N: Earth and oak first, but then fresh peach, cherry, cherry cough syrup, peach cobbler, mineral water, chalky vitamins, hints of barrel spice, dried stone fruit, tobacco, baking spice, and maybe just a whiff of baked bread. P: Sweet spiced wheat, caramel, chalky vitamins, mineral water, much more barrel spice - fairly hot, in fact - vague stone fruit notes, sweet citrus at the back of the tongue, some oak, some char. F: Mineral bitter (but not unpleasant), barrel tannins, hot baking spice - somewhere beyond ginger, but below chili pepper, and constrained by the earthier spice notes - hint of toasted marshmallow, cough syrup. Really great nose on this - absolutely smells like a well-aged bourbon - but the palate and finish leave something to be desired. And I think I have to say that that's particularly because of the crazy secondary markups on this. I try, usually, not to think too much about VFM when rating the juice itself and instead factor that in more as an overall rating thought at the end, but it's harder with this one because the markups are just so ridiculous. Bottom line though, as a $60 bottle this is a fine wheated bourbon that makes a nice comparison to something like a rye leaning Knob Creek 12 that runs about the same price. But at the $225 I paid, it's hard not to always think "was this worth it?" The answer is decidedly no. Even at $150, which I can find now fairly easily, still not worth it. Back to my statement of the palate and finish leaving something to be desired - that's in context of price. At $60, it's probably okay to leave a little on the table. At $225, it really isn't okay - other bottles in that price range do not. Long story short, if you're lucky enough to be able to find this at about retail, it's worth grabbing a bottle or two and visiting every now and then. Beyond that, I'd pass - there's lots of better bourbon out there for less than the average price gouge on this one. _______________________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/4nfePCdyKM. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will gladly and usually quickly provide a new one. Lately, I have not been able to tag people who have asked for the link, so please check back when you can. Or, better still, look for a more recent review of mine which should have the most current link.)