Nose: Sherry, light oak, some mild dried pear and honey/apple notes. A little malt, caramel fudge and nutty aromas. It's well constructed, quite big and robust. As it opens a warm, deep floral note comes forward. [The dry glass aroma is heather honey and traces of charcoal]. Palate: A rounded and mostly sweet malty arrival with a little dry tannin at the sides. The development mainly brings sherry and diverse sugary notes but they are on an umami foundation, which is unusual. It gives the palate texture and prevents it from being sickly-sweet. With some time in the glass a honey note emerges. Finish: Medium/short. A sherry aftertaste lingers with a hint of mild coffee. It's years since I last tasted Cragganmore but it's still very much as I remembered - a competent single malt with a classic (almost iconic) Speyside sherry profile that is just slightly on the dry side. It's balanced, pleasantly fragrant and rounded but is certainly not a sherry-bomb. There is nothing difficult or off-putting about it, but you could also say it lacks that spark of challenge that makes a single malt really interesting. There is a strong resemblance between this whisky and that of most Johnnie Walker expressions, which suggests that Diagio uses it as a major component in their blends (you get the same impression to some degree from a lot of the Flora & Fauna releases, but here in this Classic Malt release it is very strong). The official profile summary here is "fruity & tart", but personally I'd say "fruity and softly dry". I also didn't detect smoke on the palate, other than maybe a faint leathery-ash note, and I don't remember ever particularly associating smoke with this whisky. At least, it's not smoky like a Laphroaig is smoky - more like how a Glenfarclas is smoky. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)