The very pinnacle of Irish whiskey, Bushmills Single Malt Whiskey 21 year old is aged for a minimum of 19 years in former Oloroso Sherry and bourbon-seasoned casks, then married and transferred into Madeira casks for a further 2 years of aging and maturation. Awarded 'Best Irish Single Malt 2013' and a rare 96 points from Whisky Advocate, it has huge depth that interweaves dried fruit flavors with spicy, aromatic maltiness, subtle nutty raisin notes, and a rich finish that seemingly never ends.
What you smell and taste in a whisky is highly subjective.
Even the pros do not always agree on the tasting notes. Therefore, we have combined the tasting notes from several sources into a cross-section Nose, Palate, and Finish to find the commonalities between two whiskies. We use the Aroma Wheel with its concentric circles of increasingly specific tastes and smells (general in the center; more specific the further out you go) to find Exact, Secondary, and General matches between two whiskies. We also take into account other important factors like mash bill, barrel type(s), ABV, region, ratings, price and more. We then weight each factor based on what we believe to be the approximate importance it has in determining whether two whiskies are similar.
We're all different.
Again, we cannot stress enough that what you smell and taste in a whisky is likely going to be different than the person you're drinking it with. Whisky Mates is meant to be a guide to help you find what you like drinking, using the best methodologies available. In the end, rely on your own palate to tell you what you like and don't like.