Rating: 11/23 I like Privateer Navy Yard. It's not super nuanced, but it has some really nice vanillins and richness. This is supposed to be a (small?) step up, so I'm quite curious to try it. E: This is little less dark than Privateer Navy Yard. It's not light, but it lacks that luscious bit of extra darkness. N: There's vanillin with a musty wood that isn't super nuanced, but does have a decadence to it. It's a less brash and brazen nose than the Navy Yard, but it's also more refined. It's less interesting, but indicates what is likely a more balanced dram. P: Some sweet vanillins with wood leads directly into some biting spices that burn a bit. The spices are on the more savory side with an earthiness that starts to touch on chili pepper coming through. I'm not getting a ton of complexity here and there's also a little bit of bitter alcohol bite. I really do get a significant spicy alcohol bite in here that makes this a bit harsh. Adding some water, the profile stays largely the same and the harshness still shows. It's less aggressive, but only because it's weaker. F: The vanillins come back after leaving for a bit and I get a subtle layer of mustiness, which is frankly the best thing about this entire dram. Some light earthiness comes back, but then it fades back into the mustiness and sweet vanillins. This finish is actually pretty nice and is definitely a significant improvement over the palate. - Conclusion - This is fine, but it lacks the decadence of the Privateer Navy Yard (17/23) and also is harsher without really being more complex. This is also more bitter and earthy than the Navy Yard and less sweet. The Navy Yard is clearly significantly better. This is not going to be above a 15. Panama-Pacific 23 (16/23) is much smoother than this and has an interesting fruitiness that this lacks. I think that a 15 is too high for this now. I'm thinking that this could be as low as an 11 with all of its harshness. I wouldn't go down to a 10 because the alcohol doesn't show that much and there is some nice mustiness on the finish, which is really the high point of this dram. Even with water, this really struggles. Coming back to it again, I'm thinking that it's a 10 or 11. I'll go with an 11 for now. I can even imagine a 9. This is really challenging. I'm super disappointed.