https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/bottle-polishing-all-sorts/

N: Varnish, ginger cake<sponge cake, tapioca, silicone sachets, ground poppy seeds, shoe polish, soot, coal, linseed oil, bergamot oil, tiger balm, a touch of eucalyptus and fruity potpourri [synthetic=essential oils]. Coming back to this months later, I’m very pleased with these notes.
T: Starts thin before cloying a tad, developing an oily-cereal body with a touch of white pepper, notes of garden peas and burning [white] sugars. Decent length travel, one that plays with chocolate over coffee - the resemblance to Tia Maria striking [I grabbed a sample to concur]. The Tia Maria resemblance is in flavour alone, so thankfully there’s no cloying sweetness. Mash notes into the finish with snow peas.
F: Surprisingly good length finish with more mash>wort action. Mainly it’s snow peas & Tia Maria with a touch of cacao=cocoa - think i’ll add that to the cook book. Just a little jarring now before the barley oils form to create a wonderful oily mouthfeel conclusion.
C: Grain or no grain, good is good and this is certainly that. A demonstration in what a decent cask can do with any decent enough spirit. A great result.FINAL REFLECTIONS [last pours]

N: Still as potent as when i first opened the bottle, month and months ago. Cocoa-laced caramel-toffee-d youthful spirit welcomes the nose with a little porridge, spelt sponge, hints of chocolate orange, lime, linseeds,... I wrote quite a shopping list before so I'll spare us that all over again. You get the picture - potent, detailed and alluring. Water makes it richer, those caramel-coated varnished barley corns gleaming.
T: Somewhat peppery with or without water, the cocoa and fusty-vanilla=honey/funky<bourbon sugars coming through. There are a few textural changes before the darker-bitter mash notes become established, though conversely it's also rather sugary.
F: The cask appears to play a super supporting role to the cereal-y spirit. I mentioned before the cereal mash & snow peas. Certainly its pea-ish again but today leaning more towards mashed kidney beans and some greens of sorts. Far less Tia Maria also.
C: It simplifies somewhat on opening so don’t let it hang around unattended for too long. A very decent single cask grain this one. I enjoyed [and shared] two whole bottles equally as much.Scores a B

Absolutely stunning single grain! Like most single grains needs quite a lot of time to evolve, at it's best in an hour or so. So very well balanced, no off notes, not too grainy, not too sweet. I love this!
This one easily beats most single malts in it's price range.

SAMPLE

N: Coffee boom and rich dark drinking chocolate! Thick sugars on display here, with sherried fruits to boot. Boiled sweets, toffee, peaches, this is like a single malt nose. Boozy raisins, praline ice-cream, and a solid but youthful grain as a bedrock, some soft emulsion here and some fresh forest moss, or something moist and fresh. Cocoa powder mixed with coffee and cherries.
T: Well well, what an arrival, rich honey, wood spices building, a sugar crescendo with wood spices and the map itself.Some emulsion with paint brushes dipped in white-spirit which over time disappeared and was replaced with a chocolate caramel hit at the peak
F: Coffee caramel, corn syrups, ice-cream, vanillas. dried raspberry flakes over rich dark drinking chocolate, and theres full circle. Neuhaus chocolates!
C: My golly, this is unbelievable, a COMPLETE grain, as complex as many single malts and an opening to match the finish, full circle, birth to death, incredible.

Scores a rare A

BOTTLE

N: Yeasty, bacony varnished grain, butter cream and caramel undoubtedly. Milky hot chocolate with chilli flakes and quite a bit of alcohol on the nose, reminding me of some Bladnoch bottlings. Give it time to open and soften to allow that soft creamy vanilla and cacao husk to show. Theres a lot of sugars to identify on the nose if you have the inclination.  Otherwise dive in because it gets even better.

T: A confident, single malt like, nicely weighted honeyed arrival, with some eloquent silky varnish.  Theres a pensive moment where the development is unsure of its direction, but fear not as the cocoa floods through, so fruity [bourbon] and salivating with a touch of heat from the spirit. This is a grain whisky so 21 years is young for this spritely fellow.  I think Hunter Hamilton have this one just right, the balance between the spirit and cask is simply divine, the line between youthfulness and maturity realised. Finely ground pepper and chilli flakes, complement the bourbon sugars but its corn sugars that develop the strongest, creating a thick condensed corny raisin juice and honeyed varnish coating. Theres a steady development which builds for some time, becoming sweeter as it develops.

F: So much woody cocoa, cacao, precocious spirit and spice to work through, its a wonder when the subtle but profound buttery vanilla cream emerges to take this one out. The plate is treated to a panoramic display. Theres dried goji berries and milk chocolate at the finish with a saline note coming a minute later.

C: Wonderful, very much as i remember from my sample. This grain creates a lot of 'dad noises’ and would make a fascinating blind tasting dram among single malts. What a development!

Easily scores an A