...chocolate that somehow was missing from the nose. As I bite into it thick chocolate and fudge ice-cream appears alongside liquorice, honey dew melon, dancing pears, prancing bears, jumping caramel, spinning plums, sweet coffee and a black forest gateau winking...
...mango and passionfruit sorbet, water melond drizzled with honey and lemonade garnished with mint and lime, a perfect dram to hit the spot a northern whisky seldom can...
...touches of wood polish here and there and a freshly mopped wooden floor (lemon scented as well). A little chemically, but the chemical smell of a freshly cleaned room. From there we head into melted chocolate complete with some dipping strawberries, light vanilla wafers, sauternes, apricots and peaches drizzled lightly with maple syrup. That grain whisky wants to release sugar here and there, with the maple syrup taking a turn with brown sugar...
...smoked spices; nutmeg and paprika. After that beautiful start we move into the realm of floral lavender and rose smoke, delicate peat and nuts before pralines and smoked sultanas, tossed in a frying pan with plenty of butter. I could on with a dram like this all day; orange peel, desiccated coconut...
...laughing demon made of sulphur and plastic, the burning of old garbage bags that have been left in the sun for too long. After a while, I got my nose around this beast, and found touches of sweet soil, mouldy, wet mushrooms, sickly sweet corn, a mashtun in the midst of being cleaned and as I thought I was past it all a baby was sick under my nose...
...wet grass and plums. Raisins, musty molasses, lemon and heated apricots make a pleasant drop as we dip into a steel vat of oranges and caramelised grapefruits. It all sits on a vanilla bed that stretches beneath the weight of the top notes as they slowly sink into it...
...reminiscent of a dry South Australian Cabernet, packed full of blackberries, raspberries, heavy cherries, plum tarts, Christmas cake and pear drops drizzled with honey. A firm base of toffee and butterscotch provides a brilliant bed for these fruits to jump off, before a scattering of spices fall down and calm the dram. The finish is long, with incense, balsa wood...
