A few days ago i told you my story on how i got my hands into two pappy van winkles, the 15yo and this one called "Van Winkle Special Reserve 12yo Lot b". Equally as impossible to find as the other ones in the family, this is a little less great than the 15yo, but still a marvelous complex bourbon. 45.2%abv, deep copper color. On the nose is where it is a little standard, losing some points. Caramelized apples, Brown Sugar, old mashed bananas, rust as in a penny coin, no alcohol note at all. On the palate is very very very complex. Ill describe the taste by sips: 1st sip: sour at the beggining. Sour prunes, orange, caramel, a rye spicyness, and a little burn in the finish. 2nd sip: herbal notes, liquorice, clove, orange jam/cough syrup. 3rd sip: bourbon's typical prune notes, herbal spicyness and... crazy dips? (Yeah that crazy lollipop that popped in your tongue)(its not the first time i have seen it in whiskies). 4th sip: mostly vanilla and clove. Well to summarize it: IT IS VERY COMPLEX AND FULL OF LAYERS. The aftertaste has fresh clove and ginger notes. Ginger made my mouth so numb. After the first two sips, vanilla was present on the finish. Mostly ginger, lots of it. My score card gave me a 94 over 100, but due to its complexity i feel compel to give it at least a 96 over 100 to make it a 5.0 stars bourbon whiskey. So that's that. Cheers!