– This is one of the 4-bottle Winter Series set; we kicked the season off with- 53.485 SUPERNATURALLY SWEET SMOKE.– This one and- 115.33 MERRY CHRISTMAS– are the next two releases. The last one will appear in January for Burns Night. Buy all 4 and spell out ‘SMWS’ on your whisky shelf!

Initial nosing suggested to us coconut shavings and new world IPAs with plenty of exotic fruity hops. Beyond that we also noted crushed nettles and grass, citrus peels and new leather shoes. This was fragrant and playful overall, we felt. With water we found fresh, crisp cereals, white mushrooms, young calvados distillate, chopped chives and burlap. There was lots going on …

In the mouth we found a surprising medical aspect up front with ointments, wintergreen and cough mixtures, making it rather herbal, with nice notes of aniseed and mint tea. Water brought a light waxiness to the texture, along with more drying herbal qualities, impressions of breath mints and herbal toothpaste. We found a lovely, lingering cooling sensation in the aftertaste.