Nose- warm banana nut bread, drizzle of maple syrup, and a touch of smoke. Palate- enters with a bit of baking type spice. All-spice comes to mind with a hint of clove. The flavors then gets fruitier with some ripe, dark berries covered in caramel. The mouthfeel is coating and soothing- like a well intended cough drop but without the medicinal flavor. Goes out on a hint of brown sugar. Finish- nice long finish here. That banana bread and maple syrup all swirled in gentle smokiness lingers. Really well done! Overall- This unfortunately sat and sat in the back of my liquor cabinet while the other trendier stuff came and went. This though is a stunner of a bottle. It is amazing what this recipe--held out for longer period of time yields! You can feel the Old #7 roots, but this is just so much fuller and tastier. I have liked almost every JD limited I have tried (the Rye didnt wow me as ot had a waxy, artificial note) and I think some of those gold label single barrel, barrel proofs are among some of the best and available whiskey out there. This just hits most of he right spots for me. The proof is perfect, the balance from spice to sweet may be just a bit off as initially that spice REALLY comes in hard, but is like a nice old friend. Can't wait to compare the 12 yr.