Teacher’s Highland Cream: I’ve not been a fan of the color on this whiskey – it’s always a bit too caramel-y, food stylist, perfect. Fortunately, whatever they do to achieve it (if anything) doesn’t impact the taste or the aroma for me. Fresh, sweet, round barley malt leads the nose, with a warm undercurrent of smoke, balanced by the sharp bite of the grain whisky. Classic blend tension here. Very full and weighty in the mouth, with a big warm wave of malt that is quickly sliced through by a knife edge of grain. Finish really lingers with the grain popping on the palate, while the smoke lingers.

Longrow (distilled 1991 at Springbank, aged in Bourbon barrels): Pale gold with a not insignificant green component to the color. Big, salty, peaty attack, that’s just a touch medicinal. There are some green barley and olive notes, but they’re bit players. Medium in the mouth, but led by an intensely sweet wave of malt that is quickly subsumed by a big whack of smoky peat. Incredibly complex in the midpalate where everything seems to be clamoring for attention all at once. Silky and smooth it isn’t, but I find it utterly captivating. Long, long, smoky, slightly salty finish.