Spicy nose with rye grains, mint, pepper, popcorn, vanilla, peanut, grass, and generic citrus zest. Ethanol nicely low. Palate is kind of jumbled; sea salt, hay, Cracker Jack, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, and a savory note (onion?) that when combined with the other flavors gives almost a steak seasoning note. There’s also a slightly sour element here; sourgum maybe. Bizarre. Everything is pretty bitter; there’s some peanut butter that wants to come out but never really does. Finish has herbal notes of cardamom, fennel, and mint along with with white pepper, black pepper, chili pepper (did I mention pepper? lol) almond, dry bitter oak and char. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, but also drying and grainy which really becomes abusive to the tongue over repeated sips. I’m definitely a Knob Creek guy, and have tasted many KC bourbons and ryes I’ve enjoyed, but this expression just doesn’t come together well. Very clashy. At $48, it’s in no way a rip off, but it just…isn’t very good. Yep, i said it.