Blood Oath Bourbon Pact No. 9

The missing note that i tasted just before the finish was cocoa/milk chocolate

The Blood Oath line has always garnered some serious hype. The one and only pact that I've tasted until today was Pact 7 and although that selection was a fine bourbon in and of itself, it left me feeling underwhelmed. I felt that it was just a bit overhyped and overpriced for what it offered. As I'm perusing one of my favorite local spots for their Black Friday specials, I came across Pact 9 at $149.99. Which is seemingly a pretty solid price. At approximately half the price that many other retailers in my area are asking, I thought it would be worth a taste. The nose mingles rye with sherry quite well. Initially, some dark cherries and vanilla swirl on top of leather and baking spice. It is just balanced enough to not lean too heavily one way or another. The taste opens creamy and sweet. Throughout the taste, the mouth feel of this bourbon is exceptional. Thick and oily - it really coats the tongue. Vanilla and caramel make a brief appearance to open the taste but quickly blossom into tongue tingling cinnamon candy. As that spice sits on your tongue, some leather and tannic oak slide in from the higher rye content. The finish remains dry and as is the case with drier, slightly higher proof whiskies; the mouth feel goes a bit powdery. Along with that, a faint hint of dark cherries creeps in, settling nicely with the leather and oak from the back of the taste. What a well rounded bourbon this turned out to be! But alas - now I'm going to seek out some of the previous Pacts that sound like they'd be right up my alley which can be an expensive proposition. RIP to my bank account.

Last of this year's birthday pours, not a neck pour this time. Orange and a strange oak note are the main smells from the nose. The oak smell is almost burnt but maybe it is peat coming through? The taste follows the nose in a smoky peat & oak flavor into a orange with spice, like a orange cider. The orange comes with a sweetness that mellows out the rest of the whiskey. Taking addition sips the flavor changes a bit from the orange to more of a focus on the spice. The finish is mild with the orange notes lingering with it. Overall, there is complexity here that is tasty but doesn't follow my palete. The peat is not something I enjoy.

Delicious!!! You get just right amount of red fruit woth syrup, a little bit of carmel and then a bunch of oak.