Old Charter Oak Finest Oak

Nose opens with cherry, mature oak, cocoa nibs, old books, sarsaparilla, and ginger. Ethanol non-existent. Palate turns more traditional with vanilla, caramel, cherry, and cinnamon. Also hints of tea leaf, and star anise in the mid palate. There is a solid oak backbone behind it all that is present immediately. Long finish with soft mature oak, chocolate, continued cherry from the palate, leather, black pepper, earthy mushroom, allspice, ginger, and clove. Mouthfeel is a bit odd; light bodied but also syrupy? Ehh, could be worse. A unique and interesting offering from Buffalo Trace, but don’t expect anything groundbreaking; just a solid, well made, oak forward whiskey. I did enjoy the cherry notes throughout. At the $80 retail I paid I would say it’s worthy of a rebuy, but probably not worth any sort of secondary mark up.

This one is interesting. The nose is the star of the show with Vanilla frosting, creme brulee and sweet oak. The palate is spicy oak and black pepper with a medium to long finish. I think the MSRP on this is around $80, I paid $150. Definitely would not pay over $80 in the future