Dark golden color; shades of light orange: russetmuscat. The aroma has plenty of heat off the top; diesel fumes. Corn syrup, maple, caramel and deep cherry. Musty oak finished in a dark lacquer. Spicy orange rind and seeded rye bread. The aroma is pretty intense,and can burn the nostrils if you get too close. The flavor is first a rubber eraser. (Don't lie, you've licked one.) After that it's a lot of prickly spicy stuff: lots of black pepper, rye, cinnamon and bitter carraway seeds. The oak is just this side of punishing: lots of barrel char, burnt wood spice and sawdust. The finish is a curious cherry liqueur smoothness that acts as an apology to its prior harshness. Burnt embers and charcoal ashes. Cracked black pepper. Sawdust and burnt oak char. A pleasant dark chocolate at the finish. Rowan's Creek is a challenging bourbon whose time in the barrel was well-spent, picking up a full slate of woody and spicy flavors.