My girlfriend and I have been working our way through a bottle of Evolution that we were given at a BenRiach event earlier this year. (We were given one each, actually, though I imagine the other one will end up in a Dirty Santa gift exchange before the end of the year.) As free bottles go, it’s hard to complain. The nose belies the Tennessee casks that incubated the whisky, with rich and creamy notes of toffee and butter. The taste is spicy and creamy, with rich chocolate biscuits of the Bourbon genre and a streak of caramelized sugar. At its bottling strength of 50%, it’s best drunk in small sips to fully appreciate the concentrated flavors. Unfortunately the finish is disappointing: the alcohol overpowers the other flavor components, perhaps belying a youthful nature to this NAS spirit. Water harms more than it helps, tempering the finish but muddying the nose and palate. Evolution’s name suggests it’s a work in progress; let’s hope future batches improve under the intelligent design of master blender Rachel Barrie.