I have no idea what I was doing in 1983 at the age of 6 years old but I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking about the casks that made this being laid down or even whiskey at all. I remember when I first started my Balblair journey. I really didn't understand what the fuss about or get that excited about some of its younger offerings but then I had the 1999 second release version and was really impressed. I had high expectations going in and this definitely met it. Beautiful caramel honey toffee and spicey wooded bitterness which surprisingly for once I really enjoyed as a married beautifully with the rest of the whiskey. A couple of drops of water and some time and the slight bitterness faded away and everything else came together flawlessly. I have a feeling if I worked my way through a bottle this would push past the score that I've awarded it and obtain perhaps a 4.5 for this as perhaps even the 1999 second release should have as a better reflection of their quality but I'll err on the conservative side.