A bit younger and hotter than batch 001 (however, the second batch was perhaps even more spirity). Still a very nice sherry nose, but the heat on the palate is a real downer. Sure, you can add water and thereby tone it down a notch, but in doing so, you likewise reduce the intensity of the (initially beautiful) aroma.

This is really the problem of current NAS cask strength bottlings: they promise to present the respective whisky in its purest form, but end up sacrificing substance for immediate impact. Such a shame, because if this were matured for another 5 years, I believe the end product would be not only significantly, but exponentially better.

With Glendronach, the NAS cask strength versions work much better, since the distillate has more character. With the lighter make Tamdhu produces, you get all the qualities of the sherry casks but little else. Not ideal in my book.

This is a real sherry bomb! The aroma is sweet with fruits, dried fruits, cake, raisin, leather, oak and sweet popcorn notes. The palate is also sweet with tannins, dryness, black pepper, dried fruits, furniture polish and sweet fruits notes. The long finish is a sweet, spicy and dry with tropical fruits notes.