Fettercairn 1988 29 Year Cask Strength Collection (Signatory)

The nose is richer than that of Signatory's Glentauchers 20. It has some wood balanced with citrus that does include some orange peel and there's a malty richness backing the whole thing. It smells a tad meaty too. The palate is spicy at firstwith a medium-high viscosity. It's rich with a bitterness from the wet wood that is under control and a general swirling richness that I have trouble placing at full strength. It reminds me a bit of an Islay whiskey in that it tastes wrong but also somehow good. I wouldn't call it excellent, though it is much better than Signatory's Glentauchers 20. Some water reduces the richness and makes it taste more generic, more like the Glentauchers 20, but without the bourbon character. There's plenty of wood here, but it's wet and tastes like the battle should have been changed at some point. I definitely get the lemon flavor here, along with the pine flavor (it's numbing). Fresh bread? Not so much. Apple and spices? A bit. There's some smoke here too and a bit of turpentine. Maybe I could come to like this type of scotch, but why bother. I think it's a tad better than the Glentauchers, but with water added, it tastes like nothing particularly special. Sadly, I thought at first that this might become something special, but I now realize that this is amateur hour aging - not bad, but not particularly good. Rating based on not adding water, it slightly edges out the Glentauchers. With water added, it's bland without a flavor that sells it.