26 years old, distilled 7th November 1987, 61.7% abv, virgin oak puncheon, 452 bottles

The nose is very sooty - furnaces and those blackened gauze mats that you tried to avoid (in favour of newer, cleaner ones) when getting your bunsen burner at school. The mouth-feel is thick and viscous. The body has more of the soot and ash, gradually changing into oranges and vanilla. The finish is sweet, with oranges, cinnamon and a hint of soot.

The whorling is tight and thin, and very active. Water brings out more fruit - oranges predominantly - and the soot subsides, leaving sweet smoke. The body has oranges, blackcurrant, hints of liquorice - and the liquorice continues into the finish, where a little sweet smoke and a hint of orange makes for a decent and lasting experience.

An interesting dram, but unless you run a blast furnace I'm not sure when you'd want to drink it.

2/5