It's smoky with plenty of peat, but it also has plenty of fruit from apples, which grants it a lot of sweetness. There's a fair amount of complexity, but not an astonishing amount. It's fairly fruity and sweet, which is pretty enjoyable. The savory notes are limited to what one would expect of a young Islay Scotch. This drink is tasty with no off notes, but the flavors do not blend seamlessly and there is not enough depth to make this drink different and innovative. It's good, but not revolutionary. The nose has a rich, umami, salty essence that is like Lagavulin 16, but less pronounced and a bit fruitier and relatively peatier. The palate is peaty and salty with grassy and light caramel and maple elements balancing it. It's tasty and nuanced, though the balance is a bit questionable. It tastes quite good though and is worth sipping. It lacks the sweetness and subtlety of Johnnie Walker Green Label, but its savory Islay charm is not lost. It isn't as rich and herbal or as punchy as Lagavulin 16, but it is savory. In comparison, it is milder and grassier, but also less herbal. It deserves to be rated in the same ballpark at least - this is a very good whiskey. A bit of cereal does come in with the grass, but it doesn't have the rich backing to really work well. The nose has a balanced scotch character, but there's some mild peat and smoke wrapped in gauze mixed with some lighter grassy notes that brighten the scent. There is something a bit earthy like quinoa and I also smell a hint of some honey sweetness mixed with seaweed fresh from the ocean. The palate has an immediate spicy character with some cinnamon sweetness that mixes with some fruity and vanilla flavors quickly before bringing in peat-smoked seaweed with an oily richness and brine. The palate does come across as a bit light and grassy though with a kind of lightly burnt dry grass cereal flavor coming across at the end. The sweetness is nice, but it does exacerbate the youth of the grass. This is a solid sipper, but it's on the young side with the flavors not completely jiving and the sweetness being more clover honey with grass and light cereal than rich malt, possibly with toffee, coconut, and apricot. The bit of fruity presence is too light and indistinct. There's a fair bit going on here, but it doesn't come together and all tastes kind of young. I would still sip it though. The seaside scotch flavor does mature it a bit, but not enough, sort of leaving it like a high school student with facial hair. It lacks the richness of Caol Ila 12, but it does have improved complexity. The complexity and reduced aggression from the bitter herbal elements help here, but this is closer in quality to Caol Ila than Clynelish 14 or Springbank 10. Springbank 10 has more of a rounded sweetness and richness with less in the realm of sharp, bitter, grassy notes. This isn't very sweet and in missing the whole sweet and fruity end of the spectrum (mostly), the result is a whiskey that tastes underdeveloped. The other flavors are fine and all, but they have nothing to balance with. Some more richness might help, but the full experience would still be missing. Laphroaig 10 goes in a different direction that is somewhere between this and Caol Ila 12. In comparison, Laphroaig 10 has more of a dark roast coffee flavor to it, along with a tad of chocolate sweetness. In contrast, Talisker 10 lets a bit more nectar and fruits show through.