The peat gives this scotch a strong 70% dark chocolate flavor that has creaminess, hints of fruit and butterscotch. The rich creaminess pairs well with the scotch's smoothness. Excellent. The nose has bacon and tobacco, but the flavor mixes in some fruit in an appealing manner. With the bitterness of the strong tobacco presence, Lagavulin 16 avoids Talisker Distiler's Edition's folly of tasting like brunch and Oban 14's odd sweetness. The salt, hint of sweetness, and richness balance out the bitterness, making this an appealing drink. The depth is just amazing. It would be great if a little bit of the iodine from the peat were replaced with smoke, but the number of flavors and their ability to meld together are both amazing. The only obvious flaw is that the strong flavor makes it so that drinking anything but an Islay scotch after this is a no-go. This is a masterpiece: the flavor is rich and balanced to perfection. You need to like bacon to like this, but if you do, this is an astounding experience. I just wish it cut back a bit on the peat so that the decreased iodine could let the smoke shine. There are so many flavors in here. From any starting point, this drink has an interesting and deep flavor. It's delightful in how it strikes such an amazing balance. I'd rate this as better than Ardbeg Corryvreckan, but not more than a couple of levels better. Iodine/tobacco, smoke, dark chocolate, red fruit, a little toffee, some mild nuts, some bits of ginger and clove. This is complex and its flavors land in a delightful manner. The nose is smoky and rich with some nice salty meat and a bit of peat sharpness to remind of the ocean. The palate is salty and malty and briney and rich with some chocolate with a hint of peanut butter. It's meaty with smoke like some lightly candied bacon was dipped in. This is certainly up there with Springbank 10 despite its moderate ABV. It doesn't have the rich leathery tannins that Springbank 12 has, but this is very good. This is certainly one of the elite whiskeys.