After noticing the price of this dropped from $150 to $102 at my local shop (I would assume to make room for the Viking Pride) I decided to pick up a dusty bottle. Hving a dram after bringing it home I was initially disappointed with it and researched to find there had been some quality control issues with the 18 at some point and was disheartened I had recieved one of "those" bottles. Fast forward to trying it a second time and wow. This has happened to a couple bottles I have opened where it seems to need to be unsealed for about a week before the flavor displays what I would expect. This could very well be I ate/drank something earlier throwing off my palate. On to the tasting notes - The nose provided light tea, apricots, plums, dare I say nectarines? The palate bursts with more summer fruits as well as peat. I never considered this to be a peaty whisky but for someone who is just getting into the nectar of the gods would they say they taste smoke as that as well as lemon which stands out on the finish. A pretty dram indeed. I would be super interested to try a cask stregnth version of this to see if the nuance would stand out in a slight burn. Islay is my preffered whisky so I would not call this a favorite but I can definitely respect it and the people who do. 4.5/5