Nose - mint, black cherry, plum, baked apple, marshmallow, cereal grain, dark chocolate, walnut, anise, nutmeg, toasted oak, black pepper, coffee, toffee, vanilla, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - caramel, plum, cherry, apple, vanilla, nutmeg, allspice, spearmint, ginger, black pepper, hazelnut, rocky minerality, sour oak, lemon pith, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short with caramel, plum, baking spice, and sour oak flavors. Something got me thinking about Metallica today, and my mind immediately went to this whiskey. If nothing else, the branding for this one is on point. The nose is grainy, or maybe it’s more of a mineral quality I’m detecting. There’s a hefty amount of dark fruit and confectioneries with a touch of rye spice in the background. The palate is similarly grainy and dark, but there’s some spearmint, bitter citrus, nuttiness, and sour oak to be found as well. So honestly I was expecting more from this one. It’s better than average and there are the foundations of some nice aromas and flavors, but it screams youth and imbalance. Unfortunately, everything nice quickly turns bitter, sour, and grainy. Maybe they just played the wrong combination of Metallica songs when aging this batch. More likely, they just didn’t play them long enough. Many thanks to @ContemplativeFox for providing the sample!