Rating: 15/23 I didn't particularly care for the bottle of Del Bac Mesquite I bought a couple of years ago, but this is cask strength and bottled by Lost Lantern, so I'm kind of hopeful that it's going to be a couple steps up. N: A lot like the regular Del Bac Mesquite, but fuller with more smoke and vanilla. There's that dry sort of tart bitterness to the mesquite smoke and there's sort of a black licorice side to it. The smoked meat is less sweet - more in the beef or even lamb range than the pork to beef range of the regular Del Bac Meqsquite. The apple is still there, though it's subdued and the burnt grass is increased a bit. I like this nose better so far, but I'm a bit worried still. P: That higher ABV really helps to fill this out. It's smoky and dry, giving a little bit of a peaty effect somewhere in the Laphroiag range with all of the other funky flavors. Some dry grass, a dash of minerality, and a few herbs I get wintergreen, pork, black licorice, vanilla, faint apple and orange, and a bold malty backing that avoids being overly sweet. There's a definite burn here, but that's expected for the proof. not much in the way of spice. F: Numbing peaty smoke - but not quite. Wintergreen, barbecued pork, burnt grass, a little wood, a mellow malty layer. There's actually quite a bit of wintergreen in both the palate and the finish. - Conclusion - This whole thing is very odd, but it does kind of work. I'm not blown away by it, but it makes me think of how much I hated Ardbeg Wee Beastie and wonder whether all that's missing here is some more age for this to really start making sense. I'd love to try this at 6 to 8 years. Does this beat regular Del Bac Mesquite (13/23)? Yes. Does it beat Corsair Wildfire? No. And I don't think it's that I prefer the Corsair's hickory smoke to Del Bac's mesquite smoke: I think that the Corsair is just a generally better executed product. Looking past the smoke, it's more balanced and complex, embracing the smoke, grain, malting, wood, and oxidization in a way that introduces smoke to American single malt without inundating it or creating an off-kilter profile. Pulling out Westland Peated (15/23), the two seem fairly competitive. This is obviously more assertive, whereas the Westland is (for once) more balanced. The Shin 10 (16/23) is another funky, off-kilter, young-seeming whiskey, but I find it to be more balanced and refined than this is, so I would take it. Most likely, I'm looking at a 15 here. Thanks for sharing this, @ctbeck11 ! I'm looking forward to trying some mesquite-smoked American single malts that have had some more time in the barrel once they presumably start coming to market, but I don't think these young ones are for me.