MM wood finishing limited release series 3 of 5, The Stewards Release, aged at least 4 years with 10 virgin toasted American oak staves, bottled Feb 2026 at 56.65% ABV, Star Hill Farm, Loretto, KY. Tasting neat. Rosy amber copper color (beautiful!) and strong coating legs in the glass. The nose is maple candy, sweet corn, ripe fruit, vanilla oak, and a little grassy spice and ethanol in the back. On the palate, tannic oak and old leather, wood char, cherry, burnt brown sugar, but very dry with an oily coating mouthfeel and a little ethanol heat I was not expecting. Big aggressive flavors, grill charred stone fruit with some astringency, not just a caramel vanilla bomb. The finish rolls from that char toast toward toasted baking spices, on through dark dried fruit, maple, and grassy rye. A Loooong finish, turns a little mint bitter/sour at the end. Wow. Each of the wood finishing bottles gets better and better. This is not for the faint of heart. It's sweet enough, but has an oak char dry tannic backbone surrounded by dark dried fruits that makes it really interesting. Drinks a little hotter than its proof... which isn't a bad thing. An ice cube curbs that and opens up a really robust sipping bourbon. I'm comparing this to a Larceny wheated barrel proof I'm finishing, and this MM rules with it's more aggressive oaked palate. Too much? Maybe, but I'll admit I like that profile. Makes you work for it. The more I sip, the easier it gets, while holding its own.