Color: Dark, dark russet, with textures of molasses syrup & pan reduced dark chocolate. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Nose: The most gorgeous of wheated noses I’ve witnessed to date; peaches, nectarines, blood oranges, strawberries, about to burst, soaked in caramel, interwoven with incredibly pronounced and crystal clear notes of wheat – rich, symphonic and in 4k resolution, not grainy at all. Pun intended. Rich caramel unfolds off the fruit as your glass opens up revealing cinnamon roll dough and caramel covered green apples freshly out of the oven…then some chocolate strawberry. Notes of cinnamon dusted rich oak and baking spices are perfectly balanced by the caramel and fruit notes. Old, well polished dark mahogany furniture. One could get lost in this nose for a good hour. Literally it just evolves and evolves…melted butter on freshly baked bread crust with granulated cane sugar sprinkled over it and their is a Cheerios cereal note. Drizzle all over that a healthy dose of honey. Sweet, wet cigar filled humidor scents find your nose towards the end with some horse saddle, polished no doubt with whatever was used for the mahogany furniture and the scent of an old, dry barn nearby is charming. Their is no way of escaping the alcohol vapors at 140.2 proof so navigate this carefully. You’ll find a slight but sweet layer of paint thinner towards the mid to back nose with splinters of vanilla shooting through, but all thats underneath a blueberry reduction. The sweet baking spices keep coming back around..ones my mom uses during the holidays for baking, the scents flood the whole house, just as they’re flooding my glass right now. These spices do compete however with those that you would find in the most richly scented old school confectionary shop. Chocolate apricots say a warm farewell. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Palate: From the second it hits your tongue, deep rich baking spices erupt: crushed cinnamon stick, BIG clove and red cedary, woody spices. More caramel from the nose with dark mocha and even darker chocolate, but less fruit up front. Wheat from the nose shows back up too, and in spades – the clearest wheat I’ve ever tasted in a bourbon. Their is a big, BIG alcohol kick that starts halfway through the sip but can be reduced by simply letting the glass sit for a while before diving in. Dense, thick crushed black peppercorns and molten, melting Demerara sugars fight for attention on your tongue while a lemon note brightly asserts itself. Their is a profound sense of oak wood, almost toasted oak with tannins exhibiting a flamboyant depth of dryness but is still kept in balance – not all in your face oak like an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. Savory swirls of hickory exhale off your palate and usher you into the finish. Incredibly oily mouthfeel, covering every square atom of your mouth leaving no taste bud untouched. Truly rich and almost beyond words. ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Finish: Decadent and long. Unsalted, old fashioned popcorn (not from a microwaveable bag). Black coffee and bitter barrel char – the usual suspects of a “Hazmat” proof bourbon. Sweet pipe tobacco and some moist cigar as well. Unbelievable how long and rich this finish is…speaking of cigars, their is no question that this is the kind of bourbon Pappy Van Winkle would have been sipping along side his stogie. Hickory smoke, dry tannins and wood polish notes lead into the sweeter end of the finish which is all Pizzelle cookie dough, bubble gum fading to wintergreen gum, dark melted chocolate, finely grated crushed nuts, red smoked cedar wood, crushed cinnamon and BIG nutmeg. Smoky, again, on its final legs but not in the scotch sense….more from the previous dark chocolate melting for the fresh strawberry note that bids a final farewell. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Bourbon and House Rating: 98.5 _______________________________________________ www.bourbonandhouse.com