Great scotts....I haven't reviewed this? Well, I have actually - Mike and I over on topshelf whisky (shameless plug to the 10 people that'll read this) did review it, but I could of sworn I did it here. Anyway, I'm trying to go through my bottles and catch up on reviews. It's staggeringly difficult to catch up and worse as I've become more and more a fan of obscure stuff...distiller STILL doesn't let you add bottles without using a damn phone! OK so as always I write these reviews off the glass in hand, not based on prior notes so if this comes off different from the video, sue me :) Nose - The first note I get is just PX sherry and it's over powering the bourbon in a way I don't recall on prior pours. And I have to say, I like! It's red fruits, berries, chewy red gummy bears, and then that distinct new charred barrel oak just comes in to remind you this is a bourbon and not a malt. A deeper drive and you quickly get back to the corn grains and that vanilla and caramel distinct bourbon profile. As I dig more into I get hints of apple and cinnamon, barton distillate is coming in strong. I however believe there is also some heaven hill in here which I'm not getting on the nose. That said there's a densely packed oak and corn element that isn't opening up and likely won't without water, so stand by. Water - actually not doing much here. What it does is brings the whisky together and makes it harder to pickup distinct notes. Instead it brings that sweet bourbon and sweet sherry together. I'm not getting rum notes fyi, not sure what if anything rum did here. Taste - Unlike the nose the first taste is unmistakably bourbon. It's hot bourbon, it's a bit unrefined, it's a bit aggressive, and it's AWESOME. The bourbon brings a bit of well aged oak and spice refinement upfront but the finish is hot and has a bit of a kick telling me there's some youth here. Research now tells me this is something like 10-11 year barton with 7 year heaven hill (and that might explain the cost, heaven hill "juice" isn't cheap even at that age). Figs and dates from the PX with both milk and dark chocolate on the finish. Slightly nutty elements come into play here and there, nothing distinct like say a peanut but it's there and it shows up middle and end. This is so rich, so deep, so full bodied...I absolutely am in love. Water doesn't really change much for me. The finish is now a bit more meaty and dense, and a bit more prominent. When I first got this I really struggled to pick the distillery they sourced the bourbon from. Over time I eventually decided it was barton, but I thought a weird off barrel or two were in here. Turns out they used some 7 year heaven hill barrels, I knew something was up....and I was also wrong. I think that 7 year bourbon does some good and bad. It adds some really cool complexity and nuance in the bourbon profile, but it also makes this whisky drink a bit younger and a bit less refined than batch 1 did. Overall - 200 dollar bourbon and it's worth that all day. Yeah I get it. It's bourbon, it has a bite you might not want on a 200 dollar product. It's not as sophisticated as a 21 year 43% single malt. Yeah but it's CS in your face rich complex bourbon goodness with an inanely good cask finishing that's added layer upon layer of complexity. These are just epic finishing casks and this is a bourbon lover's dream pairing of casks that enhances the bourbon, adds some new elements, but never dreams of over shadowing a very interesting and nice bourbon blend. My issue with four gate has always been that when they don't do some really cool finishing, they still want 180+++ for their whisky and I can't justify that. One even was 300??? But for this one? Guys....they hit this one out of the park! 3.75 out of 5. It's legit THAT FREAKING GOOD! And I might even debate coming back and giving this a 4.0, but it won't be based on this bottle which is nearly done. Thankfully I have back(s?)....I might go get a 3rd bottle tomorrow. Guys for 200 bucks you don't get better bourbon in today's market. Unless you win a lottery for a btac and even then, this is better than a lot of btac. A 2017 GTS this isn't....but I'd take this over the 2020 eagle rare all day.