Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B524

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Ok. So I use ChatGPT to write the Alt Text description for the cover images because I am always a bit amazed at what it pulls from the photo that I don’t think about mentioning. I don’t need to count the words, I just say “Summarize this photo in 150 characters or less” and it spits out something that works. (If you were unaware, Alt Text is the short bit of text that is included in the website code so that the image is adequately described for those who use a screen reader. I mean it’s an easy thing to include, why would I want to alienate someone from reading my writing just because they don’t see as well as I do?)

So I was doing that and, as I often do, I asked it to come up with something on the fly. I’m old enough that these Large Language Models are basically magic to me (much like VCRs, personal computers, the internet, and streaming video were before it). Because I will spend much of the weekend moving eight cubic yards of mulch from my driveway to our garden, I asked it to write something lamenting that fact that then transitions into the intro to this review. I didn’t expect the AI to write anything that I would use, but it was the thing on my mind. I learned a long time ago that as a creative person, sometimes you need to work through a bad idea so your brain can give up on it in order to move on to a good one. In my puny human brain, I thought that maybe I could outsource that step to the AI. But then the damn thing wrote a poem. And for some reason, I found that mildly amusing. And so, since we’ve been covering Elijah Craig Barrel Proof three times a year since 2019, I figured, I would share that poem. I mean, you guys know what is going on with this product by now.

A Mulch Mover's Lament

In the sweltering heat of June, I toiled,
Eight cubic yards of mulch, sweat-soaked and soiled.
With every shovel's lift and wheelbarrow's haul,
My weary muscles strained, yet stood tall.

The sun bore down, unyielding in its glare,
Each mound of mulch seemed a mountain to bear.
Blisters formed and my back cried out in pain,
Yet onward I pushed, again and again.

The scent of fresh earth filled the air around,
A bittersweet reminder of the task so profound.
As hours stretched on and shadows grew long,
My strength began to waver, though my will remained strong.

But as the final pile was spread and laid,
A sense of accomplishment gently stayed.
Exhaustion gave way to a quiet pride,
In the garden's transformation, far and wide.

A Well-Deserved Reward

After such a grueling day of laborious care,
A moment of respite was beyond compare.
I reached for a bottle, rich and profound,
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, a treasure to be found.

With its deep amber hue and robust grace,
This bourbon promised a sensory embrace.
At 130.6 proof, it stood bold and tall,
A spirit to savor as evening began to fall.

Join me as I uncork this barrel-aged delight,
And journey through flavors, rich and bright.
From mulch to masterpiece, the day's work now done,
Let's explore this bourbon, sip by glorious sip, one by one.

Ok. See? This shit is weird. Which is why I like to play with it. I honestly didn’t even consider a poem. And by the way, because I drink a lot of bourbon, the pain it references will be there, but muscles standing tall? Not so much.

Anyway, let’s see if this beast of a bourbon is any good, shall we?

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B524

Purchase Info: This sample was provided at no charge by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $74.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 65.3% ABV. 11 years, 2 months.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, cherry, chocolate, and oak.

Mouth: Vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, chocolate, nutmeg, oak, and a hint of mint.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering notes of nutmeg, allspice, and chocolate.

Thoughts/Comparison to last time: The noses are very similar with A124 showing the same notes, just more pronounced. B524 is sweet, spicy, and very hot. A124 feels almost cool by comparison and shows more cherry/fruit in the mouth. B524 is very "stereotypical bourbon” in the best possible way and I am loving it. Both are delicious but give me B524 if I get to choose.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B524

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

This will be the fourteenth look at Larceny Barrel Proof. We’ve been reviewing and enjoying it since the beginning. That said, I was thinking that maybe we’ve done it a little too often.

Then, I looked at the analytics. You guys really seem to enjoy them. Or rather, Google does. In any case, these Heaven Hill Barrel Proof reviews get a lot more traffic than others, so I’m just going to keep riding it. Plus, it’s a whiskey that I don’t have to buy. And I like not buying whiskey almost as much as I enjoy drinking whiskey. When I was growing up, when asked what his favorite beer was, my uncle would always say “free.” As I get older, I see more and more wisdom in that statement.

Anyway, like I said, we’ve looked at this thirteen times previously, so you all know what is going on. Let’s just jump into the review.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B524

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $64.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 62.7% ABV. 6-8 years old, per the press release

Nose: Cinnamon, brown sugar, and oak.

