The nose is pretty flat but a heck of a lot better than "The Classic" Shieldaig. It smells kind of generically like feet. The palate is watery and flat, but it has a nice slightly bitter richness with a somewhat balanced sweetness. The flavor is pretty generically scotch without much variation or complexity, but it's not too bad. The palate is so much better than "The Classic" Shieldaig. Compared with Bushmill's Black Bush, the flavor is just a little richer, but it is less complex by a long shot and also a bit mellower. The difference between this and Bushmill's Black Bush is similar to the difference between this and "The Classic" Shieldaig, though a bit less severe. It's a couple things below Glenfiddich 14 for sure, but it's definitely drinkable. For the price difference, it's hard to justify ever getting this instead of the glenfiddich though. The nose is ho-hum, but it doesn't smell bad and has a little sweetness. The palate is decently viscous and inoffensive. It tastes young, but there are some mild elements of various scotch characters to it, with a bit of malt and the coastline coming through alongside some hints of orange. It's not very good, but it's drinkable and could be a good place to start in blending Scotch at home. It's less interesting than Glenfarclas 12, but also less bad, so it gets to claim a slight victory. Slight though - the Glenfarclas Sherry richness is definitely better.