The nose is rich with a hefty dose of wood and some surprising umami. It doesn't smell like fruit or anything else sweet. The umami holds a bit of boiled beef and wet (though not moldy) cardboard. It smells big and bold, though not entirely appealing. The palate tastes lighter and younger than expected. There are some nice rich, bitter flavors here, but they can't hide the youth. There's some bittersweet cocoa that's really nice and pervasive, but there's also some cardboard that borders on being that Garrison Brothers sawdust due to the included brown sugar. I like the greater complexity in here than in Garrison Brothers, but it's still fairly harsh and discordant. It's much sweeter than the nose suggests, but with a youth and corn flavor. It's an especially good youthful whiskey, but it's still youthful. It's not as good as Sazerac, though it is complex without having any awful flavors. I'd certainly take this over Minor Case Sherry Cask. Brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, licorice, some herbal notes. It's also numbing with a fair amount of soft tannins. There's a fair bit of smoke, but no leather. The more I drink it, the more I enjoy it. There might be a hint of some fruit, but there isn't much. The sweet caramel flavor is more like slightly burnt caramel than butterscotch or toffee. Or maybe it's dark toffee. It's good. I'd be pretty happy drinking this. It's interesting and I'd put it fairly close to Booker's due to its higher complexity. Garrison Brothers should have been at least this. Still, it's young and harsh. I feel like the variance is high here, but I'll give it a 17 for now. I feel like it's at least a 14 or 15, bit it's hard to see it being higher than a 19 or 20.