I was at the liquor store today because they just got in a High West Double Rye Barrel Select Rum Cask Finish. It's been a while since I've had Double Rye. In fact, the last time I had it, High West hadn't started using its own distillate in the mix and from what I understand, the regular product has gone downhill. Still, I can't resist the allure of the barrel select finished in rum. Generally speaking, I find rum finishes compliment certain types of whisky and elevate many of those I've had. While I was there I passed a display for Buffalo Trace, limit 1 per customer, because Buffalo Trace comes and goes in availability. Impulse buy: I picked up a bottle of Buffalo Trace because I've never had it. All these years drinking whisky and I've never tried one of the standard sub-$30 bottle of bourbon, mostly because by the time I started taking whisky seriously enough for Buffalo Trace to come on my radar, what it was didn't hold much interest for me. From what I understand, it's an affordable, tasty daily sipper of maybe a little better quality than other whiskies in the sub-$30 90 proof category, perhaps better than Makers Mark but not quite Eagle Rare? Anyway, when I got home, I looked up some Buffalo Trace reviews online because reading reviews gets me excited to taste and compare my thoughts with others. Not that I opened the bottle, because frankly, it was still morning, and I have other bottles opened that I have to finish. On the site Breaking Bourbon, the reviewer gave it a positive review, 3 barrels out of 5, which is "Above Average." Then I made that mistake of scrolling down to the comment thread. One comment said, "I can't believe they gave this 3 barrels and they also gave Old Forester 100 3 barrels, there's something wrong with this system." And I thought, well, I can't weigh in because I've had neither, but I do a lot of research on whisky before buying, and I'm pretty sure that Buffalo Trace and Old Forester 100 are, in fact, in a similar category. Then, one of those whisky aesthetes stated that he tasted Buffalo Trace, and he poured it down the drain it was so bad. Now I can't condone pouring whisky down the drain. Or, I can if you've poured yourself a glass and hate it and pour the rest of the glass down the drain because no one else is drinking your backwash. I can't condone it if you pour the bottle down the drain (gift it to someone, mofo!). But still, the hate! oh, the hate poured down upon this guy's comment. I was sorry to see it, and also...well, kind of amused. "Buffalo Trace is a great whisky!" "Buffalo Trace is amazing!" Is it really? I wondered. I mean, I don't expect greatness or amazingness from a $27 bourbon. I just hope it'll be above average like the reviewer rated it. I mention this because the whole experience reminded me of Louis CK's mid-to-late aughts bit in his special Hilarious about how these days, we always go top-shelf with our words. "That's hilarious!" "Really, was it, was it so funny you almost died laughing?" His argument, if we use top-shelf words for everything, they stop meaning anything. So even though I now have a bottle of Buffalo Trace that I haven't tasted, I'm going out on a limb here to say, I'm going to be staggered if it's amazing or great or fantastic. If it is, that'll be like hitting the lottery. I'm pretty sure I have a lot of bourbons in my collection that are better than Buffalo Trace, it just felt like something I had to try. So why am I giving all this room to a preamble about whether or not Buffalo Trace is amazing? Because this Highland Park Cask Strength Release 2 is not quite amazing, but it's really freaking close. I let this sit on the shelf for a long time before deciding to pop it open. Don't know why. Just other bottles I was more interested in. But a few weeks ago I decided it was time for the HP CS Release 2, and I was blown away. I mean, this is one of the most robust and flavorful scotches I've ever tasted. Although this doesn't bear an age statement, this is like the Viking Honor 12 Year on steroids. The nose is rich in heather and toffee and molasses with an orange undercurrent and it's just delightful. It's a Yankee Candle nose, if you know what I'm saying. I'd say, a late-summer Yankee Candle scent, maybe as August turns into September and you still get warm days but cool evenings. This is the whisky you want to nose on your back deck as the sun sets and you're sparking the fire pit, having put the kids to bed, sitting out with your significant other. The palate has toffee and milk chocolate and caramel with that same rich citrus edge. And it's just powerful. I mean, I feel like stringing together a number of verys, in that this is very very rich and lovely. It's like a desert, like a cake, a dense cake of all those flavors. And the finish is might and long and glorious. Honestly, this is the first Highland Park I've had where I feel like their whole Viking marketing ploy is appropriate because this is the first Highland Park I've had where I feel like a Viking might have actually enjoyed it, having vanquished his enemies, thrown down the glass to hear it smash, and called for another, all while sitting on his back deck, stoking the fire pit, having put his kids to bed, and hanging out with his significant other. Oh, and he'd be very careful not to let it leak out the sides of his mouth and let it dribble down his beard. This stuff is too valuable. Did I say this was just short of amazing? Maybe it is amazing (I tend to always want more peat, but the peat might not do this any good). It's hovering in that top shelf category for me where, even at $90 a bottle, I'd consider going out and picking up another one.