Nose - Vanilla buttercream, fresh cut young oak sawdust, cardomom? Taste - Definitely taste the young spirit bite up front, young oaky bitter vanilla simple, charred cinnamon, mouth drying, cardamom, sharp medicinal bittersweet. Finish - Lingering young spirit alcohol burn/warmth, lightly oaky bitter, lightly unpleasant medicinal splenda spice. Score - 66/100 Final Thoughts - This felt like a very rushed rye. The color on it was very light and I'm not sure if my sample had the cognac finishing on it but if there was they probably just showed the spirit the cognac cask and called it done. Nose smelled strongly of newly made oak barrels and that overly sweet yet ethanol new make. Tasted very much the same as well. Finish was quite unpleasant with young spirit all over the place. There are some things to be said about properly aging in a full barrel and to let time do its magic. I feel this was quite rushed just for the sake of getting a product out there. If they continue to microbarrel I think I'll skip this, but maybe I'll give it another shot if they actually release a decently aged product in full sized barrels.