Batch: 01 Bottle: 1181 Another gift from a friend, who really seems to be rocketing his way to the top of my list with these gestures. To be honest, I think this one may just be a way to convince me that Cleveland, his hometown, isn't the sweaty, smoggy blemish on Ohio, although it's certainly not as bad as Cincinnati. Cleveland Underground, their standard bourbon in the tall bottle, was by far one of the worst whiskeys I have ever had, for what I am positive is the fake aging process they try to replicate using pressure instead of time. There is absolutely no substitute for time, ever, and although I'm sure this will be good since it is barrel proof, the addition of black cherry wood will probably also upset the balance that may normally have come to fruition if only this whiskey was given it's proper and deserved time to age. The color is a rich, darker hue, but honestly less than I would expect of a barrel strength whiskey of even 2 years of age. Sadly, the color must come from the additional wood used, since we know this hasn't even rested for 2 years, given it's lack of "straight." A very clean and fruity ethanol is found at the top of the nose, with the cherry wood being very evident, but only this wood, and not anything from the original oak. Some lemon follows this, and the ethanol fades before ever becoming too potent. In all regards, this smells like it would be a fantastic cherry wood aged whiskey, but since this distillery claims it to be a very low aged bourbon instead, the expectations shift, and will likely cause more of a loss than if those terms were omitted entirely. The initial flavor is packed full of cherry, almost as if it were simply fresh juice, but evolve into very young grain, especially corn, soon after. Another loss from this distillery is the choice to omit the mash bill from our knowledge, so I can only guess that this is a very high corn bourbon base. Rye is definitely a choice here over wheat, however, because I do get some familiar hot cinnamon gum penetration, although it's light, showcasing that the rye is a low percentage used. The finish is hot and close to raw ethanol, but nothing more expected than from 115 proof. There's a slight baking spice that also surfaces around the finish, which thankfully gives some body to the otherwise raw and grain-focused finish. The cycle always resets with fresh cherry after each new sip. There is almost nothing else on my mind other than how young this is. If not for the added cherry wood, this would somehow taste younger than new make I've had right off the still. However, the cherry wood really does hammer home great, unique flavors, probably since it's spent almost as much time in contact with the whiskey than the oak did. As predicted before, if this was marketed as a young American whiskey aged in black cherry wood, this would honestly be very good, although still equally unique and limited in it's uses. However, this distillery just had to jump on the bourbon resurgence, and, even worse, they didn't even have the dignity to let it age even a few years. No, actually, even worse than that was thinking that they could somehow shortcut the aging process, cheating the system in hopes that they could sell their product even faster and not have to worry about the wait. And if you thought that was the worst thing, it can only be topped by someone actually having convinced others that using pressure on the barrels was somehow related to time. Cleveland, not only have you made a huge public smear on the bourbon industry with that dumbass idea, but you convinced others to give you money for it. As always in these situations, I'm not mad, but instead jealous that you managed to make even bigger fools out of your customers than you did of yourselves. But hey, money solves all problems, and this makes you set by one more bottle.