I decided to do a simple side-by-side tasting of two 12 year Highland single malt Tomatin: this sherry finished version alongside the French oak. The color is kind of light, but the nose is really promising: sweet fruit and honey with a nice whiff of the sherry cask coming through. I believe the bottle said it was aged on ex-bourbon barrels and finished for a short 6-9 months in unnamed Spanish sherry casks. On the palate it starts off very sweet but is quickly overtaken with oak- and lots of it. It washes away the sweetness a bit too quickly and finishes sort of harsh. It's a lengthy, yet hard finish. Boozy for only 86 proof. My initial impression is that it isn't offensive by any means, but it's suffering from a serious identity crisis: the nose leads you to believe this wants to be a poor man's Macallan (no offense), but the heavy oak burn and finish really keeps me from rating it higher. It's only $35 a bottle so in that aspect I guess it shines- a single malt that's cheap and readily available. I think if they had advertised it as ex-bourbon barrel and let the sherry be more of a pleasant surprise it would've worked better IMO. Cheers.