Doc Swinson's Exploratory Cask Series Barrel Strength Single Barrel Straight Bourbon

This is a simple but relatively tasty whiskey. Not great, but not bad. The nose is primarily ripe banana and peanut butter. A bit oily mouthfeel with the tastes of peanuts, banana and vanilla extract. The finish has strong notes of vanilla as well. Not super complex, but not terrible.

In short, this is Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream in bourbon form. The nose is overwhelming saturated with notes of roasted peanut and peanut butter, with hints of salted caramel, circus peanuts, milk chocolate, and a light yeasty note. The palate keeps riding with the peanut tones, but reinforces the chocolate and caramel notes, while introducing something along the lines of a slightly burned, yogurt covered pretzel. The finish is short and dominated by an intense vanilla extract note along with lightly burnt sugars. Overall quite pleasant and a good buy for the money, but nothing life changing here. This bottling is sourced from TN (tastes like a good representation of Dickel, without the funk and minerality), aged 12 years, and bottled at cask strength, which for this bottle comes in at 51.3% ABV.