Why does Whisky have Floral notes?

When analyzing Whisky as we nose and sip it to find flavour profiles present in our dram some whiskies have floral notes along with wood, fruit, cereal, spice, peat.  Generally speaking, floral whiskies offer notes like: Fresh cut grass, Fresh hay or meadows, Perfume, Juniper, pine, heather, blossoming flowers like jasmine, green tea and herbal notes.  The tricky part is some earthy notes in whisky can come from both the floral aspect as well as the peat.    Floral notes in the spirit generally comes from the distillate and presence of esters.  Whisky casks do not offer floral notes unless they were previously used for muscat wines.  So, the floral notes mainly come from the barley and the way it is distilled.  Whiskies with strong floral notes are often on the softer side of the whisky spectrum.  With elegance and finesse they are perfect to serve as an aperitif as they are masterpieces of subtlety. 

Sources:

https://www.whiskyrant.com/whiskey-tasting-guide/floral-whiskies/

https://whiskymag.com/flavour/floral