A sweet rich start to this one with caramel, booze drenched Christmas pudding, Eccles cakes, dates and raisins, there’s also a subtle earthiness with moss, hay and apple wood (the wood not the cheese)…not sure if I should mention ‘the blood-soaked teddy on a damp fire place’...maybe he meant iron and damp earth?

On the taste there is a continued sweetness of barley sugar, rhubarb custard sweets, rum and raisin ice cream and honey comb. There is also a rich fruitiness of lemons, cherries, chilli and a burnt crème burlee and coffee nearing the finish.

On the finish a buttery creaminess coupled with savoury bayleaf, ginger and cinnamon. A 50/50 divide on the length, medium and long, indeed a divide of lovers and haters (or maybe just the unimpressed) for this whisky – some thought it rich and well balanced while others thought it dull with no real depth – controversial!

~£46 (70cl)

Wikipedia: Powers   |   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_(whiskey)

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

70 / 100