Tastes

If you're a bourbon lover, you will enjoy the oak influences here. I find this less sweet and more vanilla, leather influenced, as you might expect from the barrelling. I would try this on bourbon drinkers that claim "I don't like scotch."

Spend a few minutes on the nose. Silky layers of balanced vanilla, smoke, fruit, and malt. So lovely and complex. Sip and the middle opens to even more floral layers of fruit and subtle cake frosting so balanced with smoke and salt. What is this magic? It pulls you in for more. The mouthfeel is pleasantly oily, sliding into a long, not too over bearing, peaty melt. My favorite of 33 tastes at Tampa Bay's 'Whiskey Tampa Foxtrot'.

I wish I had gotten the year from the tarbender... but, it was magnificent. I felt like a 15 yr barrell came alive and wrapped its warm, leathery, tobacco, whiskey soaked staves around me in a warm embrace to assure me it's all going to be ok. I haven't had another whiskey have this affect. $25 pours at Victoria, Columbia, MD.

A little disappointing... to my taste. I'm not convinced the sherry finish goes with the traditional bourbon flavors. It's not bad ... but, not exceptional. Interesting because sherry finished scotch works for me. On the nose, it is promising where the corn, wood, and sherry come through in balance. But, on my palate, it seems unbalanced, with the sherry seeming like an over bearing candy apple coating. Some people may like this.

Better than, say, Highland Park 18. Pear, slight smoke, sherry, all balanced with the malt. Very nice.

Basic malt. Had to struggle to find smoke, sherry or peat. There are cheaper alternatives for this flavor profile. Go elsewhere.

Honey. Orange. Light, fruity. Layers. Vanilla. Christmas. Really nice, especially for the price

Round, bright apple, fruit. Both light and rich. Nice, balanced wood/malt. Easy to drink. Really delicious.

Smoke, then iodine, dark cherry. Full body, nice finish. Lovely.

Good bourbon, with a wine finish, giving an added layer of complexity, as with scotch. Dark fruit, chocolate are added. It's good, but it hides some of the corn/wood notes.