Blind Tastings! A mystery sweetie

It's about that time for me to embarrass myself (more than usual), with some blind tasting results. Some whisky friends provided me with mystery samples, and this seemed like a good time to catch up on 'em. So here's a week of blind tasting results. Take comfort in knowing I guessed none of these correctly.

First off, is a mystery sample from Dr. Springbank:

NOTES

Nose - Big rich bourbon cask action. Vanilla bean and salted caramels. Limes and minerals. Toffee and moss. A hint of IPA.

Palate - Rich oak, but not new oak. Vanilla bean and caramel sauce, again. Ginger beer, limes, nectarines and grapefruit.

Finish - Vanilla, pepper, lemon and ginger. Sweet but not too sweet.

MY GUESS

Arran, 18 to 21 years old, single first fill bourbon cask, low 50s abv.

WHAT IT WAS

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Ready for this?

Highland Park 15-year-old Distillery Exclusive cask 1938, 60.3%abv, from a First Fill American Oak Sherry Puncheon

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I found nothing sherry-cask-related when I tried this sweetie blindly, instead it reminded me of a couple Arrans I've tried that had sat in their single bourbon barrels maybe a year too long, but were still good drinkin'. Even after the whisky's identity was revealed, I had to strain to find something that sort of resembled a sherry cask. And I found nothing before or after that called out "HP". Blind or not, I can't find the damned vikings.

GRADE RANGE: B (84-86)