Color: Medium Gold

Nose: Smells like peaches and peach-pit, marzipan, cedarwood and pine, honeydew melon. A drop of water tames the alcohol fumes, and releases a ghost of heather, clover, and mown grass.

Palate is heavy with vanilla and woodiness, complimented by a toothy mouthfeel. Flavors of freshly-baked sugar cookies, caramel, and marshmallow. The sherry oak presence steamrolls the usual house-style delicacy and notes of heather and farmstand honey, but the result is a solid, silky whisky that reminds me of bourbon. Interestingly, the sherry fruit flavors (which usually dominate a sherried whisky) are light and in the background, contributing only some dark plum, fruit pit, and peach flavors. A few drops of water brings out some floral accents without diminishing the powerhouse oak.

Finish is medium-long, relying heavily on the wood accent, some caramel apple, blackstrap rum, toasted clove or cinnamon, and red-wine tannins.

Not as easy-drinking as the Single-Barrel expression from The Balvenie, nor with as many fruit and flower notes. However, this Scotch stands on its own as a beautiful example of what quality Speyside whisky and careful oak aging can do, and with a fantastic price point. This gives oak-lovers a two-dimensional whisky with some unexpected twists, all on a pristine base of one of the best malts in Speyside.

93/100