Creamy vanilla custard/crème brulée on the nose to start with, with the brulée bit increasing to crystalline sugar in espresso coffee and then the custard being joined by raspberry, plum and rhubarb crumble. Behind all this is a light winey note. At unreduced strength, the taste is sweet and tannic – Assam tea leaves and red fruits (plums?) with some tobacco in the aftertaste. Water suggests European oak: gunpowder, scorched fruitcake, over-caramelised buttery sugar. Now it has an oily texture; sweet then tannic, spicy and acceptably bitter (burnt sugar again). The distillery, on Loch Lomondside, has enjoyed a considerable revival since being acquired by Ian Macleod & Co.