Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban

The more alcohol the better, right? Up until a certain point anyway - but the larger the alcohol content the more likely I am personally to add water. That's no bad thing, i like to drink whisky both ways, but I prefer not to be, you know, bullied into it.

Quintan Ruban from Glenmorangie stands at 46% but has the delicate bones of a songbird.

Nose: It puts me in the mind of mulled wine - fruit berries, oak, with a sugared sweetness, liquid chocolate, and a hint of coconut?

Mouth:Cooked apples first, burnt away by a warming surge towards something a little more earthy with a balancing kick of spices.

After: That warmth, and this really is a hearth whisky, burns on through the sip to a chocolate rush accompanied by orange according to mos serious critics, but I don't get that, just a lovely whisky rush and lashings of chocolate balanced by polite, fragile rushings of spice.

It's like being happily and lengthily married: comes up sweet and smiling, works through a long series of subtle changes before a delicious final bonding between the two parties, introducing that lasting final act.

Find where to buy Glenmorangie whisky