13 years old, distilled 30th August 2001, 54.8% abv, first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, 197 bottles

The nose has apples, pears, posies of wildflowers, hints of honey and toffee. The mouth-feel is smooth, with a pleasant coating. The body brings a little soft toffee, some lemon zest and some custard creams. The finish is long, sweet and full of toffee and honeyed notes.

Water brings tight, rapidly expanding whorling that settles briefly into mottling before disappearing. The nose now has some slight herbal notes, but none of the original flavours are lost. The body has a bit more more lemon zest, and fewer herbal notes. The finish has the same progression - lacking the herbs of the nose, and gaining lemon.

A very decent dram, for a sunny spring day.

4/5