So, I decided to rifle through some samples that have piled up lately and I found this local, craft bourbon that was sent to me by my friend Paul, of suburban Detroit. It’s a local distillery to him (Two James Spirits) and I believe he’s sent me 2-3 samples from these guys that were initially made from sourced distillate. This one is supposedly their first use of some good ole, home grown sauce. It has a mash bill of 79% corn and 21% of peated barley that was sourced from the U.K. So, this is basically a peated bourbon. It should be interesting. It’s 91 proof and I believe it is chill filtered. The nose is heavily bourbon influenced with oak and vanilla taking the forefront before slight wisps of smoke and earthy peat moss mingle in. There’s also an underlying sweetness reminiscent of honey and sugary cereal that lingers when you give it time to breathe. Pretty good nose. The palate is grassy, earthy with a heavy dose of malted barley. It falls kind of flat here and feels very uninspired. The smokiness is seriously muted and a strange, weird taste creeps in that wasn’t present on the nose: it threw me a curveball that I couldn’t detect even after multiple attempts. By then the sample was gone so I just gave up on trying to determine exactly what it was or what it resembled. It left me perplexed. The finish is short and heavy on the corn. It’s plenty smooth, but not lively at all. I’d like some zip at this point, especially at 91 proof, but it never came. I think it needs more time in the barrel but then I believe any trace of smoke would be lost and therefore render this “peated bourbon” without much peat. Thanks to @Generously_Paul for sending me something I’d never get to experience. I think Two James has potential, I just think they shouldn’t focus on experimental stuff at this point and prioritize their base whiskey before trying more of these one-offs. But, that’s just my $0.02. Cheers, my friends.