Nose: Mild, soft and almost floral smoke. Leather, sweet malt, brine, earth, seaweed/iodine, menthol, eucalyptus, deep rich but subtle soft fruit (apricot, peach, over-ripe orange). If 24 carat gold had an aroma, it would be like this. A great nose. Palate: A spicy and smoky arrival with cracked black pepper and chili that is balanced in the development by sweet cereal and stone fruit flavours, a little vanilla, and a touch of oak. It’s an earthy palate overall, but there is sweetness as well. Finish: Long, with smoky and sweet/salt notes, like a very mild salt licorice. Some lime zest in the finale. A really good whisky that is very similar to the Kilkerran 12 year old expression but turns up the amplitude of everything throughout. Being younger, there is a slight prominence to its smoky nature and the fruity, honey and vanilla characteristics that it shares with the 12 year old are not quite as developed. Altogether this gives it a more exuberantly fresh profile, but even so there is an elegance and assurance about it. However it’s not what I’d call a soft presentation - you engage with this whisky on its terms, not yours. Bottling it at cask strength ups the ante further, adding considerable drive to the expression. For what is a fully bourbon cask matured whisky I detected only a little vanilla, so I guess refill casks were used. It’s certainly very spirit-driven. I enjoyed this very much, but on the whole I enjoy the 12 year old 46% expression even more. Others might prefer the strength and vigour of this cask-strength version, but for me the balance in the 12 year old is perfect and more engaging. Sampled at a Sydney whisky shop tasting, January 2018. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)