Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon

Wonderfully complex. Grassy.

Distinct rye. Banana on first smell on the nose. Smells like a higher rye mashbill. At the distillery restaurant!

The nose on this is maybe unlike anything I've had at this stage: a mosaic of bing cherry, spicy cloves, brown leaves, sugary syrup, prickly ribbon candy. The sugars -- mostly chocolate covered cherries -- are just off the charts. It's borderline Cognac, or a tart, sour cherry liqueur. The cherry is really the dominant factor in the sniff, it rides that 94-proof deeper than the COVID test goes. Taste is more of that sour cherry. The prickly nature manifests like ribbon candy, black licorice, cloves, and potpourri. Also some lemongrass, mint, and herbal character. Some prickly oak dries out the syrupy stuff. Molasses/toffee at the swallow. The finish is borderline cherry liqueur. I am not sure what kind of barrels this is aged on, but it adds a deep, woody character to match the cherry; mahogany lingers. With the overwhelming amount of barrel tannins, I'm guessing sherried? It's got a sweet, puckery finale, with more of that cherry liqueur. This is a dessert digestif if I've ever had one, an apt pairing with a chocolate lava cake or something that could match it's overwhelming richness.