Mouth: Black tea, cinnamon, chocolate, and floral notes.

Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium with notes of cinnamon, oak, mint, and chocolate.

Thoughts/Comparison to last time: B524 shows more sweet cinnamon on the nose. On the mouth, I'd say that B524 is sweeter and more vibrant, while A124 is richer in flavor. Both are good, and my wife and I are split over which one we like better. I prefer the rich caramel and oak notes of A124, while she prefers the sweet and vibrant B524. But I like both and this one gets a smiley face from me.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Original Cocktails by Heublin: Manhattan and Old Fashioned

Memorial Day cookouts are over, and summer is here, even if the calendar has a little catching up to do. And honestly, though I often have a pour of bourbon in the summer, I tend to like cocktails just a bit more on a hot day, especially those that are served cold. Nothing beats an ice-cold drink on the deck with a little music playing while reading a book or visiting with friends.

That said, I’m a busy guy. I’m cleaning up after dogs, I’m designing junk mail for plumbers, I’m building things for my wife. I don’t always have the time or the energy to build a cocktail. Even an easy one. This is why we continually take a look at the ever-increasing selection of ready-to-drink cocktails on the market. Sure, they aren’t usually as good as the ones you make at home, but they sure are easy. Open the fridge, pour a little in a glass, and add ice. Couldn’t be simpler.

Tonight, we are looking at a pair of ready-to-drink cocktails from Sazerac’s 1792 brand—oddly, not including a Sazerac cocktail. I mean, maybe Sazerac makes a ready-to-drink version of a Sazerac cocktail, but I didn’t see one on the shelf, and I can’t find a website for these to find out more information. Aside from what I can find during some internet sleuthing, I know next to nothing about them. In fact, I only know for sure that tonight’s bottles come from Sazerac because I did a trademark search for Heublein, and they came up as the owner.

Heublin is an old name in the cocktail game. According to Wikipedia:

Heublein began as a restaurant founded in 1862 in Hartford, Connecticut, by Andrew Heublein, a German American entrepreneur. His two sons, Gilbert F. and Louis, soon joined the business. In 1875 they accepted a large order for pre-mixed martini and Manhattan cocktails for the annual picnic of the Governor's Foot Guard. Rain forced the event's cancellation. When a restaurant employee whom the brothers had instructed to dispose of the canceled cocktails several days later determined them to have withstood shelf storage safely, they began selling the pre-mixed cocktails from the restaurant. So popular were the ready-made cocktails that Heublein built a distillery just to satisfy the demand. When the focus of Andrew Heublein's business turned more heavily toward its lucrative line of ready-made cocktails in 1890, he transferred the business to his sons, and it became Gilbert F. Heublein and Bro. In 1892 they introduced their brand of “Club Cocktails” pre-mixed cocktails, an early form of ready to drink (RTD) cocktails.

When your name has been associated with something for over 130 years, that’s a trademark worth holding on to. And boy, have a lot of folks held onto this name. After a series of acquisitions over the course of a half-century (including Grey Poupon, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the US rights to Smirnoff’s Vodka, and others), the Heublein company was purchased by RJ Reynolds in 1982. After corporate mergers caused some divestiture, the name was sold to a company that would go on to become Diageo. I’m not feeling the need to go any further on the topic of corporate history, but suffice it to say that “Original Cocktails by Heublin” is currently a trademark held by Sazerac.

So now that we’ve read a bit of history, let’s see if these are worthy additions to our arsenal of deck drinks, shall we?

Original Cocktails by Hueblein

Purchase Info: $11.99 each at Lakeville Liquors, Lakeville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.60

Details: 35% ABV

Manhattan:

The nose has notes of baking spice and cherry. The mouth continues the theme with a good hit of sweetness, and cherry notes that play nicely with the baking spice. The finish is sweet and medium to long with the same notes as the mouth and nose. I know this says 1792 Bourbon on the label, but it tastes a lot like a bottle of Very Old Barton. Very tasty. I especially like that the Vermouth influence is pretty light, as I’m not a Vermouth fan.

Old Fashioned:

The nose has orange and baking spice notes, which continue into the mouth. The mouth also introduces notes of sweet vanilla to the mix. And I mean sweet. This is very sweet with a thick, syrupy mouthfeel, even after stirring with ice. The finish is of medium length and has notes of orange and baking spice. Personally, I find this too sweet for my tastes, but I almost always use way less sweetener than the recipe calls for when I make an old Fashioned at home. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, though.

