- Nose
- Intense deep sherry with notes of old leather, pipe tobacco, sundried grapes, figs, earthy soil, chicory/coffee, plasticine, a hint of sulfur, dates, sour cherries, and balsamic. It also presents as fatter, with shoe polish, mutton suet, spent engine greases, lemongrass, umami, and a nutty, exotic character with a touch of mothball, malted milk, carob, and burnt almonds.
- Palate
- Heavy and meaty, with coffee, tobacco, maggi sauce, and a slight metallic tang. Flavors of raisins, figs, maraschino cherry, clove, sticky toffee pudding, chestnut honey, cocoa, and old furniture oak. Superb leather, polishes, cinnamon, pine wood, and marmalade. It can have a slightly bitter, acrid tone with burnt nuts, grain, and wood, balanced by classically honeyed Mortlach sweetness.
- Finish
- Lingering and long, with coffee, dark chocolate, citrus peel, walnut, balsamic notes, and a dunnage/old basement edge to the oak. It is peppery with developing oak tannins, and appropriately fat, being very distillate-driven.