Nose is quite pungent but not necessarily a good thing; while it is complex and features caramel apple, melon, vanilla, honey, and a floral note (heather?), it also brings burnt rubber/keratin, and a little too much ethanol for the proof. Not the best start. Things greatly improve on the palate with vanilla cream, honeydew melon, apricot, pear, clover honey, coconut, and milk chocolate. Flavors are on the airy side, but are nicely integrated with no one flavor dominating. Drinks a little hotter than the low proof would indicate. Finish sadly brings some of the burnt tire from the nose along with pepper, almond, apricot, smoke, tobacco, moss, and a bitter/sour oak. At least it’s on the shorter side of medium. Mouthfeel is light bodied which serves the profile well but also fairly grainy which could be better. This whiskey is kind of a bummer as I really wanted to like this more than I did. While the palate is a delight there were off notes in the nose and finish that were hard to ignore. At the $109 I paid, this a resounding NO on value/rebuy prospects, There are plenty of superior Irish whiskies to be had at this price or less in the Redbreast line and for just $10 more I could get the nearly flawless Yellow Spot. So disappointing that I immediately scratched the 16yr expression from the same distillery off my wishlist.