Rating: 15/23 N: Fairly rich and soft. It smells like there's probably a high proportion of barley. I get rich cherry with vanilla, and a nice layer of slightly tannic wood backing it. Some spices come off of the wood. It smells odd for a bourbon, but it smells good. P: Lots of cherry and vanilla coming through. The wood is pretty tannic, which helps to balance the juicy fruit and floral vanilla rather than just making it taste like used teabags. There's some semi-sweet chocolate in here too and there are of course spices (cinnamon, ginger, clove, black pepper). I was initially disappointed by the palate, but I'm liking it better now. There's an impressive fullness that I think has the barley to thank in large part. I think that the barley might be bringing in a bit of oiliness as well that is throwing me off though. F: That fullness persists. Obviously, it tastes like cherry, vanilla, wood, and spices still. It's a fine finish, though the components start to taste a little discordant here as the oiliness persists and turns a little bit metallic. There's maybe a hint of peppermint. Old Forester doesn't say what the mashbill is, but I bet it has an abnormally large amount of barley. This is an interesting twist on a bourbon. I think that the balance and cohesion could use some improvement and the cherry, chocolate, and spices could benefit from some refinement to turn them into real killer flavors, but for up to $30, this is worth considering. I'd rank it as a strong contender alongside Wild Turkey 101 for best budget bourbon. Up until the finish really kicks in, this is a really great bourbon. I wouldn't call it world-class, but it really stands out (it could maybe be an 18 or something). That finish brings it down a lot though, unfortunately. I've been wavering between 14 and 16 and I think I have to just come down on 15. It's better than Legent (another bourbon with a strong cherry flavor), but not as good as Russell's Reserve 10. I'm not really sure whether I like this or the Old Forester Rye better (I do realize that they are different beasts). If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with the rye because it has that clean rye flavor to it. I have the rye at a borderline 15 to 16, so this just seems to fit naturally into the 15 slot.