A rich, salty, smokiness defines the nose, reminding one of bacon. The peat does not overwhelm the bacon, allowing the sweetness and fruit to shine through. Unfortunately, with bacon, I want maple and a buttery creaminess. This mostly delivers fruit and vanilla. The salt and brine help to uphold the bacon's position, but in the end they overwhelm it. Although the flavors in this Scotch are good, they constantly battle each other, producing a disappointing result. On second tasting, the nose is decently full, though it lacks the complexity of SMWS Ardmore 12. There's a bit of smoke and some surprisingly strong red fruit. The palate is smoky with quite a bit of earthiness and a lot of red fruit. This is a promising drink, though it's not excellent. Talisker seems like a good value, Thoigh so far (with 10 and distiller's) I haven't had an amazing dram. There's a lot of smoke mixed with the red fruit and there is some fruit, but it's earthy too. This is absolutely no Ardmore 12, but it's tasty and decently interesting. It's an interesting combination of sherry and smoke, but it works fairly well. The flavors are a bit at odds. I think I'd prefer an older regular Talisker instead. It's really good. I'd take this over the Talisker 10.due to its richness, though it isn't a huge win. This is not a massive wine for the price relative to some others, but it's definitely worth its cost. Smoky, sweet, fruity. This is really good. Man, I think I want to give this an 18, so I'll bump Ardmore 12 up to 19. It tastes older than its age suggests. For the increase in price, it might not be worth it, but I'm a big fan. It's so good.