This most recent bottle was put in casks in 2006: Nose is sweet, vanilla competing with caramel and fresh brown sugar. Very, very slight whiff of alcohol before ending with corn syrup. Sweet, followed by sweet, finished with sweet, and the palate is very much the same. This bottle is a bit thinner than my last, but still fairly viscous. The first sip slowly and smoothly coats the mouth with a warm rush of brown sugar and vanilla before just a tingle of dryness sets in around mid-tongue. Caramel and corn mingle with a bit of oak, but none is competing; rather they seem to balance and offset each other highlighting the good (sweet & smooth) and minimizing the bad (tannins). I found this bottle to be a bit hotter than my last few, and even somewhat spicier than the standard EW Black Label, with some rye profile showing up just before the finish. The finish is smooth, creamy, and (surprise!) sweet, with a lot of caramel and finally aged vanilla bean rounding things out. If you can find a bottle of this for less than $30, it's a steal. At $40, it's money well spent. Only when you get into the above $50 range will you find other bourbon this good, this true to what bourbon was supposed to be, and this consistent, bottle after bottle. Even then, it'll still be a close comparison.