Tasting: neat, 2 oz pour in Glen cairn with and without 4 drops of water. Nose- Incredibly aromatic. This bourbon blooms from the glass. Oak and vanilla are front and center with a hint of cigar box/tobacco. Palate- cherry comes in where it wasn't as prominent on the nose. An oaky richness lets you know there is some age to this. There are also some dark red berries along with tart apple crisps, some peanut brittle, and a puff of smokiness toward the end leading to the finish. All this sweetness gets balanced by an entire spice rack. This is a pour to sit and savor, dissect it, and ponder it. It really changes like a chameleon. Finish- this goes on for days, and if this bourbon has ONE flaw it would be that it's a bit too lingering in the finish, that it gets a bit drying, tannic, or perhaps gives way to wood overkill at the end. As this bottle opens I am excited to see if this changes. That musty, cigar box, old leather book note though caries through in a very subtle way, and I appreciate that. Overall- This is a tremendously good bourbon. It is rich, flavorful, interestingly complex- especially on the palate. My fear was that 17 years in oak barrels might make it taste like chewing on wet oak- it didn't. I have had both Pappy 15 and 23, and in my opinion the 23 gets soggy, the 15 is just about as far as I really want to go when it comes to old whiskey. Of course those are wheated bourbons, and this is more spicy because of the rye, but I make this comparison only to illustrate that more time is not always necessarily better when talking about bourbon. My overall impressions is that this reminds me of those devilishly good, high octane Elijah Craig Barrel Proof bottles of the past, but with a tad more subtlety.