I don't know what I can say about this that hasn't been said better by scores of reviewers before me. I'll leave this note for other's new to Scotch, or at least, unsure about peated whisky - give the Lagavulin 16 a try. My first experience with peat was the Talisker 10 and I was not a fan. Where others were waxing poetic about the sea, all I tasted was band-aids and camphor. I had this reinforced by encounters with Laphroaig's younger offerings and again most recently with an Ardbeg. I was convinced peat = phenolic overload. Lagavulin 16 really changed my opinon of what peat could do. The smoke here is dominated by mellower, less phenolic flavors. Instead of iodine and "medicinal"/band-aid flavors, there are mouth-watering smoked meats, BBQ, and campfire notes that make me want to laugh out loud over how delicious it is. I didn't "get" peat until Lagavulin 16. This is one of those "if you could only have one bottle" whisky's for me. This is the bottle I'll have in my hand, standing atop the old lighthouse, my gaze outward, across the sea, waiting for the return of the Great Old Ones.