Whisky is certainly an acquired taste. Anything with a significant portion of alcohol is quite literally poison, so it's natural for our bodies to reject it at first.

However, once you acquire the taste for whisky, there are beautiful smells and flavours in there to be appreciated. I will say that it helps to drink decent whisky, not whatever is cheapest. If it's scotch, a good rule of thumb is to get something named after a place, not named after a person.