Rating: 15/23 Today is Juneteenth, so to celebrate while tying whiskey into the occasion I'm opening a bottle of Uncle Nearest 1856 to sip while I watch the company's documentary about Nearest Green - possible creator of the Lincoln County Process, Jack Daniel's first master distiller, and emancipated former-slave. N: Light with some slightly aggressive young wood. Some sort of spices come out of the wood, but I'm having trouble placing them. They're more smoky and musty than I usually get. Kind of a floral fruitiness like bubblegum. Something a hint meaty suggesting that this is not very old. I can smell some of the corn and maybe a dash of rye. For a moment, I got something faintly in the peanut shells or peanuts range. P: Pretty smooth at first sip. Not the fullest profile, but it does avoid being excessively thin. There's a nice refreshing sweetness to it that turns into fresh apples mixed with a bit of cotton candy and bubble gum. This isn't sweet like Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 so much as it is clean without other flavors overpowering the sweetness. There is a little bit of that rough distillate meatiness to the profile though (fortunately it is really faint). Some sort of faint floral character. There are spices throughout with a rye prickliness and some flavors of fresh ginger and some substantial heat. There's a little harshness, but it's not too bad. Some minerals come out at times, but they have a bit of a cleaner, stonier flavor than the classic Dickel vitamins. There's something light that's a tad tropical, tasting in the honey-banana-maple range. Combining these, elements, this strikes me as surprisingly similar to the Cadenhead's 25 year old Tullibardine that I have. I wouldn't call this a terribly complex palate, but it picks a thing and it does a good job at it. Not an amazing job, mind you, but a good one. It's mostly balanced with a clean, youthful profile. On occasion, that's what I want. Every once in a while, I get suggestions of peanut shells or even peanuts, but they're rare and small. F: Spicy with some heat and a clean layer of sweet water. Raw ginger root. Faint corn comes through with a dash of rye, going nicely with the other flavors. - Conclusion - This is solid, but I'm not loving it. It's easy enough to sip, but it really goes all in on that ginger and honey profile. It's not complex, novel, or just plain tasty enough for me to want to get another bottle, unfortunately. Even Buffalo Trace (12) strikes me as fuller with more woody complexity than this has. Of course, this is very dry, so it won't have that same fullness of a sweet whiskey. I really like that dry young wood layer to this, but I wish there were more going on alongside it. It has some of that subtle but commanding wood presence that Russell's Reserve 10 has, yet some of the distillate's imperfections still show through on both the nose and palate. Although it's a malt whisky, the Cadenhead's Tullibardine 25 (18) does have substantial elements that are similar to ones in this. The Tullibardine absolutely crushes this in terms of complexty, balance, and maturity though. This is far from being without merit, but I can tell that it isn't on the same level. So right now I'm looking in the 13 to 16 range based on the comparisones with Buffalo Trace and Tullibardine. I need more comparisons to narrow this down. Old Tub isn't as full, but it's more complex and balanced. Still, I don't think that its overall profile is better. It's in the range of this though. Blackened oddly tastes a bit more like a sweet floral full rye than this does. I didn't expect that. This is drier whereas the Blackened has more of that Templeton 4 vibe. I'd probably take this over the Blackened, but maybe not on a fresh palate. Elijah Craig Small Batch tastes mellow with less wood and more sweetness than usual in comparison. I'm not actually sure which I prefer. Wild Turkey 101 tastes off in comparison. Russell's Reserve 10 is more balanced, but it has some more funk with at times slightly off flavors. To some extent, I also get the feeling that this wants to be IW Harper 15, but just isn't mature and balanced enough. And IW Harper 15 isn't even that good. I think this is roughly on par with Elijah Craig Small Batch and Russell's Reserve 10, so it's getting a 15. I'd really hoped for better here. Some fine whiskey has been produced using the Lincoln County Process - look no further than George Dickel Bottled In Bond or Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof. This, however, is a mostly forgettable bottle that's priced well above what it's worth. If this were under $40, it could be a good deal. As it is, I can't recommend it. Fascinatingly, this was $50 on sale from the cheapest place I could find it when I bought it. Now, it's pretty easy to find at $45. I can't say I'd recommend it at that price, but I wouldn't expect anyone to seriously regret that purchase (though I am having flashbacks to passing on a bottle of George Dickel Bottled In Bond at $40, which I'm sure would have been better than this). When this was up at $60, that definitely was regret territory. What I do have to say for this though is that because its flavors are so aggressive, they do stand out. The subtle imperfections could fade over the course of an evening, leaving some better rounded forms of the other aspects. It might be a good dram to end the evening on.