Tastes

Nose of sweet butter and oak, with maybe a hint of tobacco tanginess. Brown sugar and tobacco flavor. Lightly spicy, short, wheat-tingle finish. Very smooth and satisfying. Love it.

Nose of strong bananas foster. Medium sweet, burnt white sugar flavor. Smooth, medium length, mildly sweet finish. Very interesting neat.

When first opened it had a nose of bananas and bitter chocolate, and I couldn’t decipher the flavor besides a mild cereal sweetness and a little “roastiness.” The finish was pretty hot. After letting it "breathe" for a couple weeks and trying it again to see if it has calmed down a bit, the nose developed more chocolate and the banana was gone, the flavor is more caramel, and the finish seems only moderately hot.

Leather and licorice nose. Tastes like toned-down, liquid, red hot candies. Long spicy finish. Really like it, but not as much as Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Rye.

Subtle vanilla and wood nose. Light oak and vanilla flavor, with low sweetness. Low heat, but somewhat lengthy finish. Inoffensive introduction bourbon.

Cinnamon marshmallow nose. Smooth, medium cereal sweetness. Faint bit of banana coming through. Mild and short finish. Great typical tasting bourbon. Good for an old fashioned with less than the called-for sugar added. Great basic sipper neat.

Faint, Cheerios nose. Subtle, indistinct, mildly sweet flavor. Tingly on the front of the tongue. Mild finish. Unremarkable, but inoffensive.

Leather and butterscotch nose. Complex flavor; some brown sugar, but haven’t fully figured it out. Hot, lingering finish. Definitely a more advanced profile.

Pipe tobacco and slight leather and chocolate, with maybe a little - not unpleasant - mustiness on the nose. Rich mouthfeel, with a complexity I haven’t figured out yet on the first night’s tasting. Moderate heat with a lingering finish. Good complement to spicy food.

Vanilla and caramel nose. Typical dark brown sugar flavor, but with subtlety. Just the right amount of smooth heat on the finish. Still need to figure out the flavor notes.