Given to me as a gift from a good friend, let’s see what this has to offer: Bright aroma features black cherry, cedar, Red Hots candy, vanilla custard, orange zest, and a hint of ethanol. Robust nose given the proof, I’ll say that. Palate opens with standard vanilla/caramel notes, baking spices (nutmeg and cinnamon), and generic stone fruit. Not very complex and suffers from a lack of any sort of a mid-palate, but the flavors that are there are pleasantly rich and I’d say this punches above its weight class flavor wise. Short finish brings in the black cherry from the nose followed by a significant amount of oak. There’s a leafy herb note (thyme?) in there as well. Mouthfeel is full and slick, and probably the best part of this bourbon. This one surprised me a bit; for only a 5 year product, it has smoothed over any rough edges and comes together nicely. And therein lies the rub; this bourbon is…nice. But with nothing truly unique or memorable about it, at $40 it kind of gets lost in the shuffle. Neither cheap enough to replace my bargain daily drinkers nor special enough to compete with other available options at or just above the price point. Would I buy it? Uhhh…maybe? Definitely dependent on lack of other options available.