For the past two years, late-summer, either August or early-September before the season officially changes, Fine Wine & Good Sprits has received bottles of both Rebel Distiller's Collection and Ezra Brooks Distiller's Collection, and since I noticed them, the idea of picking them up has been kicking around in my mind. In particular, the Ezra Brooks appeals to me because I enjoyed Old Ezra 7 Year back when I picked up a bottle at the tail end of 2019, but Rebel appeals to me too, since I've enjoyed Rebel 100 as a budget bourbon. Thing is, they always come down the pipeline when I have more enticing ways of allocating my whisky budget. Even at $34.99 for Ezra and $39.99 for Rebel, there just always seems to be something else I'd prefer, but this year, I bit the bullet and picked up both in one go. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that Old Ezra's back in stock, but not in the same way. By this I mean, when I picked up the Old Ezra in 2019, it was right at the announcement of its appearance on the Whisky Advocate top 20 and it's price was $39.99. And I guess what appearing on that list means is a bump in price, because now, a mere two years later, the FW&GS has it for $59.99. Now, when I say I liked it, I don't mean I liked it at $60. Plenty of reviewers tout how they don't judge a whisky based on price, but I'm not that reviewer. I don't get sent free samples, I pay for my whisky myself, and as such, the tag has to be worth the experience. And given that $59.99 is also the price of the Maker's Mark Wood Series and Knob 12, do you see where I'm going with this? But I'm talking about Rebel here and not the Old Ezra, really I just wanted to get this off my chest (though since both of these are made by LuxCo, I figured I'd throw this up here if they have someone monitoring social media and they're wondering why no one's buying the latest batch; seriously, bring the price back down and I'll be more than happy to return). When it comes to the decision to pick up the Rebel Distiller's Collection, it's all about the wheat. Going back ages, my favorite bourbon in my 20s was Maker's Mark's standard 90 proof bottling. I didn't know at the time that part of the reason I liked the flavor profile was that it was a wheated whisky, but since learning this (in addition to learning Larceny is wheated, and I love some Larceny), I've started to seek the wheat. And at this price, a barrel proof wheated bourbon just makes sense. Sort of. I say sort of there because so many of my tasting reviews here are a combination of me reacting to what I've read previous reviewers say of a particular bottle and me comparing said bottles to bottles I've had in the past. And I say sort of because, as someone mentions elsewhere in their tasting, this is good, but not quite as good as a bottle of Marker's Mark Cask Strength. Now, in the past that wouldn't have meant much because Maker's Mark Cask Strength was $59.99. But this year that price has dropped to $39.99, the same price as this Rebel, and around here, the Maker's Cask Strength has been going on sale for $36.99, so it strikes me, is Rebel Distiller's worth it when you can get Maker's for the same price or cheaper if on sale? The answer isn't a definitive "no." It's not a strong "no." Because this Rebel Distiller's Edition isn't bad. And when I say it isn't bad, I'm not saying that in the sense of trying to convince myself I didn't waste my money (like I did with my recent tasting of Elijah Craig Barrel Select). I don't regret picking this up, it's just...not quite as good as the Maker's is. I mean, they're similar in profile. The nose here is strong with cherries and cinnamon, and at cask strength you do get a hint of ethanol here that I remember being on the batch of Maker's, but I can dig on that. The palate here is standard wheated with more cherry and cinnamon and the occasional bubblegum note coming through that's also nice, but where this differs from the Maker's is that there's this underlying plastic note that doesn't ruin the experience but mars it ever so slightly and makes me wonder after my atrocious experience with the Elijah Craig Circle Liquors Barrel Select Pick if I'm just not having very good luck with the barrel select bourbons I've been getting my hands on. In a game of would you rather have, I don't necessarily see this coming out on top against Maker's, but I'd rather have another bottle of this than that Elijah Craig (I'm still a little ticked off at dropping my cash on that stinker). I'm giving this a 2.75 because I gave Writer's Tears that rating and I'd rather have another bottle of this than that (at least this was interesting), but obviously I'm not comparing flavor profiles there because this and that are apples and oranges. This tastes good enough to go down relatively easily (I drink enough cask strength whiskies now that the proof isn't that hard on the palate), but it's not particularly memorable. Here's to hoping the Ezra Distiller's Collection will prove better. I guess I can't complain too much: at this price, to get a barrel proof bourbon that tastes this good isn't bad, but it doesn't have me waiting for next year's batch with bated breath either.