After the Bushmills Steamship Sherry and the Scallwag 13 yr (Aberlour i am picking) this sherried offering is a sharp step down. This starts sweet and not to bad on the top palate but then as scotchinghard noted green apple like notes, bittering finish. This is my 11th Tomatin variety and personally whilst most have been middle of the road fair this one ranks near bottom. Higher than their awful 'Five Virtues' offerings. This distillery is a bit like Glenrothes, by in large they don't seem to be able to achieve anything great but when a 3rd party independent bottler like Adelphi get their hands on the distillate man it can blow you away - 4.5 rating and one of the top drams out of around 120 I sampled at Dramfest. It really shows great spirit, poor tired overused casking used in their official bottling. I do have 1 official limited 2400 run European and North American oak bottling a 21 yr which was really nice. This blargh, there is a reason why it's one of the cheapest 18 year olds.