Nose - charred oak, leather, candied bacon, cinnamon, allspice, evergreen (cedar?), cocoa powder. apple, orange peel, vanilla, black tea. A bit of smoke. Really complex, with different notes coming out as it breathes. Some of the notes I'm getting remind me of older Armagnacs I've had. Palate - Soft velvety mouthfeel isn't really thick, but coats the palate. Starts with dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, bittersweet chocolate, toast, vanilla, rye spice, and a hint of spearmint. Oak, baking spices, a bit of smoke/char and some tannins linger on the dry finish, which is quite lengthy. A few drops of water didn't do this bourbon any favors. The nose became a bit sweeter but also less complex. The palate flattened out, and got a little astringent on the finish. Definitely preferred it without water. I really like this one. People talk about Orphan Barrel and older Heaven Hill releases being over-oaked and similar to sucking on a two-by-four, but that wasn't my experience. Rhetoric 25 doesn't have that bitterness that I associate with truly over-oaked whiskey (which BTW doesn't have to be super-old - there's a lot of bitter, over-oaked whiskey coming out of TX that's less than 4yrs old).