So 2020 bourbon of the year? I already know one person calling this a contender...and I might have been the one who brought him the bottle and then said if he reviewed it before I had 3 bottles, he was cut off. :) Nose - cinnamon, fall leaves, clove, baked pie crust, and then this MGP rye note that you can't mistake. This is one of the least sweet and more just complex and yet not dry or bitter or anything like that of traditional bourbons (so complex that sentence is likely a run on). It's a level of balance I can't describe or compare it to. Taste - 12 years in oak barrels followed by 18 months in these Armagnac casks provides a level of depth and complexity in this bourbon that really has few rivals. This is simply WOW whisky. Spicy, complex, tobacco, oak, cinnamon, apples cider, rye spice, touches of vanilla and caramel. There's so much more to this than I can describe. Water brings out more sweetness up front but doesn't turn it. The spices and flurry of flavors doesn't subside. Fall orchard fruits and spices while in a tobacco barn is all I can really use to explain the nuance of this one. For me, I do tend to want a bit more vanilla and caramel sweetness and I want an oak sweetness that I don't find here in my bourbons. But this is a finish bourbon, and with that comes an acceptance of nuance and just differences. This isn't as sweet as the 30 year old armagnac I have in my closet, but it does bring out some of those notes. I'm left with just a big old smile on my face and a big old WOW. 4.5 on this one. I did this side by side with the four gate batch 6 and it make the batch 6 seem like a cheap boring bourbon (it isn't). It's close but I'd take this over a cigar blend. I liked this so much I bought 4 bottles for myself. I have been screaming at the roof tops for people to get this one. I've very well may have turned this locally into a special allocated bottling that it wasn't before I started telling people about it. So now I share it with you guys. This is a top 25 all time bourbon imo. This isn't special, it's a masterpiece in the bourbon space and worth paying secondary prices while they're still reasonable. MSRP is about 130 on this one. The secondary is still only about 250 shipped. BUY THEM ALL! I can't recommend a bottle more strongly given that even secondary prices are still so reasonable.