Ripe peach and pear, vanilla, some peat smoke are all there. I tend to hold my dram in my mouth for 15-20 seconds to savor the flavors. This one displays a little more distracting heat than I prefer when I do that. Trying it with a few drops of water the heat is lowered and the flavor remains strong--until you add one drop too many. When you approach something like 80 proof (I estimate) the flavors simply fall apart and it is nothing more than a bland whisky. I would NOT use this in a whisky and soda. As a side note, I don't see this in my area, so shipped it in. The last time I had this was about three years ago, and I am more impressed this time. I wonder if what I had before was something else, perhaps the younger Loch Lomond Original. My host poured from a decanter and told us it was the 12. Perhaps he was "mistaken."