Taster

Nose: Perfumed, initially dominated by intense menthol/peppermint aromas. There's exotic spices, flowers: allspice, dried leather, beech nuts, oak/applewood. A smokiness dominates as it develops.

Palate: Spice and peat smoke. Woody yet somehow graceful.

Finish: Woody dry.

Comment: Incredible for a whisky this age to have retained such charm and elegance. A faded beauty.

Score: 7.8

Taster

Nose: Astonishingly fresh fruitiness and peatiness.

Palate: Yet more of that remarkable freshness, in the maltiness of flavour. Like malted milk, thickening into cream toffee. Then mint toffee. Apricot-ish fruitiness.

Finish: A hint of spice, sherry and cedary oakiness.

Comment: The Glenlivet is another whisky that I have encountered at great ages, often past their best. This shows its age only in its raffish, extrovert, confidence.

Score: 9