Heaven's Door Redbreast Master Blenders' Edition

Well, that's interesting. Feels like a fight between a bourbon and redbreast. Hard to even focus on the tasting notes. Heavy bourbon notes of vanilla and spice interspersed with red fruits. Phenomenal whiskey.

N: Toasted corn, burnt wood, dark red fruit, an orchard in fall (dying leaves and fresh fruit), chalky minerals/vitamins. Bit of an ethanol burn to this one. Caramel, toffee, buttered corn all released on a hard swirl. P: Sweet corn, toasted oak, vanilla, red fruit. Very spicy, and in a way that feels like a mix of a hot bourbon and Irish pot still spices - it's an angry cinnamon candy that's being (barely) restrained by rounder baking spices. Big, thick caramel/brown sugar note develops after a few sips - it's like sucking one of those Werther's candies. Hint of butterscotch there too. Lot's of rye-like grain and herb notes too: some mint, tarragon, anise, and some others. Finish starts with those herbal notes, but quickly returns to that biting heat once the herbs fade. There's a dusting of dark chocolate with some bitterness just before the hot cinnamon candy closes this out. I actually found this one kind of uninspiring. I had hoped for a bit more from the Redbreast casks. The Irish notes are there, but I think they're largely overpowered by the big bourbon barrel spice of the underlying juice. I don't know exactly what I should have been expecting, but I was hoping maybe a bit of that classic RB coconut would get through. I also find this a little tough to assess because I don't know the Heaven's Door line - this is the only one I've tried thus far. Last word: I can't really think of any of the "finished" whiskies I've tried that have justified a huge price increase. I'm not sure what the standard 10 year HD runs, but this feels like one of those bottles that gets a fancy finish, doubles its price, but just can't bear that uptick. Either way, I think this is an okay to good bourbon that costs way too much.