John J Bowman Single Barrel Bourbon

Wood upfront, vanilla with a hint of fruit

Surprisingly sweet and juicy

Heavy alcohol and carmel on the nose. Carmel, vanilla, cinnamon and toffee are easier to discern with a dash of water, but overwhelmed with spice - perhaps rye. Opens up very nicely for old fashioned, but very expensive for that purpose.

The nose is rich and deep with some wood and oil, but not a ton of complexity. The palate has an immediate spicy presence with a bitter wood backing and smoke but not a tremendous amount of char. The alcohol presence is pretty intense. There isn't a ton of complexity here unfortunately and it doesn't have a nice sweetness giving it life. It's on the spicy, mineral side like a rye. It doesn't have bad notes, but it isn't what I want. There's too much oil and blandess with too much spice. It has a hint of nuttiness that reminds me of Booker's Shiny Barrel, but it isn't as complex (not a super high bar) or toastily nutty. There's something just a tad mushrooms here that I'm not a fan of.its not bad, but it could really use some work. The quality is close to that of High West American Prarie, but the flavors go together better, so this wins out a little bit.