The nose is very unobjectionable, as in I can't really find much of a nose at all. A few minutes in a covered glass and I can tease out honeysuckle and hay, but that's about it. The palate is better, with a smooth mouth-coating warmness that spreads from the middle of the tongue outward in all directions. Palate is very mild, mostly vanilla and marzipan, then a dash of cereal (think grape-nuts not cheerios), with a nice blast of anisette at the end. Finish is smooth and relatively brief, fading from the spice to a slightly sweetened breakfast tea, before cleanly vanishing. I don't know the proportion of each malt, but to me this strongly favors The Balvenie. Unfortunately, that's not my preferred flavor profile, and as such I'm not overly fond of this blended malt. For $35, it was worth the experiment, but unless I'm buying for a crowd of non-Scotch fans, I'll stick to drams with a bit more complexity.