Okay I have to admit, and just shoot me now with a Daniel Boone musket, I'm a KY boy, born and raised, but I just don't enjoy bourbon as much as scotch. Perhaps it's the new oak spiciness, or maybe it's the high corn composition, or the heat of the KY weather that speeds the fermentation, but the nose on just about any bourbon really puts me off. That said, I have consumed plenty of Maker's Mark, 101, and Buffalo Trace without grumbling. It's just I *prefer* heavily, or completely, malted whiskies. Now that I have my Catholic guilt confessed, I will admit that this bottle is very, very smooth. Which is about the best I can hope for in a bourbon. Do I grade on a curve with my bourbons? Yes. I just can't bring myself not to give a great product a good score if it is one I can actually say I enjoy. But, and here comes the confessional again, if I have a 4.0 bourbon on the shelf and a 4.0 scotch, I'll rarely reach for the former.