This is okay but not my favorite. The nose strikes me as rather thin, with mainly vanilla and some cinnamon and other spices. This is accompanied by a faintly sharp or sour note that is hard for me to describe but that I find unpleasant. There's also a bit of ethanol in the mix. In the aroma that sour note is muted, but in the taste it is much stronger, and for me that really brings down the enjoyment here. Apart from that there is more vanilla and some nice rye spice that almost reminds me of sichuan peppercorns. The finish is probably the best part, with the sourness fading away, leaving only a taste of burnt sugar, spice, and vanilla. My impressions of this whiskey have varied over the course of the bottle, and I should note that my experience now in writing this review is probably toward the low end of the range of reactions I've had. But it's not like I ever thought it was superb. I'm finding that a certain kind of sourness is one of the biggest turnoffs for me when it comes to liquor, and while this isn't the worst I've had in that regard, it does tread a bit into that dangerous region. Overall it is an okay rye and I don't dislike it, but I probably won't get this again. On the plus side, it is affordable at about $23 a bottle. I think the problem is that in that price range (or even lower) I can get bourbons that I like better, so it's hard to justify getting this rye instead.