I've got an irish or two to add some notes on here, this one was one that a friend just keeps raving about and I saw it at a store I get credit for buying bottles at and for 65 bucks I said, why not. Throw in I had an expensive car repair, and the itch to buy new bottles is much less damaging to my wallet with this one. I'll just add, almost certainly colored but non chill filtered. Nose - So the first thing that pops into my head is bubble gum and a light touch of "stone" fruits (a stolen tasting note). The more I dig in the more I think of that white powder on the bubble gum that used to be in baseball cards. After that I get a touch of a spice and a bit of unfinished cut oak. Taste - So right off the bat there's this butter and vanilla driven sweetness from first fill bourbon casks. The whisky then gives off very distinct notes of irish unmalted barely which I can only describe as grainy and a bit unrefined. The whisky then transitions to a very pleasant spice, which I will say when I first opened this, it was a bit much on the spice so i'm not sure if my prior dram has softened me to this, but I'm finding the spice much more enjoyable and less of a "bit much" right now. There's a hint of chocolate and there's a bit of a sherry fruit element, it's soft and subtle but those sherry cask are just barely saying hi. The finish I get the classic irish smooth and mellow cream and soft oak finish. The only other thing I got when I really swirled this around in my mouth and let the whisky saturate everything was a hint of grape fruit on the finish. This is something I get often on these 10-14 year old mostly bourbon cask whiskies, but this is a first on an irsh vs a scotch. I rather like that finishing note myself. I'll be blunt, this one blew me away for the price and frankly for being 46% and irish. I wasn't expecting much. I honestly think this is about as nice an irish whisky that you can get for the money and it's a darn good 12 year old whisky in general. 2.5 score. I know that might seem low but wowing me from the price isn't the same as being a wow whisky. This is a very nice pour, and frankly any 12 year old irish being over a 2.0 is a real accomplishment. A really well made product at an affordable price.