Pretty nice! I love the nose – such thick, dark, spicy Oloroso. Great finish, too, with those nice sticky and smoky notes. The palate stays just a bit hot, and while water improves it there, I feel like it might take some of the flavour as well. I’ve decided that bitter sugar note is actually a good thing, by the way. I’ve had a few excellent sherried whiskies in the past couple weeks, and they seem to have been slightly better than this one.

Nose: Dark and sticky. Molasses, amber maple syrup, prunes, blood orange juice. Peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. Salted caramel popcorn, roast hazelnuts, and tahini paste. Lemon tea, fragrant and slightly grassy. Tobacco and dunnage warehouse. Exotic hardwoods and baking spices.

Palate: Medium texture, and very hot, though the heat dissipates a bit as it sits. Sticky dried stonefruit and citrus peels on the arrival, along with the zing of white pepper and dried ginger. Slow development to old wood, tobacco, and earthy malt. Muddy fruitcake on the back end.
A couple drops of water added more ginger, grapefruit peels, and flowers. More water doesn’t change the flavour much, but it does take the heat down. Actually, there’s some dark banana and a bit of burnt-sugar bitterness.

Finish: Medium-long and sweet. More blood orange, dried fruit leather, sticky caramel, dark chocolate, bananas foster, and toasted barley. Cherries and almond extract.
The water adds a vaguely smokey tea note.