A big nose of caramel iced spice cake and rum nut raisins carry this with some ethanol fumes, not quite as refined as some of the well known older drams but rich and appealing reminding somewhat of a Bookers or EC BP. A bit lighter amber in color than I would have expected, leaves nice small droplets coating the glass. Front, delicious dark brown sugars lead the way, a rich currant-rum note comes in strong, the dried fruits are also apparent as it tapers down easy with some vanilla cola-nut action, this is a pretty good presentation of some seriously well aged bourbon trail barrels. Some classic barrel flavor reminiscent of Heaven Hill or Suntori-Beam, are just barely noticeable, but I get very little in the wood/tobacco range. Finishes light and smooth, only well aged hooch above 100 proof is capable of this kind of ending. This is indeed "the good stuff", a great rendition and reminder of the high proof classics. I managed to pick this bottle up at a store I frequent for a much better than msrp price, as these bottles tend to run at and above the 80 dollar mark in my neck of the woods. Yes, i would say it's easily worth it though I can accept alternate opinions about that point. Bookers, EHTaylor and so forth at that price point are one reason I can see different views on this, but if you see it for less than 70$ you should pull the trigger and by all means have a slug at your local watering hole. Kudos to the Barrell Bourbon Team on this batch.