Nose: Fresh, crisp fruity and cereal aromas. Delightfully spritzy and clean with a light citrus top-note. Fresh, sweet grassy hay-like tones along with definite apple and pear, a little banana and a dash of salted vanilla. The more you nose it the more you notice the deeper aromas of sweet malt. Palate: Sweet and fruity cereal arrival, just like the first notes on the nose. A subtle development at first, mainly showing some deeper and very mildly spiced honeyed tones, but this quickly evolves a crisp, bright, almost fizzy note that is a combination of ginger spice and citrus. There's some orange, sweet pineapple and the texture is silken and very pleasing. There is a mild mineral salt taste throughout that is exquisite. Adding a dash of water tones down the bright spices and develops more sweetness. Finish: Medium/short. Crystal clear cereal sugars and malt slide into the sweet aftertaste. This is the first time I can recall tasting Aultmore, and I understand it was unavailable as an original bottling for a long time. What a crime! It's a lovely, fresh, and beautifully clean whisky. There is an elusive note that is almost but not quite like smoke. When I first nosed it (straight from the bottle, ahem) I thought it might be lightly peated. It's not, but there is some sort of earthy presence lurking in the background. However the predominant characteristic is its almost clinically clean profile centered on sweet, light, fruity malt combined with very brisk lemon and ginger. There is a facet to this that is very much like a high quality blend (I believe this is a component of Dewer's blends) and another that is reminiscent of light, estery malts in general. It's not a million miles away from Arran, and a little like Linkwood as well, but it lacks the deeper sweet notes of either. I really liked it. It's not a huge or complex whisky and sherry-bomb fans should probably stay away, but I could happily choose this as a go-to dram. It also ticks all the right boxes - good proof, no colour added, not chill-filtered. Well done. As an introductory whisky for novices it beats Glenfiddich 12 and all the other usual choices hands down, although some palates will definitely prefer it slightly watered. It's a delightful dram and I'm finding it hard to resist giving it 4 stars. Given the very reasonable price this is highly recommended. "Good" : 84/100 (3.75 stars)