guess it. If there is grain, it is minor and I think that the blend is predominantly malt. The marriage in the sherry casks and the length of time it spent there truly showcases itself through the entirety of this stellar whisky. It is not a moment, but a long series of them, like waves crashing against a shoreline. Each wave brings something new and lingers at the same time with what was the previous one. The whisky explodes on your palette and even though it fades as everything does, it never ever leaves your palette completely. The memory of the joyous experience lasts a long, long time. My dram was gone 10 minutes ago as I write this and the soft memory of what was a most memorable experience still lingers. Truly a once in a lifetime experience!