Smells intensely of caramel syrup, like the kind you'd put on your ice cream or in your coffee. The taste is certainly caramel through and through, although not as concentrated as it smells. The rye takes over for most of the tasting, and the finish smooths out with candy and sugar. The finish, like the tasting, is a bit weak, which is a tad disappointing for the age, but the caramel lingers just a millisecond past everything else, leaving you with a decent bourbon.