There's none of the floral nose of regular Esmé. Weird - I would have expected the regular to be the more neutral and generic (though not necessarily in a bad way). The palate here is sweet like that of the regular Esmé, but it's rich with a kind of inexplicable bitterness that seems a bit industrial. I wouldn't say that this one tastes bad, but it isn't all that great. It tastes a bit sulfuric. It's also pretty harsh, though there is a nice peppery heat with that harshness. With the sulfur and harshness, I'm having trouble even giving this a 12. Sadly, this is just not very good. There is actually something a bit floral here. What's weird is that the regular Esmé tastes like a cleaner, better vodka was used to start and floral flavor was infused, whereas this tastes like a not-as-good vodka just happened to have a floral character to it. There is at least a little tad of complexity. But I have to say that this is a 10 at best. I like the sweetness and floral (borderline fruity) character, along with the fullness that the sulfur brings. I don't like the sulfur though and that's a big problem. I'm thinking 8 to 10, so I'll go with a 9.