Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year

Definitely the finest bourbon I have ever tasted! Depth to sink one’s soul into. Ten minutes after my second sip, I was still finding new flavors. Toffee, cherry, candy corn. Touch of soft tobacco. Very sweet, but strong flavor. Medium smoothness. DO NOT consume this with anything else — to pair with anything (except possibly water) would be a grave injustice. Closest second I’ve had to this would be the William Larue Weller 2016, which makes sense, coming from the same distillery. $200 for 1.5oz pour.

Mooched a dram from a bourbon collector at a birthday occasion recently. When it's free, it's hard to complain. That being said... As far as bourbon goes it was quality. Pleanty of earthy tones in the nose and on the taste, very light dark red fruit on the taste with a suprisingly bitter aftertaste. The biggest downfall of this bourbon is simply it is a wheated bourbon. Line this up with 4 other wheated bourbons and the fun of trying a pappy 23 fades away as the flavor profile of the category is just too narrow to really stand out and live up to the hype it recieves. Did I have fun trying it? absolutely. Would I pay the $300 my buddy paid for retail? I don't think I would. I would reccomend to people who really, really enjoy the wheated bourbon category to expeience a very high quality wheated bourbon. But to someone who has ventured beyond wheated bourbon I just don't see the value of $300 a bottle none-the-less a $300 pour. 3.75/5

9/10. A little more smooth than 15, but a little less kick than would like.

Crisp off the tongue leads to a mild warm caramel sip followed by an amazing mouthfeel and a sweet, distributed tide of lingering lemon bite