Nose: A wonderfully intense array of sherry notes, but it has a great youthfulness to it, and it offers up huge notes of pear, cantaloupe melon liqueur and apple peel. After a time in the glass rancio notes develop, and it reminds us in many ways of a very good, old cognac, but with considerably more depth. Come back to the nose and you’ll be greeted with mouthwatering suggestions of seaside saltiness.
Palate: Very fresh, especially considering its age. Great ‘Farclas notes of calves’ leather and overripe grape, with a big hit of tomato stems (not what we first came up with, but for legal reasons it’ll have to do), and wood varnish.
Finish: That mustiness you associate with stonkingly good sherry casked whisky, but it arrives later on in this one, with a surge of leather-bound books on mahogany shelves and touches of pepper and brandy butter.
Overall: A superb example of a very old whisky retaining an astonishing level of youth and vibrancy, whilst exhibiting a tremendously complex, utterly distinctive flavour.