My first time with this blended scotch. I've purchased this, along with Kirkland 12 Year Blended scotch, Dewar's 12, Cutty Sark Prohibition to look for a winner in the "handle of scotch" category. I love an occasional Rob Roy, Bobby Burns, scotch & soda, or pour on the rocks (particularly with a large coconut water cube). Which of the blends is the best choice? I'm looking at all these and comparing them to Johnnie Walker Black, Naked Malt, Monkey Shoulder and others, trying to keep my cocktail game fresh. Tasted neat from a grappa copita, this blend is nicely honeyed, with sweet breakfast cereal, apples, slight pears and a whisper of dry smoke. This isn't the smoke I associate with a Islay, but more along the lines of the ashy smoke I get from a lot of mezcals. It's slight, unusual and somewhat pleasant. You know what's not pleasant? That damned pour spout restrictor on the Buchanan's bottle. Very unnecessary, but I'll think of it as a nod to Luxardo Maraschino and move on... On the tongue this whiskey has a sweet entry, nice bit of malty body with a cigarette ash overlay and a fast, sweet finish with some traces of black pepper. It's nicely balanced, offers some dry fruitiness and is a bit more complex than the Kirkland 12 blend. It's not as "juicy" as the Dewars 12. In a Rob Roy this is excellent. I'm pouring them 2:1 and using Cnia Mata Spanish Tinto Reservo which is something like the love child of Punt e Mes and Antica. The Buchanan's is robust enough to stand up to this potent-but-detailed vermouth. with good mouthfeel, flavor development and really good standing power against the slight dilution of the ice. This is a very, very good blended scotch. Its price, in my Tampa region market, falls somewhere between Dewars 12 and Johnnie Walker Black. I like it enough to put it into rotation, but it will be hard for me to justify buying it in handles. I'll be revisiting this in the future. I see there's a pineapple version of this and I'm wondering if that might work in a wonky Rob Roy cousin. That might be worth the experiment. As it stands this is a solid blend. It's not a great vfm and not indispensable on my bar but worth the price of entry to find out.