MOTHER EARTH SPIRITS AMERICAN SINGLE MALT (Batch 40/Bottle 282-Aged 2 Yrs) NOSE: Leather, Cedar, Orange Peel, Tobacco, Straw, Apple, Dried Floral. Nose on the empty glass resembles inside of a Humidor. NEAT: Grilled Fruit, Smoke, Leather, and Almond up front. Slightly Building Bitterness on the sides and back of the tongue. Mild burn on the finish with Smoke, Black Pepper, and Oak Tannins coating the Palate.There are some youthful notes here, but overall well done. SPLASH: Nose gets a Bubblegum note. Palate becomes even more Fruit Forward with some added Tart Cherry while the Bitterness is reduced. VERDICT: NC has another solid Single Malt to go along with Great Wagon Road's Rúa. Mother Earth is a small Distillery in Kinston, NC started as an offshoot of the popular Mother Earth Brewing. Distillery and Stills are run completely on Solar Energy. Grains used are all locally sourced. They've been around longer than most distilleries in the state and they've obviously figured it out. This is an updated version of their former 80 Proof NAS Whiskey in freshly redesigned packaging. They've also released a 3 Year Rye to go along with their locally popular Gin (which also has fresh new packaging). Definitely worth the $40 gamble.