N: Gentle, rich, earthy, and mineral peat smoke. It's oddly reminiscent of Johnnie Walker peat. Vanilla, caramel, salt, and something like brined olives. Sherry red fruit, candied and fresh citrus (occasionally quite pungent with the lemon). Dark and sweet bread swirls in and out. Noticeable ethanol - more than would be expected at this price point. (To be fair, this is the end of the bottle and I don't recall that feeling before, so might just be me tonight.) P: Heavy on the tongue. Caramel, vanilla, red fruit. Very salty mid-palate. That morphs slowly to a salt cured fish - something small, like an anchovy. Finish returns to sweetness with the caramel coming back - and it's a melted, gooey caramel now - with a dusting of chocolate and a little bit of chili pepper heat mixed in that seems to burn out that short-lived cured fish note. This is an interesting bottle - some of the flavors that emerge are interesting and interesting for working with what else is there. But many of the flavors are quite muted, almost too subtle, even bordering on bland. A little more chocolate in that finish wouldn't hurt. The red fruit could really pop more and give color and depth to it without overpowering the more unusual salt and fish notes. The salt and fish notes actually work btw - it's fish, but not fishy and nothing potentially unpleasant from it lingers. All in all, this is a little overhyped and overpriced - poor VFM. It also might be one of those whiskies that some nights it just hits the spot and others it falls flat. I've had this bottle since February and remember it being better at times than I think it is tonight. But, alas, I did not write reviews those nights and writing whisky reviews is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately (like in the last ten minutes) kind of business.