Big shout out to Trail Inn/Triangle for this store pick. I’ve never had the standard Backbone, which is admittedly a suboptimal scenario. This store pick comes in just under 5 years at 123.4 proof. I bought it because I was told by a store clerk that it was one of the purest chocolate flavors available in bourbon. Let’s see if that person was right. Don’t worry: not the same store where I was told that Rhetoric 23 tasted like Pappy 23-year. Tried Neat: I get heavy vanilla and powdered sugar on the nose. Hint of maple. Pretty standard, unremarkable nose. Sufficient. Body hit early with a surprised smoked meat flavor. Did not see that coming. Good though. Rich chocolate flavor as well. Mouth feel on the finish is awesome. It’s an intense lip buzz that doesn’t feel overpowering anywhere else. But damn, my bottom lip is tripping balls right now. More powdered sugar flavor here, and the chocolate fades away with a bit of dust. Finish is by far my favorite part of this drink. “Dust” usually presents itself to me as an undesirable impurity, but it holds its own here. It’s like I picked a chocolate bar up of the basement floor, but I’m not grossed out because it’s still delicious. On the rocks: Nose goes haywire. That shy-of-unpleasant dustiness is back. There’s a sweet cherry scent there too. So now I have chocolate covered cherries on the nose. Possibly dropped on the floor. Less than 5 seconds, still very cool. Ever sipped a new Powerade flavor and said, “Wow, that tastes just a margarita,” even though you haven’t had a margarita in years? There’s something iconic there that rings true. In the same sense, this body on the rocks = Elijah Craig Small Batch. Mic drop. Finish is identical to the neat finish, less buzz. So I’ve thrown some shade at Indiana distilleries before. They deserve it. No regrets there either. However... I believe my exact target-o’-shade-tossing was: “Any distillery north of Indianapolis.” I’m delighted to still be correct on that cartographical technicality. For two reasons: 1–being correct is awesome. 2–this bourbon is a surprise delight. (At least this store pick variant.) I prefer it neat, because life is too short to not have your bottom lip buzzing. That was awesome. Flavors were solid too. The more this guy watered down, the more it resembled Elijah Craig. So much so, that I felt the need to compare mash bills. This guy: 70 corn, 25 rye, 5 magic dust. EC: 78 corn, 10 rye, 12 unicorn tears. I’m impressed by this distillery. I prefer this to EC barrel proof, which is no small accolade. If you’re able to find this guy in your region, give it a shot. If the standard version sucks, come to Northwest Indiana, and I will happily greet you with an apology and a taste of this store pick, which is exemplary. Offer expires the moment my bottle runs dry.