Barrell Bourbon New Year 2019

Dark brown sugar with a nice spice finish.

A sample from dthom as part of the "Whiskey transfer program". I'm inclined to want to like this as I'm a fan of the "firewater" as a friend calls it. I like the barrel proof stuff and Barrell only paints in big bold high proof. Nose: Not at all what I'd expect. Heavy citrus, some mint, heavy ethanol and a little solvent-y, young corn as well. This smells like a young bourbon and not necessarily in a good way. Not a lot of traditional vanilla/brown sugar bourbon scent going on here. Flavor: The flavor is kind of subtle with vanilla, light sugars, light oak and then...gone. The flavor goes right in to the finish after maybe half a second. Finish: A surprisingly long finish with heavy oak, black pepper, more mint, and drying tannic notes. Ends up with more ethanol solvent notes that last...longer than I'd like. Kind of off putting. Overall I really wanted to like this but I think the whiskeys that were batched together to make this just didn't age long enough. Kind of disappointing.