I was given a well opened, by that I mean exposed to air for a while, sample of Stellum. I'm not sure it needs the extra air but oh well, from the top of the glencairn it is soft, sweet spices and hints of dark caramels. Certainly a pleasing nose, if not really an exceptional one. Out of the gate up front we get the sweetness of the moderately aged high rye stock, the warm peppery cinnamon kicks in through the middle, the caramel sugars show up just in time, before it all just disappears. No real long finish but very smooth going down. A lack of barrel bitterness makes this again, a pleasant, just not exceptional drink. The vanilla caramel corn notes combined with the rye spices are enough to make it a fairly rounded and full profile, just don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. I like what Barrell has done with this, after all they are pretty good at crafting these blends, if it came in for about 10 dollars less and well below the 50$ mark it would be an easy thumbs up. Considering I can buy Rare Breed for about the same, for me it's more of a one off kind of deal. Assuming they are trying to make this a mid tier permanent product, this isn't a bad start. All and all it's nice drinker, but I would look for deals on this rather than just go out and buy it. Cheers!