Nose: light grain, maple syrup, liquid shoe polish, grass, pear, orange, soap Palate: grainy, honey, white wine Finish: dry, bitter, Chardonnay wine _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Last 16, Match 4: Ben Bracken Highland versus Isle of Skye 12yo Ben Bracken is the single malt brand of Lidl (one of Europe’s discount supermarket titans if you don’t know). There is also a Speyside and Islay version in this NAS range, and they sometimes release age stated versions. They never identify the source, however. This is young and unbalanced but that is not to say it does not have its merits. It wears a varied and pleasant perfume, but it is let down by a taste that is light & thin and hot & sharp. I will be generous and award a tie for its bouquet, but The Isle of Skye is better in all other classes. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. Faced with a large array of samples and miniatures I can suffer from analysis paralysis - deciding on a dram can often take twice as long as drinking it. I have selected sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness