A tale of three bourbons. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Take several of my favorite distilleries, blend their well-aged product and charge a hearty but honestly not unreasonable price given the work required to make it all come together. Is it worth it? Is the sum better than its parts? Sadly no, not really. Is it still incredibly enjoyable? Yes. Nose really showcases the older MGP. The oak and anise jump out of the glass as well as a bit of funk. Good, but almost muted as compared to my high expectations. The body is medium viscosity at best and a bit hot, but not unpleasantly so. Lots of up front wood notes and a bit of pepper, then an almost bubble yum sweetness that I get with Wild Turkey and possibly the oak and cherry notes of Heaven Hill. What I couldn’t pick up as well was the mineral/pencil lead and anise notes that I love about MGP. They are subtle and tucked into the finish with a bit of leather but not showcased (for being ~50% of the blend). This is no Boone County! I shouldn’t have expected to be either but was disappointed with the lack of “oomph” on the palate. Neither is it an ECBP gobstopper of fruit, wood, chocolate, etc, etc... Need to give it some time to be sure but at $130 likely not a re-buy when I could have a bottle of both ECBP and Remus for slightly more and really enjoy the flavors separately. Would miss the Turkey funk but a bottle of rare breed thrown in would fix that. Ok, now getting well above the $130 mark but also getting 3x the volume. Buy it, share it, dissect it, enjoy it. You won’t head this one as “my precious” and maybe that’s not a bad thing. ———— I still love this, but if you’re still reading save $100 and buy a bottle of WR Rare Breed instead. You’ll thank me. Note - this is delicious but is there’s 95% overlap and honestly the added bit of sweetness here detracts from the balance that rare breed alone strikes.