The Bourbon
The coloring for this pour is a reddened amber, neither as dark or as brown as one might expect from a middle-aged bourbon bottled at such high strength. My take on the nose is a layer of hazy nuttiness atop a base of caramel and butterscotch. The palate here is a richly sweet one. The core of deep vanilla and brown sugar is accented with cocoa, with modest, off-center notes of earthy-style tea tannin and ginger. The flavor turns somewhat spicier and more peppery on the back end. In my opinion, the main deficit of this bourbon is its lack of a distinguished finish, which I found rather light an indistinct.
