Rating: 9/23 N: Dry and woody with a faint vanilla sweetness, hint of orange oil, and distant creosote. Mellow with a nice balance and maturity. It also smells bold for a mere 40% ABV. P: Ah, this is lighter than the nose led me to believe. And it's hotter too. There are plenty of spices along with wood, but the wood is fairly mature and carries hints of creosote. I'm getting cloves leading black pepper, with some cinnamon and ginger. Behind all that, there's vanilla and a little green banana sweetness. There's also a clean water flavor and a hint of limestone. All quite nice, except for the low proof. Still, not a bad palate. F: Clean with lingering spices and wood, as well as green banana, vanilla, and a hint of laffy taffy. - Conclusion - Surprisingly, despite the bold wood, there's never a lot of tannins happening here. It's a nice profile overall, but it's too weak. Nothing too exciting happening here, but it could be sipped. Evan Williams Bottled In Bond (10/23) is bolder and sweeter, but a lot hotter, with more pepper and less maturity. This is more subtle and refined. The two are close together, but this Evan Williams sip was the last one in a bottle that spent a couple of months open, so the oxidization probably helped it a fair amount. Earl Settler (10/23) tastes less mature, but it has a richer, fuller flavor, with spices, wood, banana, and vanilla coming through just fine. Seeing as this is all in the mixing range, I'm pretty sure I'd take the Earl Settler. Still, I'll be judging based on sippability. The alcohol is a bit strong here. The Sexton (9/23) has more going on and is richer, but it's much rougher around the edges. Still, I think that it might be closer to this than the Earl Settler is. I think that this is getting a 9, unfortunately.