Bottles of Blanton’s are tough to come by here in Virginia and often require a wait in line first thing on a Thursday morning or going to DC to pay $150+ for a bottle, both options I refuse to participate in. As luck would have it though, I didn’t have to do either for this bottle as my bourbon of the month club failed to notify their distributor of my departure which serendipitously resulted in a free bottle of Nulu Toasted bourbon and this Blanton’s single barrel select with a big Bourbon Festival 2021 Distillers Row Series sticker on it. The nose starts with a light-medium caramel with light oak spice followed by fruits of sautéed cinnamon apples and orange peel that transitions to a mild spice along with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, leather and light oak with no ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel that starts with a light caramel with light oak spice followed by fruits of sautéed cinnamon apples and orange peel followed by a toasted vanilla marshmallow then a Sichuan pepper spice that fades to ginger, cloves, nutmeg, leather and light oak with light ethanol burn. The finish is short with caramel apple, chocolate, mandarin oranges, toasted marshmallow, ginger, cloves, and light oak. Overall this is a solid everyday sipper that brings in those traditional bourbon flavors that lean toward a drying/spicy profile with those barrel spices and char taking over mid-palate and finishing short with citrus, chocolate and light barrel spices. The flavors seem a bit muted instead of the bold rich flavors I prefer, likely due to the proof it was bottled at and I’d be interested to taste this at a higher proof. I’m very happy to have this bottle in my liquor cabinet as it was a freebie and enjoyable, but it is not a whiskey I would chase nor pay the crazy secondary prices to replace once it is gone. There are already plenty of better options out there such as OF 1920, JD SBBP or Wild Turkey RB to name a few.