A friend of mine took me out for a belated birthday dinner and much to my delight, this fine establishment had the 2023 edition of Birthday Bourbon on the tasting menu. Granted, $40 a pour does seem a bit steep for a pour of anything but in the grand scheme of it all, I don't actually think it was that bad specifically for Birthday Bourbon. Besides: Birthday dinner, Birthday Bourbon. See what I did there? The nose sings with complexity and was a tantalizing taste of things to come. Sweet milk chocolate and cherries kick off a full bodied and sweet nose complimented by vanilla wafer cookie. Some tannic oak presents itself but is very much a background flavor to the sweet, tart and fruity character traits. I had to smell this bourbon several times, at different proximities to the glass as there was so much complexity and goodness wafting out. The palate kicks down the sweetness several notches and where the cherry on the nose was fresh, bright and vibrant; the cherries on the palate become more stewed with simple syrup. Overall the flavors become darker but still rich and complex - brown sugar and caramel swirl in toward the front of the taste and just when you thought that this would be a strictly sweet bourbon, tannic charred oak and leather dry up the taste just before the finish. The cherry becomes very muted toward the finish but is still present, along with that tannic oak from the end of the taste and leather. Somewhere between the end of the taste and finish, sweet and spicy cinnamon became a player and is more evident on the finish than any other point of the taste. Wow! My God this was truly one of the most complex, beautiful bourbons I've tasted. It won't be soon forgotten. The only problem now is; being able to find a taste with each new yearly release. Oh the struggle.