More bourbon from what can only be assumed is a group of con-artists, but their con game is strong and it's removed a few bucks from me. So after the god awful over priced st nick 13 and that awful 14 year rye...can rare perfect bourbon change my view of this trash company? Nose - Off the bat there's some pleasant vanilla's and caramels but also on hell of a lot of alcohol. None of the oaky goodness of an ECBP, none of the fruits of a good bartons, no MGP magical rye spices and sweetness, no turkey funk...it's just alcohol and some underlying sweetness. And it's not really that high a proof, they proofed this down (likely a bad decision). It's opening up and giving way to more oak but a very dried and tannic oak, some sweetness is starting to escape. I'm actually somewhat going to old carter batch 5 which smelled nothing of a traditional MGP but this is older and doesn't have any of those light coffee notes. And i'm back to too much alcohol. Corn alcohol is now coming out, a lotta corn. I'm struggling to think of a bourbon to pour next to this to compare it to. Old carter batch 5 it is. OK and there is more richness and sweetness on this. There's more of a lighter chocolate and coffee with some grainy wood while the perfection is deeper sweetness and deep milk chocolate but when you dig deeper and past the sweetness oak and bitter tannins come racing through, biting the nose. Water brings out nutty notes but not say a peanut but more say a chestnut. I can't uncoil this one in my head. Taste - Up front it's that rich sweetness and I'm instantly at full attention for this one. Vanilla and chocolate and caramel. The sweetness gives way for oak, bitter, biting alcohol, and a long very intense but very drying and alcohol forward finish. Water brings out more of the spice but again it isn't try, it's pepper and dang the kentucky hug hit me on this pour. I keep coming back to how much I love the up front sweetness and while I generally like a nice bold finish this one is hitting too hard. The old carter actually does have a similar profile in terms of opening sweet and turning up the spices, but it's much more mellow at first and then spice kick is more pleasant even if I find a lot of flavor notes off putting on the old carter, the start middle and end are actually very well done structurally. There's something so familiar about this whisky, it reminds me of being a new drinker and struggling with the rough edges on cheaper bourbons, but at the same time this has epic levels of sweet bourbon character. Over did the water now to go back and now I'm noticing acidity and almost a battery acid level of it with those spices. I'm starting to pull out the flaws and be more sure of myself that they're here. I'm getting a pretty common bourbon fruity note too but I can't pin point it. Oh you know what, I'm getting flinstone vitamins! I've noticed this on a few kentucky bourbons lately, old medley 12 year!!!! OMG, is this a high proof old medley 12 year? It's not as fruity as that and more tannins and oak but still similar for sure. Overall there's a lot of good stuff here to go with some off notes. There's plenty of complexity. But at the end I feel this was flawed, these weren't special casks, and it falls flat. I'm giving this a 2.5 as the complexity is up there. So 300 bucks...what in the hell? Sorry but this is unacceptable. This has to just stop. If you see more of this stuff from these guys, please just ignore it. This is just scummy marketing through and through from using an old stizel-weller brand name and labeling to their BS pricing.