Reviewed by: Aaron, Alexander, Bobby & Scott

Appearance:
Color is amber, with long, well-defined, oily legs that descend very slowly.

Nose:
The first scents are both dry and sweet: leather and cedar, and bown sugar caramel.
The barrel note is woody and dry. The smoky phenolics are there, but surprisingly light and well-integrated.
Overall the scent is deep and robustly earthy, like warm river clay, but with flecks of oily and bitter walnut and the sweetness of pecan pie.

Initial taste:
Straight away the combination of flavors is Red Hots candies! Sweet and toast cinnamon and corn sugar.

Body:
It begins with a plasticky phenol from the rye/peat combo. Don't let the "plasticky" desciptor scare you, as it's actually quite pleasant. The phenolics develop into a smokiness towards the mid-palate.
The texture is full and sweet, maple-syrup like, and buttery (with some suggestion of those flavors to boot).
The bulk of the sweetness has the quality of blood orange flesh, and with accompanying orange oil top notes, but no bitter pithy flavor.
As it opens, vanilla and fennel seed come to the fore.
The strong Red Hots taste is faded after the palate acclimates; it becomes a more mild cinnamon brown sugar/cinnamon bun/orange spice cake.
Some might also find a slight salinity and the taste of umeboshi (pickled plum) and chewing tobacco.
With water, sipped before and after, the dram releases largely floral pomme fruit flavors, rosy apple and pear, before subtly transitioning into red berry flavors of wild red raspberry.

Finsh:

The aftertaste continues with the theme of a dry/sweet combination with drying notes of black peppercorn terpenes and woodiness, and black tea.
The Red Hots taste reemerges for sweetness and the flavor of cinnamon.
The finish is where so much of the smoky phenolics come to play: burnt hay, campfire smoke, and Lapsang Souchong (cypress smoked black tea).