Dewar's 27-year-old

Aroma: Nutty, chocolate-y, tropical, grainy, sweet, funky. First impression is lots of nuts (almond, hazelnut, peanut) covered with delicious sweet milk chocolate (Lindt chocolates), and mixed with butter pastries; followed by fresh tropical notes probably coming from the grain (pineapple, pear, apricot) and funky, mossy old oak, with lots of nuances (old leather, PX, yeast, toffee, tobacco). It combines vibrant/fresh/fruity and rancid/nutty/leathery notes quite successfully. Very interesting and pleasant.

Flavor: Malty and grainy, fruity, funky, honeyed, nutty, chocolate-y. Like the aroma, it combines very fresh fruity notes (pineapple, peach, mango) and industrial notes (booze, acetone, industrial weirdness, rubber) with true old school funkiness (almond, walnuts, salty bread, cinnamon, dates, milk chocolate, leather, etc.) and intense maltiness. Everything is supported by honey, toasted nuances and a touch of barnyard. Obviously overengineered, but I like it this kind of stuff, very entertaining to explore.

Finish: Old aged fortified wine notes (yeasty and funky Amontillado, ancient wood, earthy weirdness, dusty dunnage, humid old furniture) and lots of nutty nuances (almond, hazelnut, mantecados navideños, pistachios) dominate, some toasted caramel (mexican cajeta, which is dulce de leche + chocolate syrup), accompanied by sweet toasted nuts (nutella), sweet brioche, and lots of fruity flavors, from pineapple and banana to apricot and melon. There's a touch of plastic-y grain whisky too. It is designed to never be boring, it keeps evolving.

A very nutty, funky and confectionar-y, reasonably complex, moderately grainy, slightly funky , medium-sherry whisky. The finish is insane but only after the second dram, because it is subtle at the start but almost wild as you keep sipping, almost as drinking real Amontillado (Palo Cortado and Amontillado are very similar, especially at old ages). It's in the finish where it kind of shows its age, the rest of the experience doesn't feel like a 27yo, but doesn't feel young either. The palate is mostly fine, but the fruity grain is totally obvious. This old grain that is trying to go unnoticed (unsuccessfully) doesn't particularly help, but adds interesting notes and personality, and doesn't really distune in my opinion. In summary, a complex sherry whisky in which every note is carefully sitting in its place with the perfect intensity to lead in a very particular direction that I happen to find enjoyable.

It is much more subtle (or weak) that it might appear if you compare it to any other sherry monster, like Glenturret 12. It just can't compete, so it only works when drank by itself. I personally prefer the 21, as the Palo Cortado casks they are using here, despite adding a very nice yeasty and nutty layer, it also adds a little bit too much fruitiness and does a worse job at hiding the grain.

If you like old, compex sherry, and you are ok with moderate grain notes in your whisky, you might really like this one. It has accomplished its goal for me, as that non-CS, complex sherry bottle that I crave from time to time.