There are certainly things about this whiskey I don’t understand, and I am seeking your help. But I’ll get into that later. This tasting is of a 2018ish bottle, before the gold cork “upgrade.” I’ll get into that later too. The nose shows a decent amount of oak. I get sour lemon, caramel, grainy bread, sugared walnuts. All very well done. Body is gentle, as you’d expect from a wheated bourbon. There’s sugar, licorice, tea leaves, sweet tarts. Rich orange flavor emerges when trying to recall the lemon from the nose. Big fan of that note. Finish is nutty. There’s cinnamon, sugar, walnuts, grainy bread. Remarkably smooth. Only a mild lingering tongue buzz. Overall, my favorite parts were the orange on the body and the sour, oaky nose. I could do without the licorice and tea leaves here, but overall a very good, enjoyable drink. I’m most impressed by how smooth this is for 107 proof. It goes down like a 90 proof or lower! ——— All that said, I don’t understand this whiskey, and I want to. I understand the flavors, and I understand the quality. I like this whiskey. Here’s what I don’t understand: 1 point higher official rating on Distiller. 0.2 stars higher community rating. Used to be twice the cost of WSR, now thrice. Thrice I tell you! First question: does anyone know why this went from around $45 in my region to around $70? During this time it went from a maroon screw top to a nice gold foil cork, but is there an actual upgrade to the juice? Every source I’ve seen says no. So why on a whim did they up the price on this specific product? Costs more than a Weller 12 year now! Second question: why are there so many rubrics in which this is considered superior to WSR? It has some complexity over WSR for sure but that comes at a cost. As smooth as OWA is, WSR is smoother. The flavors that OWA can hold over WSR’s head aren’t gained without losing some of my favorite WSR notes like tart apple. If you drink them back to back, like I am right now (for science) OWA gains a bitter aftertaste that I don’t care for, and WSR acts like a palate cleanser. If you’re as into this label as I am and have an opinion on this, I’d love to hear it. Cheers!