Rating: 13/23 I've heard very mixed opinions about this one, so I'm curious to try it. I'd never even heard of pomegranate wine before this was released, so I have minimal idea what to expect here. N: Starts of surprisingly faint for something with such an eccentric finish. then I start getting earthy, slightly vegetal notes. There's a faint hint of fruit with a little strawberry sweetness. Some kind of tannic wood. A somewhat tarter, richer side of the strawberry emerges. Then some spices in the clove realm with a hint of cardamom. I do smell the ethanol, but it's clean and not overpowering. Hints of cashew lead into some spice that's like dry cinnamon, cardamom, and clove. This really takes around 15 minutes to open up. Give it time. P: Sweet, malty, spicy. It burns substantially and is kind of harsh. There's a nectar character to this that gets kind of nutty like buckwheat, then brings in a bit of red fruitiness and orange peel - less than I'd expected though - before moving into a little dungeness crab or possibly rust. Some minerality hangs out in the corners. There's a definite funkiness throughout here in which I get waves of various spices (cinnamon, ginger, clover, cardamon, white pepper) mixed with young spirit, some bit of vegetal flavor and that particular profile of fruit. What it reminds me most of is actually Rabbit Hole Dereringer. The palate is unfortunately harsh. For a second, I thought it might just be spicy, but I've concluded that it actually is harsh. F: Numbing from the spice. Somewhat vegetal with a bit of earthiness and faintly present fruit. A kind of tartness from the fruit on the long finish. Not a super interesting or enjoyable conclusion, but not bad. - Conclusion - I thought I might be criticizing a syrupy sweet profile here, but actually I'm pretty fine with the wine's influence. This reminds me most of Rabbit Hole Dereringer. Whereas the Rabbit Hole goes too far with the sherry influence, this stays within a reasonable range and has a profile that seems innately more suited to the funky wind influence. That said, this is clearly young and harsh. I say that about the Rabbit Hole as well, but this is moreso. Honestly though, if you'd asked me which one had the pomegranate wine finish, I'd have guessed the Rabbit Hole. I don't dislike this and I did know that it would be young, but this just seems too young. What astonishes me though is how good the pomegranate wine influence is. A release of this with 10 years in a somewhat neutral barrel followed by a pomegranate wine finish? I'd be excited to try that. As for a rating, I love the potential here, but the youthfulness of the distillate seems quite flawed. Considering the harshness, a 14 seems as high as I can go. I can faintly imagine a 15, but I don't think so. I considered as low as a 12, but I spent most of my time waffling between a 13 and a 14. Because of how harsh it is, I landed on a 13. This was really a fascinating experience. It was absolutely not what I expected. And although I can't say I loved this, I'm excited by the potential for future pomegranate wine finishings from Milk & Honey. Thanks so much, @PBMichiganWolverine , for the sample of this! Milk & Honey's success with such an unusual cask was eye opening and I'm looking forward to trying some of their older releases when they become available.