Ironroot Promethean 2017 103 proof Nose: what immediately comes to mind is a fresh pecan twirl pastry. One that is topped with toasted pecans and drizzled with a maple-vanilla sugar frosting and served warm. As you begin to explore, the nose is dense and sweet and layered with an undercurrent of earthiness that you get in a good Bordeaux or Rioja. Waves of thick vanilla and maple syrup give way to red fruits like a raspberry purée, strawberries sprinkled with sugar. Smokey oak char and cedar unfurl gently within the sugary sweet notes. Nutty pastry and cinnamon. Palate: salted caramel, bitter dark chocolate, red currants, tart raspberries, classic Texas oak tinged vanilla kicks in mid palate and then it turns umami and soy like. Finish: salted leather with a cooling mint. An amazing paradox of flavors and so intriguing. There’s as much “brine” as a good Islay whisky yet it works marvelously with the tart sweet fruit and vanilla oak. A testament to the distillers in keeping all the varying notes in balance and layered nicely. A whiskey that has deep earthiness yet feels youthful and bright. I am reminded of some of the best Bordeaux or Rioja I have had in the balance of fruit and earth.