Rating: 12/23 N: Kind of smoky with a creosote woodiness. It smells fairly rich, but not incredibly strong. I get some apple with dry rye spices and herbs. There's a dash of light floral character here too. P: Light floral notes spring out along with dry rye spices before giving way to some apple and moderately lightly cooked caramel that occasionally borders slightly on banana. I get plenty of mint too. There's a bit of a harsh burn here unfortunately too. The sweetness seems about right - it's mostly dry, but there's enough sweetness to add some life without being more than a bit cloying. The wood with creosote shows through just enough to help balance the sweetness; despite its presence I'd still call this a somewhat lightly flavored whiskey. The highish proof really helps to keep this from tasting too light. F: The edge on the sweetness dissipates a bit, leaving some more apple richness and a hint of green banana with the wood. And still some mint. I feel like there's more going on here, but I'm having trouble picking it out. The lighter elements fade here, leaving me with a better impression of this whiskey as it finishes. - Conclusion - This is certainly better than Templeton 4, so it's at least a 12. Russell's Reserve 6 tastes much more mature, more rich, and a bit more complex, so this is certainly not as good as that, capping it at a 15. Realistically, I think that this is closer in quality to Templeton 4 than to Russell's Reserve 6 (it certainly tastes like this isn't more than 4 years old). So a 15 isn't happening. I think this means that I'm going to be landing on a 13 for this one, but I still can definitely imagine giving this a 12. Actually, that burn here is just too much. I'm going with a 12. Thanks to @ctbeck11 for the sample.