A strong charred oak taste, without getting into the heavy peat of Scotch whiskeys. Well rounded with great caramel. My first high-end bourbon, and still my favorite. barreled 1/31/92, pulled July 2010, barrel 3048 Note that this run was ended around 2012, then re-introduced with a different balance in 2015. This is the early one. (I have a separate review for the later run)