The nose had the deep sweetness of cinder toffee, dried dates, trifle, marshmallows and Black Forest cherry cake with chocolate shavings; it also had dessert wine and a furniture restorer’s workshop. The palate found old books in libraries, cherry brandy, Christmas pudding, mincemeat pies and after-dinner chocolate mints. The reduced nose had crème caramel and syrup tart, developing into spicy      Oddfellows sweets, Aftershock liqueur and rumbling, reverberating resonances of leather handbags, pipe tobacco and raisins. Intriguingly, this whisky emerged from the cask with a natural haze. It is perfectly delicious.