I have been thoroughly enjoying Bardstown Bourbon Co. and their Origin series and obviously am looking forward to trying out their other lines as well. That said, I favorably reviewed their bottled in bond and wheated and am now sitting down to finally try the Straight Bourbon. A superbly balanced nose on this selection. A creamy dessert comes to mind on a backdrop of tannins. Honey, peanut brittle and custard present very strongly on the nose, followed by cocoa powder, tannic oak and leather. Dive deeper in the nose to reveal stone fruit and oranges as well. Palate starts sweet and indeed has quite a viscous mouthfeel throughout. Sweet cream with vanilla starts the taste softly which blows wide open to tingling peppercorn, cinnamon, mint leaf, tannic oak and leather. It really packs a wallop and certainly isn't as creamy sweet as the nose suggests. The finish remains dry and spicy. Leather continues to dominate along with oak. The tongue, sides and roof of your mouth still tingle from that peppercorn. Breathe through your mouth and you'll be rewarded with citrus, although because of the tannic bite... tastes more of orange pith than anything. This is by far and away the spiciest and driest of the 3 Origin bourbons. This is great if you're into Rye but I am not so enthused by the inherently spicy characteristics of Rye so this is definitely my least favorite with the Wheated coming in a resounding first place. Still - it is damn nice to have such variety amongst their Origin lineup and indeed, this bourbon is quite far outside the "norm". Look - for the price? Just pick up a bottle. Hurry, before the hipsters discover Bardstown Bourbon Co and all of their bottles become rarer than unicorn piss.