Open 3 months Nose - Dark honey, toffee, caramel, brown sugar, burnt vanilla, candied apples, basically every sweet note you can think of, heavy oak, and medium ethanol. Palate - Gingerbread and bread pudding for days, cinnamon, toffee, and medium oak. Finish is medium-long with sharper oak tannins, sticky sweet caramel and toffee, and a spicy ethanol or rye back end. Whenever my friend visits his in-laws in Texas he'll try to pick up a few things to split that we never see in NC. This highly affordable cask strength bourbon from one of the lesser-known TX distilleries has always intrigued me. It is well worth the purchase, easily one of my favorite whiskeys I've had from TX. Sometimes Balcones is too gnarly to sip on, they attack your palate with oak, smoke, and sugar. Ironroot corn sweetness can overload the palate as well. This is the most normal bourbon TX bourbon I've had, and at 2 years old is really impressive. It reminds me of Jack Daniel's SBBP or ECBP, with slightly more gingerbread and cinnamon while lacking berry or banana notes. If you like barrel proof bourbons, pick this up.