Rating: 14/23 Bottle kill tasting. This has had quite a bit of air. N: Bright, bitter hops that border on lemony with sort of a shortbread backing. Very slight hints of grain and malt. Green banana, sort of vegetal. A bit of buckwheat funkiness. It's not bad, but that hop smell is too extreme and the balance seems off. "Challenging" is the main word that comes to mind. Very faint meaty savoriness. Actually, that's a little sulphur. How did I not notice that before? P: This is more balanced than the nose. It's very sharply hoppy with bitter herbs paired with bright lemon, graphite, and a dash of peppermint (maybe I should look up the definition of "paired"). Then there's a nice, mellow layer of shortbread with sort of a bit of cocoa powder tossed in or something coming out of the graphite. It isn't fully chocolate shortbread, but there's a decent amount of that happening. I get a hint of something fruity. It's tart, but also sweet and red, and understated, sort of like a thin layer of raspberry jam. I'm liking this palate decently, but the complexity is minimal and the balance is kind of off considering how numbing this is. It's like a few distinct flavors were put near each other but not fully combined. It's kind of a brutalist palate, actually. F: Numbing hops. Some bright herbal character. A little of that jam. Maybe some lemon and shortbread near the back. - Conclusion - I like this well enough. I can sip it. I don't like how the hops numb my palate though, so at best it's situational. Really, the palate's balance comes together nicely, but it is too numbing. This is much better than my first impression and it's almost like a nice cocktail. Side by side, this is more interesting and mature than Dewar's 15 (13). Comparisons are difficult with this one, but I feel like this somewhat heavily aerated form is better than the Dewars. Copperwork's New Oak Cask Finished Gin (17) seems better than this does. Weird comparisons here, for sure. So I'm looking at a 15 to 16. I'm not feeling good about giving this a 16. The balance really does work here, but maybe only because of that numbing character, which is itself a problem. Also, that sulphuric nose can't be dismissed. I'm thinking a 15. Actually, I'm going back down to a 14. I just can't go super high with how numbing and aggressive the hops are.