Thoughts: I probably wouldn’t take the Old Fashioned camping with me like I would the Manhattan (a bitters bottle is easier to tuck in the bag along with the bourbon than a bottle of vermouth is). However for relaxing on the deck after a busy day, both of these are just fine. I prefer the Manhattan to the Old Fashioned mostly due to the intense sweetness of the Old Fashioned. You will probably enjoy the Old Fashioned more if you have a bigger sweet tooth than I do. But all in all, I like them.

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Lux Row Four Grain Double Single Barrel

Welcome to the Lux Row blog…it sure seems that way, doesn’t it? What can I say? They were nice enough to send over a lot of samples this Spring. It just goes to show that they are putting out a lot of new products between the various distilleries that are part of the Lux Row/MGP/Yellowstone/Ross & Squib family. Tonight’s bourbon, however, was bought with my hard-earned money, as was the last one. Never fear, though. I’m specifically working to end the tyranny of Lux Row in order to fit in other producers between the Lux Row samples. It’s been a weird year. And though I tease about how many of their bourbons we’ve covered lately, I really do appreciate them sending me things to write about so that I can spend more of my hard-earned bourbon dollars on quality rather than quantity, like the one purchased for tonight’s post.

Even though I’d like even more to spend less money and get quality in what I buy, I’ve resigned myself to occasionally needing to spend money…I think I might go yell at a cloud next.

Anyway, tonight’s bourbon is a limited edition super-premium bottle of Lux Row bourbon. I was a bit thrown by the name of this one. I wasn’t quite sure what a Double Single Barrel was, but it turns out I was overthinking it. It’s a blend of two single-barrel bourbons. One of the bourbons is a wheated bourbon, and one uses rye as its flavoring grain. Both were filled in 2018. I bought this in March, and though I don’t know how long it was on the shelf before I got my grubby little hands on it, they are currently out of stock, so I’m assuming it didn’t last long. I’m guessing the liquid is five years old, with an off-chance of it being four and leaving it at that.

So, let’s dig in.

Lux Row Four Grain Double Single Barrel

Purchase Info: $89.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.00

Details: 57.5% ABV. Rye Barrel: 8086657, filled: 7-11-18, and Wheated Barrel: 8119693, filled: 8-14-18.

Nose: Big Red Gum, toffee, dried grains, and oak.

Mouth: Spicy with a ton of cinnamon candy notes. Lurking beyond the prominent cinnamon is floral, vanilla, and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of cinnamon, caramel, floral vanilla, and oak.

Thoughts: Wow! This is a spicy beast. Strong cinnamon notes throughout with enough vanilla and caramel notes to give it a nice richness. Followed by an oak note that ranges from bitter to mellow. This is extremely delicious. At 115° proof, you may be tempted to add a little water. If you do, be judicious as even a little tames it a lot and really amps up the sweetness, which may be what you are looking for, but if not, go easy or enjoy it neat.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Rebel Bourbon Single Barrel, 10-Years-Old: Revisited

It has been two thousand five hundred and twenty days since I last reviewed two separate barrels of what was then known as Rebel Yell Single Barrel. Almost seven years. Since then, the brand has lost the “Yell” from its name and has been on a complete tear to improve its offerings' age, proof, and variety. In addition to the original Rebel and ten-year-old single barrel variations, we now get to enjoy Rebel in 100° proof varieties of both bourbon and rye, as well as six-year-old and small-batch bourbon varieties.

I picked this particular bottle up while I was shopping for items for March’s Bracket series. So, I’ve been sitting on it for a while. But I also haven’t even seen this particular bourbon on the shelf since I last reviewed it, so I knew I was going to have to pick it up. I loved it the first time I tried it. Here is what I had to say at the time:

I am really impressed. And even at $50, I think this is worth the money should you have it to spare. For me, this is on the line between really, really like and love. But because I think the price point is just about perfect, I'll just go with I love it.

Let’s find out if I’m still in love with this one.

Rebel Bourbon Single Barrel, 10-Years-Old

Purchase Info: $104.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Chanhassen, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $7.00

Nose: Oak, cinnamon, caramel, bubblegum.

Mouth: Cinnamon, honey, cherry, mint, and oak.

Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium length. Notes of oak, cherry, mint, cinnamon and honey.

