Old Ezra 7 Year Barrel Strength Bourbon

Anise and oak. Killer berb

Melted caramel, spicy cinnamon, clove, ginger, toasted pecan, gingerbread, pear, fennel, mukhwas

Nose - salted caramel, brown sugar, chocolate malt, vanilla, orange zest, leather, dry oak, cinnamon, allspice, oat, black pepper, black cherry, plum, walnut, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - toffee, vanilla, cherry, lemon pith, dark chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, leather, walnut, grape, sour apple, strong oak, tobacco, chili pepper, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with toffee, tannic oak, and baking spice flavors. The second of nine blind tastings starts with a rather dark, rich nose. The oak and leather are strong, which leads me to believe there is some decent age on this one. Otherwise, there are fairly standard bourbon aromas of dark fruit, chocolate, and baking spices. The palate arrives hot with toffee, bitter citrus, more leather, and some sour apple with a tannic, oaky backbone. At the risk of being completely wrong, I’m thinking there’s a bit of age on this one, but not quite enough to completely remove the sourness on the palate. I’m thinking this also has a rather high alcohol content. Either that, or the slightly overoaked, sour profile is playing tricks on me. Overall, I think it’s very good but not quite great. So what do we have here? My wife, owner of the key to this cipher, tells me this is Old Ezra 7 Year Barrel Strength. This is really good stuff. It would probably be great stuff with a few more years to dampen the brightness. But at $60 a bottle, you could certainly do much worse. Another big thank you to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for the generous sample!

Surprisingly mild nose. The heat hits quickly but finishes off with stone fruit.