Day 2 of sample madness. I had this early on in my whisky journey, but I neither knew anything about scotch nor what good whisky was. After numerous fancy pours and tastes, what does this budget blend yield? The nose offers up a bouquet of fruit (insert fancy descriptor here). Apples, pears, berries. There's also a buttery softness from the grain, and a mild nip from the alcohol (not the proof). It enters the palate more like an Irish whisky than a scotch. Soft, buttery grain notes dominate, but not in an unpleasant way. Mid-palate there's this weird surge of alcohol that diminishes almost as fast as it comes. The finish is embarrassingly short. As I let it open up more in the glass and sip it more, it just becomes more astringent and less appealing. So it's budget blended scotch. For what it's worth, and since it has such an Irish leaning palate, I'd rather just drink Bushmills Black Bush. Easy enough to drink if someone offers it to you, but not something to seek out and spend your hard earned cash on. Cheers!