I’ve never met a Sagamore Spirit I didn’t like. When their spirits say, boo, I say, come on in. Kidding. Oddly enough, though this 8 Year gets touted as being great, it’s been my least favorite. Not because it’s bad. It’s actually quite good, and amazingly dangerous. It’s 115 proof or so, but it drinks like 90. It’s smooth, doesn’t have much of an alcohol bite, yet it’ll hit you if you have too much. I cracked it on Thanksgiving, served a dram to my dad, he loved it. I should also say, I love it. It’s just Sagamore is so good at finishing that this seems a bit one note. Sagamore’s specialty seems to be the finishes. Cognac, Tequila, Double Oak, Rum. I’ve had the Cask Strength and that was great. In fact, that one was 4 year and I liked it better than this, the 8. Not that I dislike the 8. It’s great. It’s really an odd reason I don’t do cartwheels about this one, and that reason is, it tastes a lot like Templeton 10 Year Cask Strength. This is the closest Sagamore has ever come to tasting like something I’ve had already, and things is, that Templeton was also awesome, but it wasn’t as good as the Sagamore Double Oak (perhaps my favorite) or the Tequila Finished (my second) or the Ale Cask (my third) or the Cask Strength (my fourth). This is much ado about nothing. I’m complaining because a great whisky isn’t as great as other great whiskies by the same brand. Nose is great on this: spiced banana nut bread with vanilla pudding and cinnamon. Palate is golden raisins and all spice with maybe a little candied orange. Finish is long and peppery like most Sagamore with quite a bit of slated caramel. It’s just, well, it’s just not got the special thing Sagamore does, which is some kind of curve ball that is barrel finishing. I’m complaining about nothing. I should flog myself for taking issue with such a good bottle. In fact, I have no issues. This is good stuff. This is great stuff. This is fantastic. It’s just not my favorite Sagamore and Sagamore might be my favorite American whisky distiller right now. I’m complaining about nothing.