Floral, light licorice, and dusty sweet cereal on the nose. Wow, unusual first flavors, caught me by surprise even after reading some reviews. Exotic spices, light oatmeal, but big eucalyptus, floral, and ethanol flash in the mouth. Long finish, oily, grassy spicy, and slightly sour grapes from the wine barreling. After a minute, I'm picking up an astringent wood resin flavor. Light straw color and light body that grows bigger and richer through the finish. But this does have that "spare" quality of Japanese whisky that differs from Scotch or Irish whiskey. I'm going to try it in a classic Japanese highball (whisky and soda) to see how it fares--I expect it will shine. (Later, It did!). I can see why people report this is like a barrel-aged gin, very unusual profile for a single malt. Light oak and no smoke. I'm already a fan of St George whiskys and gins. They have really pushed the bounds in all their products. This is an unusual taste profile, and should be treated as such-- it's not something you'd reach for without thinking about it first. All their bottles are graced with great label art, but this is arguably the BEST art label out there.