Selected for the 10th Anniversary of The Whisky Mercenary

Tasting notes Serge Valentin: 90 points (Whiskyfun.com)

Love the whisky mercenary. True passion that shows on many accounts.

Colour: gold.

Nose: to be totally honest (always bad when anyone says that, uh) I believe whisky takes very high strengths a little better than cognac or armagnac, but that's just a gut feeling, without any scientific evidence. You got it, this is a tad brut… No wait, I was wrong, it just needed a minute or two to become rounder, fruity, cakey and rather all on toffee, millionaire shortbread, butterscotch and cappuccino. A drop of soy sauce and a smaller one of Maggi in the background. With water: the lovage-y, glutamate-y side stays there, which I do enjoy (call that umami if you must), then we have cough syrup and camphor. Camphor lifts many old spirits (even humans).

Mouth (neat): relatively sweet, perfumy, with some marmalade and touches of lavender jelly, perhaps. Candied cherries too, maraschino… It's all a tad unusual but remember, 58. With water: how good is this? Latte, peppermint and triple-sec, perfect combo. What do you say, trained mixologists? The tiniest echoes of gentian and caraway in the back of the background.

Finish: long, getting a little piney. Lovely freshness.

Comments: please tell me where all those wonderful cognacs had gone? Actually, we've got the answer, they went to Belgium.