Nose: A light cereal/gristy nose with the emphasis on bready and floral notes. Nutty, mildly herbaceous and grassy with the lightest touch of lemon, pineapple and mint. A barely discernible ethanol aroma. As it opens it gains a little fullness and you can just make out some oak. Palate: A soft and smooth arrival featuring barley and other cereal flavours. Crisp and fresh. This carries on into the development which doesn't add much, apart from white grape juice and a little gingery/lemon spiciness. There is a very nice mouth-coating oiliness and a touch of honey in the late development. Finish: Short. Citrus and cereal flavours leading into a sweet but tart finale, like bittersweet lemon drops. Surprisingly enjoyable. It's a lightweight to be sure, but it isn't ashamed of itself and struts its cereal-centric personality with aplomb. In some ways I prefer it to the older brother 12 year old, which is very buttery and vanilla. Here you find an exuberant, youthful spirit begging to be appreciated for what it is. A dash of water makes the nose a little deeper but loses the cereal freshness. It muddies the palate and frankly spoils it, turning the lemon into sour lemon zest. I'd recommended taking this neat (however it does make a very nice highball and is a good mixer in general, the lemon/cereal personality balancing sweet soft drinks). At the price it is remarkably good value. In Australia it's $42 which makes it a competitor against the lower-middleweight blended whiskies, and it more than punches at its weight. No great classic, not a huge personality, but no real flaws either. In many ways it's comparable to Macallan Gold - less fully featured for sure, but also way less than half the price. A very acceptable budget sipping whisky for summer. "Average" : 78/100 (2.75 stars)