Copper & Cask Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Rum Barrel

Liquor City Uncorked pick, "Gallenstein's Selection #2" MGP mashbill 70% corn / 21% rye / 9% malted barley Barrel No. DC-340 Barrel filled July 2016; Bottled December 2022 Age - 6 years 59.7% abv, 119.4 proof Open 6.5 months Nose - Shiny, sharp, cereal grain, fake vanilla, caramel, red hot cinnamon, and strong ethanol. Palate - Grain and artificial sweetener forward, Red Hots, vanilla extract, and cheap rum. Finish is medium with dry grain, fake flavors galore, Aristocrat rum, and strong ethanol. I had high hopes for this one after the Copper & Cask Bourbon Toasted Finish I bought from the same store really surprised me. NOPE! This marries everything wrong with cheaper MGP bourbon and young cheap rum. What I imagine happened is this. Latitude Beverage Company received this terrible, unredeemable barrel of MGP bourbon, and they tried to salvage it with a barrel finish. And then they got a crappy rum barrel and made it worse. It tastes like a 3 year old MGP bourbon or craft bourbon that was finished in bottom shelf rum casks, combining the dry cereal grain of MGP with the shiniest, sharpest aged rum you've mistakenly taken a shot of. I am not a fan of finished bourbons to begin with, and this hammers home my opinion that most MGP finished bourbons are mediocre products with a dab of sweet from wine or rum to mask the mediocrity.