BEAR FIGHT AMERICAN SINGLE MALT (NC Made/Aged in First Fill Bourbon Barrels for minimum 3 years and finished in Peated Scotch & Sherry Casks) *APPEARANCE: Straw Colored with fat clingy droplets forming on the sides of the Glencairn. *NOSE: This doesn’t come across as an American Single Malt. Think a mid-level Lightly Peated Single Malt. There is a Foundation of Peat layered with Tart Apple, Malted Grain, Fresh Butter, Hay, Wood Spice, Light Honey Sweetness, and a Rabbit Punch of Stinging Heat. The empty glass smelled just like my Brother in Law’s “bee room” where he keeps his Apiary supplies and bee smoker. A mixture of beeswax and smoke. *NEAT: Sweet Notes of Vanilla and Honey lead off followed by Barrel Spice, Malted Grain, Dried Fruit, and Raw Almond. The Back of the Palate gets Barrel Spice, Black Pepper, and a Light Bitterness (think Lemon Peel or Green Pineapple). There is a very un-Scotch like heat on the Finish that glows all the way down into the chest… and “where’s the Peat” you ask? It shows up Right at the End and layers the Palate with a Clingy Ashy Aftertaste. *SPLASH: A little water and the Nose gets Lemon Zest. Palate loses some of the Heat from the Finish and gets the Leather and Raw Almond dialed up a bit. *VERDICT: Completely surprised by this one. I had picked this up a few months ago, saw it was produced in NC and assumed it was aged in small barrels, or worse yet, rapid aged with spirals so I set it back down and left with something else. A few days later (tell me Zuckerberg ain’t got satellites trained on us all) an ad for it pops up in my Facebook feed with an endorsement from Seth MacFarlane (and in classic self deprecating MacFarlane fashion). Now, I’m not a sucker for celebrity endorsements, but if one’s going to get me to look into something more, this is it. Finally pulled the trigger the other day and am glad I did. This is quite possibly the most “Scotch-ish” American Whiskey I’ve had and very reasonably priced (proof that MacFarlane wasn’t lying when he said they weren’t paying him enough). Not available everywhere, but if you see it, it’s definitely worth a $40 buy IMHO.