Glenglassaugh tasting evening, Sydney, Feb 19th. Whisky #4 Nose: The good: Honeycake, current biscuits, strawberry shortcake, maple syrup, vanilla. The bad: Rubber galoshes, fusty amontillado, baby sick, nail varnish, gentian violet (!). Palate: A bold and full arrival with raisins, chocolate and salty caramel characteristics. As it developed there was a note of stewed fruits (apricots, peaches) and sticky date pudding. Water seemed to make the palate dryer (maybe uncovered tannin?). Finish: Medium/long. Dry fruity notes that fade out into a sweet aftertaste. One of the strangest malts I've tasted, and I'm convinced the sample we had was from a badly sulphured cask. The nose had much more dry sherry than PX influence, and the oak notes and sherry seemed to be in a personal feud instead of contributing to the spirit. Overall the nose was sharply funky and confronting - way beyond an interesting challenge. The palate fared much better and was somewhat Macallan-like, although bolder and darker. However I could not help but feel that the cask was a poor choice for the distillate - although as said above, maybe it was just this particular cask. The group was sharply divided on this expression - most found it delightful and it was their favourite of the core-range expressions we tasted on the night. However a handful (myself included) thought it was repulsive on the nose. I would rate it 3.5 except for these odd aromas, but as it is I can't see any reason to give it more than 2. I would, however, be very interested to try this again at some stage from a different batch. "Adequate" : 70/100 (2 stars)