Colour: pure gold. Nose: more discreet but not too far from some old official 18yo’s. Starts on hints of perfumed talc, old roses and ham (a funny mixture isn’t it), cherry liqueur and apricot pie, all that being rather elegant and subtle, certainly not wham-bam. Hints of wet stones and metal (aluminium pan, coins), fresh herbs (chives) and dead leaves, with the sherry making a very late arrival (hints of sultanas and meat bouillon and then bigger notes of dill, wild carrots and fennel). Macallan is unrecognizable here, by me at least, but the whole is very elegant whisky. Mouth: smooth and spicy at the same time, just as rich as the OB but much more on ripe apricots, yellow plums and all sorts of spices (nutmeg, hints of coriander, Chinese anise), getting then excellently herbal (mint, parsley, sage), with an oak that gets maybe just a tad too big after a moment. Slight old bottle effect (faint mouldiness in fact). Finish: rather long, on apricots and tannins, very slightly drying cinnamon). Another excellent one, certainly better than other bottlings in the ‘Sea’ series.

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