Thoughts: I'm so happy that I stumbled on this again. It is even better than I remembered. It’s vibrant, and the flavor just blossoms in the mouth as it moves back. It shows a lot of oak without tasting like you are sucking on a barrel stave. In other words, it's delicious! It still straddles the line between love and really like. The first time around, the great price was what bumped it into the love ranking, and now, since the price per drink has doubled in the last seven-ish years, I’m downgrading this to a like rating. It’s very good, but I’m not sure I can recommend anyone spend over $100 on it, especially with all the other great, often barrel-proof, options the company currently offers at a more reasonable price.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Blood Oath Pact 10

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Hello, my friends! As I write this, I am in the midst of last-minute packing for a flight to Albuquerque. My wife is currently there for a work training seminar and we thought it might be nice for me to join her for the weekend after it’s finished. You know, get away before the summer rush happens in our dog-sitting business. By the time you read this, I will probably be in the air sipping a glass of bourbon while watching a movie.

But since I am super busy tonight, and since we’ve covered all of the Blood Oath releases but the second over the last ten years, I thought I’d just pull an extended excerpt from the press release to help explain what is going on in this version rather than skipping the post and waiting until next week.

ST. LOUIS (April 23, 2024) – Lux Row Master Distiller and Master Blender John Rempe marks a decade of distinction – and secrecy – as he renews his annual pact with bourbon drinkers by releasing Blood Oath Pact 10 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey double finished in Cabernet Franc and Merlot casks. A limited supply of 17,000 (3-in) cases will arrive at retail this month at a suggested price of $129.99 per 750 ml bottle. As with all of Rempe’s pacts, Blood Oath Pact 10 is offered at 98.6 proof (49.3% ABV).

Blood Oath Pact 10 combines some of the finest rare bourbons Rempe could find, including two well-bred ryed bourbons and one finished bourbon each complementing the others. In honor of Blood Oath’s double-digit age milestone, Rempe achieved a double finish for this year’s special, secret blend. The first finish was perfected in Cabernet Franc barrels, imbuing rich flavors of tart raspberries and black pepper. The second finish was refined in Merlot barrels, instilling the tastes of red stone fruits with undertones of vanilla, cocoa and anise. The result is a delicious and distinctive pour.

For a decade Rempe has sought out famous and forgotten rare bourbons and bottled them in combinations for his limited-release Blood Oath Pacts. Not to cater to anyone’s loyalties, he has sworn to never reveal where he finds his bourbon, but only promises to choose and make the best he knows.

“We wanted to create something truly distinctive and unique to mark our 10th edition of Blood Oath and we did just that,” said Rempe. “For this offering I sourced three extraordinary bourbons that could be elevated even further through a double finish in Cabernet Franc and Merlot casks, and would ultimately deliver the kind of rich, fruit-forward notes and smooth drinking experience I wanted to achieve. It’s a superb blend and I’m excited to share it.”

So now that you know what is going on, let’s get back to what you are actually here for. How does it taste?

Blood Oath Pact 10

Purchase Info: The producer provided me with this sample bottle at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price for a 750 mL bottle is $129.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.67

Details: 49.3% ABV. Part of the blend was barrel-finished in Cabernet Franc and Merlot Casks.

Nose: Caramel, cherry, tobacco, and smoky oak.

Mouth: Cinnamon spice, caramel, tobacco, and oak.

Finish: Medium in warmth and length. Notes of caramel-covered red fruit, tobacco, oak, and after a bit, cinnamon pops back up.

Thoughts: This is a pretty consistent flavor experience from nose to finish, with many of the same notes popping up throughout. The mouth starts out sweet, but the longer you hold it in there to tease out the notes, the more the sweetness fades to dry oak notes. This is delicious! My wife has declared that if we see this, she is buying a bottle. That is considerable praise from someone who is as frugal as a long-time accountant can be. I really like it too.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Never Say Die Rye Whiskey

I’d like to thank the producer for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

It was almost three months ago, to the day, that we looked at the Small Batch Bourbon from Never Say Die and gave away a branded winter hat to a lucky reader. The producer of that bourbon appreciated the giveaway enough that he not only sent a new hat to replace the one I gave away but also sent a bottle of their Rye whiskey as well. Now, as it was only three months ago, I’m not going to drill down into their company history again. But here is a quick overview of the life of the whiskey we are talking about tonight.

• A distillery in Kentucky distilled a mash bill of 56% Rye, 33% Corn, and 11% Malted Barley using a sweet mash process.

