Southern Star Single Barrel High Rye Straight Bourbon

Barrel #00031 NOSE: Rye Spice, Brown Sugar, Marshmallow, Oak, Hay, Light Mustiness. Subsequent Pours also gained a little Orange Peel. NEAT: First Impression is Eggnog & Nutmeg (A note I LOVE). There's also Burnt Sugars, Hay with a Hint of Mustiness, Oak Tannins, Fall Spices (Cinnamon, Anise, Cardamom). Just the Right Amount of Spice, finishing with a Mild Warming in the chest. A Coating Aftertaste that reminds me of Crafty Root Beer or Sarsaparilla. SPLASH: Added Rye Bread to the Nose. Brings out some added Sweetness. but at the expense of some of the complexity it had neat. VERDICT: I pass the distillery often and finally got a minute to stop in. They've been around long enough now that they are releasing their own aged distillate in addition to the MGP they sourced when they first opened. After my experience with recent MGP products (Young, Overly Corny, and Overpriced) I specifically looked for something that was their own. I looked the bottle over and found "Produced and Bottled by Southern Distilling Company", so I thought I was safe. I got it home and looked again and I don't know how I missed it. Right there it was..."Distilled in Indiana". Not what I wanted, but man what a pleasant surprise. They opened in 2013 and the MGP they sourced was still some of the good stuff, and it's now around 7-8 years old to boot. Right in the sweet spot. I highly recommend this if it's available in your area. Just an FYI, I have since learned that they are distinguishing their distillate by placing the word "Paragon" in the names.