Recently landed one of these...not an easy whisky to get here. Nose - I get liquorice , cherry cough drops, and christmas spices. Water tames the spices and brings out a bit of a custards, but the spices don't stay faded long and come back in force. taste - See the nose really. I'm getting perhaps some kind of christmas dessert or you know perhaps even a ginger breadhouse. Yeah the vanilla icing and ginger cookie, I can totally see that here. There's still some cherry cough drops, a bit medicinal for sure, and rye spice. Water might bring out a bit more vanilla and sweet upfront but really not significant adjustments. WOWED, not by whisky standards, but I must admit this was one I went in with low expectations on and I've been really impressed. I'm at a solid 3.0 here which might be among my highest rye scores, a spirit I like but rarely feel doesn't enough special to move into the higher scored ranges.I won't go back to this often, but it'll be a nice change of pace or perhaps a christmas dram.