John E. Fitzgerald Very Special Reserve

This is a genuine rarity. Only 3000 bottles were made, a 20yo bourbon, John E. Fitzgerald was an excise man who had the key of the distillery, and he drank from the finest casks: yes, this an enhanced "Larceny bourbon". 45% abv, chesnut color. On the nose is INCREDIBLE AND INTERESTING. Gum. Candy. Cotton candy. Solvent. Milka chocolate. SPECTACULAR. On the palate is unbeatable. A sherried, spice explosion. Wonderful. But.... The aftertaste is inexistent. No aftertaste at all :( Overall i think this is a great great dram, but not having aftertaste... well, a lot of points were deducted. I love the story and i love the 375ml bottle, but you got to be true to your ratings so: 80 over 100. And it surely feels like more.

Holy smokes is this good. Smooth. Sweet. Lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

You can really tell that the casks they used for this were part of the old Stitzel-Weller stock. It's actually VERY reminiscent of Pappy 20 but without the exceptionally long finish and more of the citrus replaced by a slightly metallic, copper-ish note. The vanilla background that you get in ORVW and Pappy is also toned down slightly to reveal more of a dank woodiness. The nose to me wasn't anything to write home about, but it does a fairly good job of letting you know what you're in for: Smooth, without much of a burn at all, some cherry and other miscellaneous fruit in the background, and the mix of vanilla/wood and copper I mentioned before. It's definitely worth experiencing and I might even buy one for myself if it were $900 for a full 750mL bottle, but for a 375mL decanter it's a bit pricey for what tastes essentially like a tweaked Pappy van Winkle.