Nose: Allspice, almond, black pepper, butterscotch, caramel, cardamom, Clove, rashly dried tobacco, fig, burnt coffee, raisin/dried fruit, burnt orange peel, toasted oak, vanilla.

Taste: Buttery/astringent mouthfeel. Brown sugar, caramel, butterscotch, orange peel, cherry, honey, molasses, leather, charred oak, tobacco, burnt vanilla, fresh clove.

Finish: Long finish. Brown sugar, butterscotch, and orange peel are very apparent on both initial taste and finish. The notes almost remind me of taking a sip of a fancy old fashioned that uses brown sugar syrup with a freshly burnt orange peel. Rich notes of tanned leather and dried tobacco roll through adding just a bit of earthiness and depth to what could have been a flat finish and really take it up a notch.

The chinquapin oak really shows through on the finish. The toasted oak sweetness and baking spice reel the finish back around to cut off those earthy, leathery notes that came through mid palate. Clove and vanilla seal the deal with this one. This is a perfect cigar whiskey and something that I wasnt over the moon about first time around.

The sweet decadent notes with a hint of oak spice and leather its almost dangerous.

Overall: This is a delicious showcase that blended whiskey from KY doesnt have to come in a plastic jug and be mixed with Neutral Grain Spirit. Michters have done a great job with this one and I wish I had a full bottle to myself. Thankfully, the kind souls of @acouplebourbon were nice enough to share this with me last year and it was something I have been chipping away at ever since.

Michters products have a history of being very vague about where it is sourced from and what the age is. Had we known what age of whiskey was going into this blend, I would have been able to rate the pricing a little higher. Fortunately, this expression retails for around $100 which is a lot but most people wont think twice before buying it. I have seen it got for 4x more and people are still happy to purchase it. I would say this is on the level of what Barrel Craft Spirits and Bardstown Bourbon Co. are putting out just with less information.

A rich, bold profile with a syrupy mouthfeel that has just a hint of bite to it makes this one delicious and easy to put down pour. I do wonder what it would be like with slightly higher proof, around the 95 mark perhaps? The spice doesnt attack you at all, but I would love for the spice from the oak to have just a bit more presence.