Nose is toasty pastry dough, some honey and nuttiness, like baklava, with a little citrus, and pepper. More of the barrel is apparent, when compared with the 12. Taste is buttery, slightly sweet, honey, warming on the tongue, nice even pepper, long pleasant finish. Compared favorably with a good bourbon. In fact, if like to get a bottle and do side-by-side comparisons with a few bourbons. I like this quite a bit more than the 12. There's more development, it's one of those that over the course of a bottle, you can keep picking out new smells and flavors.