Batch 179

Cor, that’s some nose. Toffee sauce and brandy butter. A Christmas pudding, stuffed with walnuts and dried citrus peel, has been well fed with oloroso Sherry or Tawny Port. Amid the sweetness it’s rather meaty, like maple-glazed bacon. Water develops a much fruitier, fragrant quality.

Viscous, and quite sweet and syrupy at first, as baking spices – cinnamon, anise, allspice – emerge. A battle ensues between the thick syrupy sweetness and what’s becoming an overwhelming heat, which mingles with oak tannins for some staying power. A touch of water diminishes the spice, allowing the flavours to relax and revealing more orchard fruits, roasted nuts and nutmeg.

Bready, more cakey now, some marzipan and oloroso.

Skip Christmas pud (no-one likes it anyway) and fill this into your hipflask for an after-dinner walk. Just add a drop of water.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (but remember to stay hydrated).

The smoke (of a roaring log fire) is immediate, although non-intrusive and intertwined with an apple compote and vanilla cream sweetness. Then blackcurrant menthols – like sucking on a cherry Tune in a pine forest, heather honey and chocolate pralines.

Sweet and thick, developing into dark bramble fruits, ripe banana and roasted hazelnuts, with a light citric note of clementine and lime zest. It’s spicy, but not hot – the interplay between the sweetness of the fruits, the light peat smoke and wood spice is synergistic, almost effervescent.

A lingering dry, ashy smoke.

Bowmore’s first full maturation in French oak is a marvel, if on the pricey side for a 19-year-old.

Drunk online shopping, but with No Regrets.

That Caribbean influence is immediately apparent in aromas of tropical fruit salad dripping with pineapple, cantaloupe melon and papaya. An undertone of crunchy malt reminds you it’s still a single malt whiskey, and not a rum, although those baking spices, cinnamon and muscovado sugar are out to fool you.

Lighter than expected, and less fruit than the nose suggests although what fruit there is has become caramelised. Spices rear up toward the middle, giving way to creamy toffee, oak and lemon zest with an uplifting minty sensation.

Again, I’m waiting for those tropical fruits from the nose, or even some grip from the cask, but it remains light and sadly short.

Although matured fully in a first-fill rum cask, it could have done with staying in it a touch longer. That said, its lightness and sweetness would make it a crowd-pleaser.

Sail Away (but I want to hold on).

Mouth-wateringly fruity but a touch musty, like an old packet of wine gums. As it opens in the glass, those fruit sweeties trip over themselves, and things become more luscious – gooey Jelly Baby centres, a raw brick of Rowntrees strawberry jelly, black pepper-spiked blackcurrant and raspberry coulis, orange zest and vanilla cream. It’s weighted by a sweet, crunchy maltiness, akin to a thick crumble topping.

More soft bramble fruits, strawberry jam, cooked plums, raspberry leaf tea and orange rind, with a smoky richness from a well-charred cask. Some spice emerges around the middle, the wood tannins preventing things becoming overly sweet. Creamy and lush.

Somewhat elevated and spicy, with a surprising note of spearmint and ash.

The use of American oak, oloroso Sherry and Marsala wine casks has given this latest iteration in the Mitchell & Son Spot series a sumptuous red fruits edge. Long awaited and very welcome.

Finally, a Sweet Dream becomes a reality.

Gentle and attractive with a vanilla sweetness of lightly scorched Crème brûlée with caramelised peaches and Conference pear, moving into a hay bale grassiness. As it opens in the glass richer notes of marzipan and orange rind develop, becoming fruitier over time and almost waxy.

Light and a little peppery at first, with a dusty maltiness before the sweetness descends as baked apples, vanilla ice cream, French pastries with a thick dusting of confectioner’s sugar, and chocolate-coated hazelnuts, a characteristic drawn out more fully with water. Then more fruit – brambles – with a menthol accent of blackcurrant lozenges.

Surprisingly refreshing with a slightly peppery edge.

Royal Lochnagar’s multi-faceted personality in all its regal glory. Waxy, fruity, grassy and refreshing.

Riding a White Swan through Ballater.

Distinctly malty and… green. You can really detect that unmalted barley. It’s so light and fresh, almost hoppy, with lemon curd, green apple skin, lime zest and an almost grounding vegetal scent of agave alongside a waft of loose dried tobacco. Sticky tropical fruits – guava, papaya – and a creamy nuttiness tug at the edges.

Bold spices on the tip of the tongue which relent marginally, allowing fruit cream to glide across the mid-palate, all peach, nectarine and vanilla with an accent of hazelnut and cheap advent calendar milk chocolate. That agave quality rears up halfway through, as the tone gradually become oakier, the tannins gripping the sides of the mouth. It remains somewhat peppery throughout. Things really sweeten up with a dash of water.

Creamy, vegetal and spicy.

Obviously still youthful at just three years old, but already shows exciting promise for the future. I’d like to see how this stands up in an Irish Margarita.

A strong start for the Teeling distillery (Let’s Get It Started).