Without a doubt Crafthouse Cocktails are making the best RTD's on the market. At 14.9% for less than $5, not only does this register as the most boozy RTD by Crafthouse but it even surpasses it's cheapest competition in Monaco Cocktails, a cheap brand that takes pride in providing two shots in all it's canned mixed drinks averaging 9% ABV. Monaco usually sell for around $3.50 so for not much more you can get a much tastier RTD that packs close to 6% more punch. Seriously, let that sink in. This is hands down the best value on the market both in terms of taste and booziness. How amazing is that? Now on to the actual experience. The aroma is pleasant and hits the check marks of all the listed ingredients. It smells overwhelmingly of lemon juice and honey and despite the high ABV you cannot make out an alcohol smell. Dive deeper and you get the smell of the bourbon. Yes, you can actually tell it's made from bourbon, all the more impressive given that it's so far in the background. Rounding out the smell is a bitter smell that's hard to pinpoint. And wouldn't you know it, this does have aromatic bitters in it. Amazing. Now the Gold Rush cocktail can be thought of as an American, contemporary twist on the Whiskey Sour. Indeed the ingredients are pretty similar save for the use of bourbon over a rye and honey instead of sugar and it's usually not served with egg whites as the thicker presence of the honey makes the cocktail feel well rounded. If you drank this without knowing what, exactly, a Gold Rush should taste like you would immediately assume you had been served a Whiskey Sour with a sweeter character. Indeed the honey does a great job of providing well-defined sweetness that counterbalances the prominent tartness from the lemon. The bitters reveal themselves at the mid palate and add some great complexity at the finish. They're present but they don't overpower any of the other ingredients. It's a perfect balance between sweet, sour, bitters and bourbon. I'm shocked at how sophisticated this tastes. Matter of fact, this tastes like an actual cocktail you would get at a mid level bar that has a Whiskey Sour variant on the menu on a particularly busy night where the bartender took an extra 20 minutes to hand you your drink after you ordered it. The only give away that this is an RTD is that the bourbon tastes fairly stale which unfortunately stands out given that the rest of the ingredients taste fairly fresh. But as far as RTD's go, I'm impressed if they taste better or at least comparable to what a dive bar has to offer. For this to come close to what a mid level cocktail bar has to offer on their off night is absolutely stunning. Perhaps one day we will figure out exactly how to replicate the fresh taste of a cocktail. Until then, Crafthouse Cocktails has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this offering.