Rock Town Arkansas Hickory-Smoked Whiskey

This is a strange critter...which, to be fair, is why I took the risk on getting a bottle. I grew up helping my dad smoke brisket on the pit in the backyard, and some of my best memories of growing up involve the smell of a whole lot of smoky hardwood. The idea of non-peated, smoked whiskey is one I find intriguing and am starting to explore a bit. I gotta tell ya, my first whiff of this was not encouraging - "burning rubber shoe sole" was my initial though. A few minutes in the glass, though, and it opens up to an assertive smoke that can only come from a wood like hickory, and a pronounced cereal sweetness. It's like if you had a bowl of Lucky Charms around a campfire. The palate, much like the nose, is this bizarre yin-yang of slightly acrid wood smoke and sweet, gentle, vanilla-tinged grain. If you like setting Grape Nuts on fire, finding a bottle of this is going to be the day your ship came in. For me, it's an intriguingly bold experiment. After sleeping on it, I'm giving this three stars for now - I love the boldness and chutzpah, but there's some growing to do. I'm also hoping that, perhaps, the bottle opens up a bit more with time and sheds some of the initial harshness...and, if it does, I'll bump up the score accordingly.

Hints of basement and wet rags