I tasted this as part of a flight that included a variety from around the world, ordered from light to intense as follows: 1. Knappogue Castle 12 2. Glendronach 12 3. Yamazaki 12 4. Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 5. Rittenhouse Rye 6. Highland Park 12 The instructions were to mix and match in tasting, but to leave the highly peated Scotch (#6) for last so it didn’t overwhelm the others. I found the entire flight to be extremely pleasing. This particular whiskey emanated pears strongly from start to finish, with fresh pears on the nose, and dried pears on the finish. Other notes included sweet grass and chewy Sweet Tarts, with the slightest whiff of smoke on the finish. I loved it.