Color dark gold (artificial coloring?), viscous, and clear (chill-filtered?). Nose is somewhat weak, sour, malty, with cereal, black pepper, and toffee notes. Palate is quite different, dominated by sweet character, with raisins, toffee, vanilla, pear, citrus, and oak notes. Finish is quite long, pleasant, with chocolate and more fruit character. A few drops of water don’t do much for this 40% ABV whisky. Character is weakened, but suddenly a hint of nuts appears on the finish. Overall, this is a nice and quite complex dram that is very much enjoyable. For $46 at Costco this is a definite keeper.