McKenna 10 has become a bit of a running joke with a lot of whisky geeks. These laughable awards it has received has all but removed all credibility in the San Fran awards. Perhaps too rude, but if you meet one of the judges you gotta do a quick point and laugh. Nose - Sweet bourbon vanilla and caramel, a bit of oak and the oak is giving me a hint of an aspartame note. This is definitely on the sweeter side of bourbon. Just for fun I'm pouring a buffalo trace store pick next to it. Buffalo has all this rickhouse nose with less sweetness and mostly just vanilla. I'm now getting a bit of a nutty note on the mckenna when going back and fourth, almost say a honey nut cheerio thing. Taste - This is sweet caramel and vanilla. It a very traditional bourbon but on the very sweet side. Again doing it next to the buffalo which is softer, vanilla, light oak, a touch bitter. The McKenna is heavy caramel, dark sweetness, and a touch nutty. I'm doing these two side by side as frankly, this is a very basic standard bourbon profile with a bit of focus on caramel and sweet. Perhaps some fruity and nutty notes but I wouldn't have really picked them up without trying a bit more basic of a bourbon (all be it a very good quality bourbon). I'd like to really give this crap with all the silly awards, but this is darn good bourbon. 2.75, a really high score for me on a fairly basic bourbon.