Russell's Reserve 13 Year Bourbon (2021 Release)

The nose starts with a mix of dusty old leather bound books, cream cheese frosting and orange zest then a sweet powdered sugar dusted chocolate torte and toasted walnuts followed by cinnamon spiced apple streusel and baked cherry pie that transitions to spearmint, cloves and polished antique furniture with high ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with a mix of dusty old leather bound books, cream cheese frosting and orange zest then a spicy mocha and almond croissant followed by cinnamon spiced apple streusel and baked cherry pie that transitions to spearmint, cloves and slightly bitter oak spice with high ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with red hot candy, sautéed caramel apples, cloves, spearmint, dusty leather bound books and polished mahogany. This manages to bring in those traditional bourbon notes with old oak and a high rye spice that is well balanced but leans towards a mild bitter oak and higher spice than I'd prefer. It's still an incredible bourbon that I'd be happy to drink any day and was a great VFM bottle at $70, but sadly all the flippers have grabbed these up and are pricing it at $600+ today. Thankfully @soonershrink was kind enough to provide me with a sample to try this one as I'm not trying to feed the flippers anytime soon.

Oak, great heat and finish. Seriously awesome if you love oak.

Nose- fruit nuts. Hint of floral. Taste- sugar cookie, light pepper Finish- this was a surprise. Very intense. Long lasting. A very dramatic exit. Rated up for the surprise finish factor. Very unexpected and unique.

Cinnamon spice, extra nice.

Nose is great. Flavor is spicy, tongue drying, not sweet. To me, the recent hype is just hype

Dope