J. Mattingly 1845 Private Barrel Select Light Whiskey "Magnitude"

A curious bottle here. 140 bucks, ultra limited, distilled in Indiana, and "stored in oak for 12 year" and listed as a light whiskey. All at a 137 proof. OK fine, they got me interested so lets see what this George Town Kentucky distillery with zero history despite their marketing is doing with what could be a 12 year old MGP sourced whiskey. Nose - ok, this is delightful. It's brown sugar, cinnamon apple spices, pipe tobacco, dusty old wood (unfinished oak), and finishing in a pie crust dessert deal. Taste - the high proof creates a very dry experience bringing in notes that really match the nose. More oak here, drying and slightly bitter. Carried by ample amounts of sweetness from vanilla, caramel, brow sugar, apples, and dare I even say some honey. A couple of drops of water drops some of the dry and bitter, but the one issue with this is it isn't overly mouth coating, oily, or really a quality sipper as a result. I could bring the proof way down, but at that point the whisky will start getting too light and too thin. The marketing on these is horrible, the wax topper is as bad as they get, and well...not a fan of what they did in terms of really anything. Even the label was hard to read and I missed things in the store. Still, this has some incredible flavor, it noses amazingly, and overall 3.75. I'd put this next to an ECBP and expect it to come out on top everywhere but mouth feel. edit - Been sipping on this, I've had a few now. I'm starting to pickup a more clear picture of butter scotch on this one which I do get on more of these "american" whiskies. It's really nice, but it is making this more distinctly light whisky from bourbon. Either way, I like it but it was something I realized I didn't touch on earlier and it's an important difference as this note doesn't tend to come out as much on traditional bourbons.