Honey orange color like cough syrup. Leaves a bar graph of lace around the middle of the glass. The first sniff is finished wood, like a lacquer or paint varnish. This dovetails into some sticky kindergarten glue. There is a lot of barrel wood that manifests as sawdust at first, then becomes prickly and spicy like rye or black pepper. Buried somewhere under there are a handful of almonds and one strand of black licorice.  The nose definitely benefits from breathing, because at first it's just consolidated fusel alcohol. The flavor first has a hit of rye and black pepper. Shortly after, wood char takes over, and lo, it is black. The oily texture matches some of the resinous, oily wood notes. In the middle of the sip, there is a sweeter respite -- toffee and brown sugar -- but it never strays too far from it's blackened center. Finishes first with charcoal briquettes, then a kind of grassy/earthy second wave, which matches it's chalky, ashy remnants. Then there is a flurry of interesting, rather contrasting elements: chocolate, hazelnut, maple syrup, and more black pepper. The tail end has a citric, lemon-drop tartness that I assume is the barrel tannins It's not a harsh Bourbon, but it's not an easy sipper either. It's mildly challenging due to the combination its proof and its heavily-wooded components.