To finish up my Blanton’s series, I got a sample from TWE of the Blanton’s SFTB that has a hefty 64.8%. These appear to be costing $150 at retail but the secondary has jumped that price up to $300+. The nose starts with a thick dense caramel with high oak spice followed by pecan covered cinnamon rolls along with fruits of fresh baked apples, Morello cherry jam and freshly peeled blood orange then vanilla gelato that transition to a Mexican spiced hot chocolate along with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, vintage leather and polished mahogany with high ethanol burn. The taste is a viscous mouthfeel starting with a thick dense caramel with high oak spice followed by pecan covered cinnamon rolls along with fruits of fresh baked apples, pears, cherries jubilee and blood orange juice then vanilla gelato with dark Hershey’s chocolate syrup that transitions to a high and drying spice that fades to barrel spices of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, sage, leather and tannic oak with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with thick caramel-covered candy apples, cherries jubilee, dark chocolate, mandarin orange peel, burnt marshmallow, ginger, cloves, sage, over-steeped black tea and drying tannic oak. The nose on this is incredible with all those traditional bourbon flavors ramped up to a 10 with some spicy hot chocolate which carries over to the taste but unfortunately brings in a high spice and dryness on the mid-palate that fades slightly to barrel spices before the long finish that starts fruity with those traditional notes but quickly veers towards a tannic high spice that overpowers those fruit flavors. I tried adding water which sometimes lowers those spice elements but it didn’t matter how much water I added as that spice on the mid-palate and dry finish remained for me. Side by side with the Gold and SFTB, for me the Gold is the better whiskey that has a better balance without those tannic dry flavors that I’ve found on the Original, Black and the SFTB. Shockingly, I thought this would be my favorite out of the Blanton’s lineup but it turns out that this will finish second place. The final rankings are Blanton’s Gold (4.0), SFTB (3.75), Original (3.0) and Black (2.5).