Nose: Lots of friendly sweet malt aromas, honey, apples, notes of fruitcake and spice and a hint of oak. Palate: Rich caramel/honey sweetness and a full mouthfeel. As it develops you taste over-ripe oranges, raisins, dark chocolate, warm spices (cinnamon, allspice and a little ginger) and caramel. It’s a rounded and highly approachable palate but not particularly complex. There is development but not a great deal of progression. Finish: Medium. Cereal and malt with honey overtones. A consistently high quality and impeccably well crafted malt that is very easy to approach and has a universally acceptable profile. The only thing you could accuse it of is being safe and unexciting, but many folks would argue that that's just another way to say subtle and genteel. It's an excellent whisky for the beginner who is starting come to grips with scotch malts and is ready for a classy age statement dram that does not rely on intense peat, fruit or sherry to make its statement (there is hidden fruit that only emerges with a drop of water, which I'd recommend for this whisky. It seems to need it to properly unfurl). It's hard to decide whether it’s a really good 3-star or just makes it to 4 stars, but in the end I went for 3.75. It's very reasonably priced for an 18 year old Speysider and has rock-solid year-to-year consistency of quality. "Good" : 84/100 (3.75 stars)