Irish whiskeys are pretty, unassuming characters, subtle and calm in temperment. This whiskey has a light touch with carmel and oak flavors on the front. This gives way to the peat and smoke. The smoke rolls in rather abruptly and wipes clean any lingering sweetness and ushers in a acrid feeling as it evaporates off your tongue. It's neither pleasant or unpleasant, it just calls for attention in a way you wish it would not. But not for the rapid transition, i think it would be easy to miss the peat flavors that bridge these two distinct tasting portions. There's a moment where it becomes this lush, green flavor - like what one would expect the entire Irish countryside to taste like if you could distill a few square miles. It's an unexpected note that carries you between sweet and smokey. It takes the whiskey from unassuming, to knowing; which makes the wiskey a pleasant dram with a little secret that the two of you share.