Nose: Toffee, cappuccino, caramel, milk chocolate, leather, intensely berry-flavoured gummy sweets, stewed prunes, a little oak. Palate: Sweet arrival with red fruits that turns quickly dry - almost astringent - highlighting citrus fruit and hot spices. The development expands on this opening spice note with a burst of spicy, tannic heat (hot cinnamon, nutmeg, clove oil, black pepper). Then a sharply-defined second wave of development arrives with mild wood flavours, brown sugar, lots of berries, red fruits and nuts. The texture is full and heavy. Finish: Medium/short, and it stops very abruptly. An oaky stewed-fruit compote on the aftertaste. A curious whisky. Not unpleasant at all but - different. The structure seems somehow strange and there is a touch of sulphur which intrudes just a little on both the nose and palate. It's not a sherry-bomb and there's not a trace of smoke. If I had to give it a name I'd call it a "jammy leather bomb", if that makes sense. With water - well, just don't do it. Even a few drops kills it stone cold dead. No nose, barely any palate. It's incredibly fragile. This was tasted from a sample that I've had for a while, which was poured from one of the early 41% bottlings around 6 years ago when a friend bought a bottle. The sample was overfilled so there was no air bubble and the cap was as tight as a drum so I'm guessing it lasted well. It's certainly an interesting whisky but I feel no desire to find a bottle - however I would like to try a sample of a more recent bottling, particularly the CS tawny port expression. The price I've quoted for it was the price in 2013. "Above Average" : 81/100 (3 stars)