This is a really surprising whiskey. It starts off fruity, but quickly develops some peat and smoke flavors that pervade the drink. It's still definitely sweet. This drink is amazingly rich and balanced at its reasonable price. It's on the sweet side for sure, but its balance of incredible. I recommend this whiskey above most others on the ground that it hits most targets with success. Beyond the peat, smoke, and sweetness, there is richness (which is in part due to the other categories) and a surprising amount of variety. Some fruity notes like banana come through, but they can't overwhelm the honest and true representative flavors here. This is proof that the regular order can be disrupted. At its price this whiskey is a tremendous bargain. It's like a sweeter and fruitier Highland Park 18 with a bit less unification of character. So maybe an Oban? The mineral notes are very strong here. They come with some fruity sweetness and are backed by peaty smoke. There isn't enough sweetness though and the flavors are not sufficiently balanced. There is a lot going on here, but the flavors are less then brilliant. There isn't any gross alcohol flavor that causes problems, but the mineral and floral flavors combine with a celery-like vegetal flavor in a way that makes it taste a bit like Scotch mixed with gin and tequila. I don't love this wiskey, but it isn't bad; it just is confusing. Floral, mineral, and fruit are strong in this. It's sweet, but does have some depth and richness to it. It's good if you drink gin or tequila first, but compared to almost any Scotch, it tastes young and ill-conceived despite its balance of Highland Scotch flavors. There are some notable flaws here, but for $25 you could do so, so much worse. In the right context, there is actually a supreme amount of balance here, either with sweetness when compared with a rich Scotch or with smoke when compared with a mild gin. What's weird about this drink is that when it tastes good, all of the flavors taste good. When it tastes bad, there is just mineral flavor everywhere. There is some depth here and there are also some good flavors, but all that can be confirmed is that in some cases the net flavor of this drink is quite good. When the net flavor is good, this drink is quite good.