This bourbon (50 ml. airline/sample bottle) really isn't my thing although some people I talked to recommended it because I tend to like sweeter, sherry-casked whiskeys. It's bottled at 45%, but I added water to dumb it down, I didn't measure, maybe to 40% or less, but it's still pretty damn harsh with a lot of woody, polyurethane furniture and charred barrel taste. It promised sweetness in the nose at first, but that doesn't pan out because the barrel char and the wood is so predominant. Tastes like it sat in a bucket of old furniture wood, with a teaspoon or two of turpentine, and some of the wood had caught fire, not in a good way. With a small ice cube this tiny pour gets better and better... the sweetness is highlighted and the barrel char and polyurethane and slightly turpentine taste disappears. So if it's cheap enough in a pint or fifth, I suppose I'd get it as a stop-gap whiskey if I can't find Maker's Mark.