Copper & Cask Straight Bourbon Whiskey Toasted Barrel Finish

Liquor City Uncorked pick, "Gallenstein's Selection #1" Barrel No. DC-484 Latitude Beverage Company; Sourced from MGP Mash bill - 60% corn / 36% rye / 4% malted barley Barrel Filled - November 2016 Bottled - December 2022 Age - 6 years; unknown finishing age 56.6% abv; 113.2 proof Open 4 weeks Nose - Caramel bomb, roasted corn, vanilla, mint, cardamon, clove, cinnamon, medium oak, and medium ethanol. Palate - Caramel, honey oats, creamy vanilla, black pepper, warm coffee cake, anise, and tobacco leaf. Finish is long with caramel for days, fresh burst of oak tannins, black pepper, clove, herbal mint, and medium ethanol. I'm normally skeptical of toasted or double oaked products from craft NDPs. I've had some really bad ones, it's easy to over oak a bourbon or rye and ruin it. Plus they're normally $20-30 more than the regular cask strength product. But I was talked into this by one of the store employees who picks the barrels. He also dislikes over oaked whiskey and assured me they got the toasted level right. Needless to say I love this pick, the toasted oak flavors are as good as the best Maker's Mark wood finishing series. This was pretty close to a 5/5, but there are some strong rye spice and oak flavors on the mid and back palate that detract from the creamy caramel dessert flavors. If it was slightly less tannic or maybe the lower rye MGP bourbon, I would buy multiple bottles as backup. As is, for $70 this is significantly better than a ton of sourced bourbons I've tried in the last few years. Whomever is sourcing and finishing at Latitude Beverage is doing it right.