Balvenie 12 Year Doublewood

Nose: A close relation to the Founder's Reserve, with extra vanilla and honey plus the subtlest of Oloroso influences. Delicate for its age.

Palate: Sweet and honeyed with intense malt meeting the soft peat and controlled sherry fruitiness.

Finish: Smoky and a little spicy with a bigger vanilla tang.

Comment: A more intense malt than the Founder's Reserve. Despite its finesse, it is just shaded in regard to all-round complexity. Still nothing short of glorious.

Balvenie 12 Year Doublewood

Nose: A close relation to the Founder's Reserve, with extra vanilla and honey plus the subtlest of Oloroso influences. Delicate for its age.

Palate: Sweet and honeyed with intense malt meeting the soft peat and controlled sherry fruitiness.

Finish: Smoky and a little spicy with a bigger vanilla tang.

Comment: A more intense malt than the Founder's Reserve. Despite its finesse, it is just shaded in regard to all-round complexity. Still nothing short of glorious.

Macallan 12 Year

The nose is quite crisp and sweet. There are notes of sultanas and fresh apple blossom. There is a defined floral note with a beautiful sherry, calvados emerges with a tropical fruit note and golden syrup. The palate is of medium-body and quite firm. There are notes of hot pastries and marmalade, sultanas and peels with a developing sweetness from the barley sugar. The finish is of good length with a solid oaked note.

Region: Speyside Whisky

Distillery: The Macallan

Bottler: The Macallan

Age: 12 year old Whisky

Auchentoshan 12 Year

Color: Beautiful pale gold.

Nose: Very good – caramel, light brown sugar, sweet cider, vanilla, honey, creamy.

Taste: Caramel, honey, lemon/citrus, spice, ginger.

Johnnie Walker Double Black

Nose: Slightly smoky and almost medicinal on the nose, it offers up hints of vanilla, a little tar, a touch of barbecue sauce, citrus and malt.

Palate: Good body and very creamy with a sublimely malty core. It offers up a surprising level of peat smoke which works really well. Creamy sweetness, hints of soft wood smoke, salty butter, custard and cereal grains.

Finish: Good length with notes of malt, boiled sweets, black pepper and cool smoke.

Region: Other Scotch Whisky

Distillery: Johnnie Walker

Bottler: Johnnie Walker

Lagavulin 16 Year

Nose: More like Lapsang Souchong tea than Lapsang Souchong! One of the smokiest noses from Islay. It's big, very, very concentrated, and redolent of iodine, sweet spices, good, mature sherry and creamy vanilla. Stunning.

Palate: Very thick and rich. A massive mouthful of malt and sherry with good fruity sweetness, but also a woonderful sweetness. Big, powerful peat and oak.

Finish: Long, spicy finish, figs, dates, peat smoke, vanilla.

Region: Islay Whisky

Distillery: Lagavulin

Bottler: Lagavulin

Age: 16 year old Whisky