The nose entertained us with spicy oak, leather, pepper, polish and glue; considerable toffee and vanilla kept blossoming in the glass – followed eventually by dusty tobacco, cigar boxes and saunas. The flavours were dark and interesting – attractively bitter; hinting at dark chocolate, leather, singed orange zest, liquorice, tarragon and chipotle chillies. The reduced nose gave us sunshine on hay bales, barley fields and meadows, Old English spangles, oatmeal, raspberry and banana, with tutti frutti ice-cream and vanilla underlying everything. The taste became fruity, floral and perfumed but with nippy, earthy elements – full and complex. From the distillery next to Benriach.