On the nose I get aromas of dense toffee, rich chocolate, orange peel, dried herbs, melted butter, brown sugar, new leather, cigar tobacco and oak with a hint of damp cedar wood and cherry lozenges. - To the palate it starts as dry oak that builds to cinnamon with herbs and pepper, a light floral honey sweetness shows through, then savory butter, roasted almonds and dark chocolate. - The finish is dry with a lingering of oak, leather, pepper, tobacco and a hint of Luxardo cherry. — With a drop of water, more oak and leather notes are pushed out of the glass. The palate also becomes more dry and oaky with an even darker chocolate note; maybe 90% cacao. The finish is actually lifted a bit with some red apple sweetness and that cherry note remains. —//— Bourbon Mark: 88 —//— I really enjoy the intense aromas of this one, as well as the oak flavour and dryness on the palate. Tasting side-by-side with standard Buffalo Trace, I can definitely say they are the same spirit, but the oak flavour of Eagle Rare is more than only a couple years different; it must be from a more dynamic area of the aging warehouse.