This was brought over by a friend along with its sister bottle. Both were purchased directly from the distillery and picked up at the sinking castle itself despite the winding and icy roads. Batch 1 initially excited me with its higher proof. I believe this was bottle 3000-something. Labeled as 3 years I will say it’s youth is present from start to finish. The color is light golden. The nose is sparse and a bit undecided as to what it wants to get across. There’s a dose of green apple and caraway. No true vanilla, not much wood to speak of and honestly not much rye grain either. The palate is thin with... well, not much. Something like lemongrass leads to caraway and then a surge of candy cigarette sweetness and then... just gone. I don’t know what was paid for this but I’d be hard pressed to go over $18 if I had no idea that this was a flagship bottling from an upstart distillery down the road. Punch line - buy batch 2.