It's the most diverse, unusual, variable, interesting, delicious beverage on the planet. One could drink two drams a day for the next 50 years and never discover all there is to taste, smell and savour.
From the cask, The Whisky Exchange Single malt - North Highlands Golden 57.9% ABV Mini
Nose: Sweet toffee. Toasty, biscuity notes. Burning paper and woodsmoke. Big prickle from the alcohol, not surprising at this strength. Mouthfeel: Thick and full, heavy bodied. Expands in the mouth. Tasting: Sweet and rich. Ginger biscuits, wheat beer, spiced apple. Waves of hot honey. Corn on the cob. Finish: Long and very warm. Fig jam on rye toast. Fades very slowly.
Comments:
This is an identical whisky to Specialty Drinks Ltd's Single Malts of Scotland bottling (Clynelish 15 yo 1992/2007, 46%, bottled September 2007). This expression is of course at cask strength, directly from a sale cask at the Whisky Exchange in Vinopolis. The whisky was aged in refill bourbon casks (cask #1617). Tastes great wherever it came from - I keep thinking "jam sandwich" every time I drink this. All manner of sweet delicious things in it.
Light and winey, doesn't really taste 40% at all. Tastes like a Lowlands whisky. This is their flagship bottling; they also have a peated version that was apparently experimental. That would probably taste quite strange.
In my book, any distilled spirit made using malted grain mash, where you can still taste the grain. That means malt whisky, grain whisky, bourbon and new make spirit, single, blended or vatted.