The nose starts with a sweetness that reminds me of opening a fresh bag of marshmallows then rich caramel followed with chocolate covered candied nuts (leaning towards peanut brittle) then fruits of caramelized banana, cherries jubilee, apple pie filling and orange zest before old leather and polished mahogany finishing with spearmint, light barrel spices of cloves, ginger, red hots candy and a high ethanol burn. The taste starts with a full mouthfeel leading with a big Kentucky hug of rich caramel then comes dark chocolate covered candied nuts leading to fruits of banana pudding, cherry cough syrup, apple streusel, and orange zest that veers towards a medium drying tannic spice before fading to spearmint then barrel spices of ginger, cloves, old leather and ashy oak with high ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with salted roasted peanut shells, spearmint, ashy oak, old leather, banana pudding, orange zest, apple streusel, and dark chocolate covered toasted marshmallow. This is a big and bold whiskey that brings in a balanced nose of those traditional bourbon flavors of chocolate, nuts, citrus, leather and oak with some earthy spices that carries over to the palate but has an off-putting medium tannic spice mid-palate that throws off the balance before fading to earthy spices and a medium finish with those traditional flavors coming back for one last encore before this whiskey performance ends. Old Carter sources very solid to absolutely outstanding bourbon, but their bourbons often, but not always, tend to lean towards a bitter note on the mid-palate that might work for some, but always throws it off for me. At $200+ dollars and what seems like a cult-like status now, I’d drink the batches and single barrels at a bar to ensure you like it before diving into a full bottle purchase.