• That distillery ages the whiskey in new charred oak barrels for five years.

• The whiskey is then shipped across the ocean to England, getting nice and agitated while being exposed to the sea air during the crossing.

• The whiskey is then aged further in Derbyshire, England, before being bottled at 52.5% ABV. A small portion of that whiskey then comes back to the US to be sold online by Seelbach’s.

• I drink a bit of that whiskey.

I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate once again that this came from Wilderness Trail Distillery. Wilderness Trail uses a sweet mash process and the exact same mashbill for their rye, so I think that metaphorical limb I crawled out on is pretty sturdy.

So now that you’ve got a quick overview of the whiskey and some speculation as to its provenance, let’s dig in.

Never Say Die Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: This bottle was provided at no charge for review purposes. A 700 mL bottle can be purchased online at Seelbach's for $84.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.07

Nose: Floral mint, cardamom, cherry, caramel, oak, and cocoa.

Mouth: Spicy and sweet with notes of cinnamon, red fruit, honey, cardamon, and oak.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Sweet and vibrant notes of cinnamon, cardamom, honey, bubblegum and mint.

Thoughts: The nose is complex and ever-changing. The mouth is spicy and sweet, and the finish explodes with flavor upon swallowing. Overall, I like this, and even though $6 per pour is more than I’d like to spend on a rye whiskey, I will certainly enjoy the rest of the bottle. I tend to use ryes in cocktails more often than I drink them neat, though, so I don’t usually tend to spend a premium on them.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Ezra Brooks 99 Port Wine Cask Finish

I’d like to thank Byrne PR and Lux Row Distillery for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

I have a very short list of what I look for in a bourbon.

1. Inexpensive.

2. Rich mouthfeel.

3. Full-flavored.

4. Spicy.

5. Sweet.

6. Inexpensive.

My wife and I are very frugal people, but don’t mistake that for being cheap. My hobbies are whiskey and vinyl records, for goodness sake. No, we are frugal. We consider where our money is being spent and if we are spending it appropriately. We will buy expensive items, but only if our research shows that those items are worth the extra cost. It’s a holdover from growing up in poverty and spending the first twenty years of our relationship trying to learn how to climb out (hint: luck was more important than hard work…though both were necessary).

That’s one of the reasons I love getting samples from Lux Row. Not only are they usually delicious, but they are normally priced well enough that I don’t feel guilty or feel like I’m bragging too much when I recommend them. Sure, they make some very tasty high-priced bourbons. But they also have delicious ones that won’t cause you to choose between a bottle of whiskey or paying your electric bill on time.

A case in point is tonight’s Port Wine cask-finished bourbon. Its suggested retail price is $35. In today’s whiskey market, that’s almost bottom-shelf pricing. I exaggerate, but not by much. In fact, whiskey prices have risen so much since I started this site that I continuously need to reassess if I keep it going (I started it with what I thought was an obscene limit of $80 per month…don’t ask what I spent last year). This is why I am incredibly thankful to the readers who tip me a coffee, buy merch, or even just comment and interact.

So, let’s get back to this reasonably priced bourbon, shall we? This is the standard Ezra Brooks mash bill of 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley, aged and finished for an additional six months in Port wine casks before being bottled at 99 proof. Here is what the producer has to say about it:

“We created Ezra Brooks 99 Port Wine Cask Finish for bourbon fans looking for an elevated taste profile and unique flavor option,” said Eric Winter, Ezra Brooks brand manager. “Lux Row Master Distiller John Rempe was intrigued by the juxtaposition of ryed bourbon’s spicy flavor profile and the sweeter, dark fruit notes often found in port wines.”

Now, the part we’ve all been waiting for: let’s dig in.

Ezra Brooks 99 Port Wine Cask Finish

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent by the producer at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $34.99 per 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.33

Details: 49.5% ABV. Mash Bill: 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley. Secondary aging in port wine cask for six months.

Nose: Cinnamon, raspberry, black tea, and hints of rose petals and oak.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon candies, caramel, chocolate, and oak.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth with notes of Big Red Gum, caramel, floral mint, and oak.

Thoughts: This is quite tasty. It's nice and spicy, so if that isn't your thing, it plays nicely with a splash of water. Water tames some of the spice but also dulls the finish a bit, so to each their own on this point. It has nice oak, cinnamon, and lovely floral and red fruit notes. This is pretty damn good. I like it.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.