There is a lot of Earth on the nose with some herbal elements too that blend with bitter but oil, a bit of tobacco, and a hint of cherry. The palate is on the light side with the alcohol showing a bit much and some nice bright cherry coming through in a manner that is a hair reminiscent of Cognac. There is a bitter, oily nutty flavor that comes across as a bit rancid. The vanilla is there quite a bit. A hint of sawdust makes its way in too. There are some tobacco notes that bring in earthy character and come across a bit like coffee. There's some drying tartness that has a hint of cereal in it and is reminiscent of rye. Aside from the alcohol sharpness, there is nothing too inherently problematic going on here, but the flavor isn't particularly exciting and has some rough points to it. There are occasional glimmers of excellence, but it's an acquired taste at best. I wish I liked the earthiness and nuttiness, but the end result for this whiskey is that it tastes a bit like a Canadian whiskey crossed with a young bourbon, crossed with Nikka Whisky From The Barrel. The bright notes with some mild bitter backing is kind of a nice setup, but the end result is has too many flaws. Despite its flaws, this is a tremendous improvement on the likes of Ensign Red though. It also doesn't suffer from High West American Prarie's corn syrup caramel flavor. I appreciate that it makes more of a statement than Larceny does, so in that regard it certainly tastes more mature. That said, Larceny is notable for avoiding unappealing flavors and just sticking to the few that it has worked out. It similarly has a more robust and mature flavor than Maker's Mark does, though the similarity between the two is more apparent. Maker's lacks some of the nice hints such as honeysuckle that make Corsair Quinoa work. The nuttiness and earthiness along with the mild, bright, floral fruits really are the key players here. Compared with Balcones Baby Blue, this is richer with less of an off flavor. While this doesn't have quite the same degree of complexity, it does have that interesting quinoa earthiness that brings some nice tannins and evolves into a more hedonistic fruitiness wrapped in chocolate and tobacco.