Act 8 Scene 2 Nose: Baking spices right up front, tons of clove, cinnamon, light anise, but it's there. Fruity sweetness follows with strawberry, dark cherry, and raisins. There is a base of brown sugar sweetness that shows up in the background. Palate: Just like the nose the palate starts spicy with the cinnamon and clove as well as classic rye spice. Then dark fruit sweetness takes over with brown sugar towards the end. A little hot on the first sip, but mellows out as you keep drinking. Thicc mouthfeel Finish: medium long dry finish along with dark chocolate. Warming. Leave it to Utah to create the perfect whiskey for cold weather. While it drinks hotter than 98.6 proof I can excuse it because the warmth as it goes down is perfect for midwinter nights 😉. The baking spices mixed with the wine finish creates a great balance of sweet and spice that tastes like Christmas. I was surprised by the dry finish but I think if the finish was sweet it would definitely be a little much. I think the dryness helps it, if that's your preference. High West continues to add more of its own distillate into it's blends as the years progress. While I have not tasted previous years' releases, if the quality is anything like this year then I will definitely look forward to more HW releases.