Linkwood 18 year 2005 refill sherry wood

Nose: Grass, vanilla, lime, honey, abundant stewed black tea. With water, diluted honey and canned tropical fruit salad appear. Palate: Very grassy and herbal, pine resin, honey-water, bitter orange marmalade, and with water, some oak tannin and tropical fruit emerge. The texture is good but not remarkable. Finish: Medium. Honey, fruit, and vanilla. A slightly unusual malt for my palate, though it was well-received at the tasting. It was very restrained when neat, but a tiny amount of water seemed to over-dilute it. Perhaps it needed more time to settle than I could provide, but I felt the distillate and wood were in conflict, and a definite sour note turned bitter and intrusive with water. Concurrently, there was little evidence of sherry influence. Still, a decent Linkwood, but certainly not the finest I've experienced and frankly not up to the standard of the OB Flora and Fauna 12-year-old. Not available for purchase; this was a distillery-exclusive tasting. “Above Average”: 82/100 (3.25 stars)