Nose: Rich dark cinnamon bark, ethyl forward, hints of vanilla. I decided to let this open up for about 20 mins or so, to see what would happen, glad I did, not that it wasn't pleasant enough but after letting it breath a bit, along with the cinnamon bark and vanilla you get: hints of apricot and white pear, a nice almond note and some orange circus peanut marzipan. The complexity really opens up and this is completely better than the old MGP Boss Hog in my view. Front loaded with brown sugar, vanilla followed with the ethyl laced oak with some apple cider tartness through the middle this subsides pleasantly into a warm cinnamon finish. This is too bright to have a lot of malted sugars, though the finish does enjoy just a bit of maltiness. Those sweet fruit notes from the nose aren't all that prevalent here, there is more of a nice warm honey on rye bread feeling, with just a bit of allspice and dill notes as well. While the nose opens up to be a smashing 5.0, at the 250 ish USD price this generally carries I would hope for just a bit more complexity in the body, that price point-complexity ratio is going to bump it down somewhat on the final score. The age and proof still make this a walloping good rye to reserve for a special occasion. Cheers!