Rating: 15/23 This has some interesting finishing going on, which is what got my attention. It's also Beam whiskey combined with Japanese blending, which makes me nervous since the Jim Beam range has pretty subtle flavors already and Japanese blending seems to mute a lot of the characteristics as well. We'll see what the result is here. N: I get cola, a bit of cherry, some light toffee, a hint of peanut, some mineral, and a bit of woody spice. It's a fairly light nose for a bourbon and the amount of mineral and cola concern me since it leans more toward the metallic side of cola than the rich herbal side. P: The mouthfeel is disappointingly.a bit watery, but it isn't too bad. The cola is definitely there, as is the wood spice. It's a sweet bourbon, though not excessively so. The spice builds over the course of the palate. Toward the finish, a little bit of almond and peanut comes out, which I'd say is the high point. The beginning has more of the mineral and cherry mixed with dried dark fruit building out the cola flavor. There is some corn sweetness, but it doesn't really come out as caramel or toffee. I get more of a vanilla tone coming out with the corn, but not a ton of it. F: A bitterness from the cola kind of comes out and sticks there at the end, making the finish a bit underwhelming. Overall, there are some interesting things I like here that make this a unique bourbon, but all-told I can't say I'm a particular fan. It's a substantial step up over Jim Beam Black, but for the price I think I'd go with Russell's Reserve 10 instead. Eagle Rare kicks it to the curb, though I think it does outclass Elijah Craig Small Batch just a tad. I could see a 14 and at one point I thought it was a 17, but I think it's really in the 15 to 16 range. I'll go 15 for now, with it likely moving up to 16.