11th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The Championship Rounds

Welcome back, folks! We are now at the end of the 2024 contest. Eight whiskeys entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats, with not a single stinker in the bunch. Let’s see how it all ends and see if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.

Division 2: Whiskey A (Buffalo Trace) vs. Whiskey B (George Dickel Bourbon)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The noses are pretty similar. “A” is more vibrant, “B” is nuttier. In the mouth, “A” is very nicely balanced with a nice sweetness. “B” is spicier, also with a nice flavor.

Winner: “B” (George Dickel Bourbon) moves on to the Championship Round based on the nice spiciness.

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Division 1: Whiskey A (Old Forester 100 Proof) vs. Whiskey B (Old Grand-Dad 114 Proof)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose on “B” has more caramel and nuttiness. The nose on “A” is more muted with a faint medicinal note. “B” is very spicy on the month. “A” has notes of red fruit and marzipan.

Winner: “B” is spicier, but that spiciness overwhelms the other notes. “A” is more well-rounded, which I prefer. “A” (Old Forester 100 proof) moves on to the Championship Round

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Championship Round: Whiskey A (George Dickel Bourbon) vs. Whiskey B (Old Forester 100 Proof)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose on “A” shows more caramel and vanilla versus the fruit notes on “B.” The mouth on “A” is showing spice, caramel, and oak. “B” shows more fruit. It’s close, but I think “A” pulls ahead based on the oak and spice.

Winner: “A” (George Dickel Bourbon)

Congrats to George Dickel 8-Year-Old Bourbon, the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Bracket Champion!

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Lessons Learned:

This was an interesting contest for me. I like contests where I know I won’t need to brace myself before taking the first sip in a tasting. Every one of the bourbons was good. I don’t think I’d say there is anything in here that would warrant a “meh/neutral” rating if it were being tasted alone. That might be a first.

So, what did I learn about each of these?

Ok, right off the bat, I expected a little blowback on George Dickel Bourbon even being in the contest. I got it last year when I included their Bottled-in-Bond Whiskey, and I honestly expected the same this year. I am personally shocked that Dickel won the contest. I honestly expected Old Forester 100 proof to win based on what I thought my personal preferences were. That said, upon reflection, I’m not shocked that the only age-stated bourbon in the batch won the whole thing. It’s hard to beat time in a barrel for making good whiskey. Add in the fact that it was less than $25 and less than 100 proof, and the whole thing just makes me happy. I love an underdog story.

Moving over to the other Championship contender, as stated above, Old Forester 100 Proof would have been my favorite to win the contest at the outset. Not only does it sit in my favorite proof point, but it was also the most expensive of the bunch. Not that price always correlates to quality (that’s one of the reasons we run this contest each year), but it certainly correlates to how much a company thinks people would be willing to pay for something. And that has at least a passing relationship with how good something is, especially with a product that has been on the market for a long time like this. That said, it came in second and won its division. It’s a good bourbon and one that is often on my shelf.

Newcomer Wheel Horse Bourbon handled itself admirably. It didn’t quite have the gusto to knock off a competitor with lots of age on it, but it should hold its head up high. It lost to the eventual champion this year. That’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s good whiskey and a good value. It may have advanced if it had had a different matchup in the first round. I think I’ll be doing a full review of this one in the near future if I don’t drink it all first.

Elijah Craig is a great bourbon. It is more delicate than other bourbons in this list, having neither the age nor the proof of other contestants. Because of that, it doesn’t surprise me that it lost in the first round. But with no comparisons, I'm a happy camper if this is in my glass.

When I think of Buffalo Trace, the old chant from high school sports of “O-Ver-Rate-Ed clap clap clapclapclap.” That isn’t to say that it is a stinker or even a “meh” bourbon. No, it is very good. But when I get comments from people saying that it goes for $50 in their neck of the woods, it’s hard to take it seriously these days. Especially when contrasted with other comparable products. Sazerac won the PR lottery when they got the contract to have Pappy chosen from among their stocks oh-so-many years ago.

I’m just going to copy and paste what I said last year about Old Tub, as nothing has changed in my assessment: “Old Tub reminded me that Jim Beam makes good whiskey. It just needs some proof. Go below 100° proof, and it gets way too nutty for many folks, including me, when the mood isn’t right.”

I didn’t learn much from Old Grand-Dad 114 that I didn’t already know. I knew it was a great bourbon that didn’t cost much, and nothing about that has changed. The proof adds a nice spice to what might otherwise be a lackluster bourbon that would be too grain-forward for my personal tastes. That’s why I like Bonded and 114 so much better than the 80 proof.

Finally, Ezra Brooks 99 is right there with the other bourbons in this group. It was great as a 90° proof. And with that great base, the proof bump makes it an absolute winner. Sure, the price is higher than the now-discontinued 90, but I think the quality went up more. If I’m not buying for content, this is one that I pick up a lot.

Ok, so we have one further contest to take a look at before we put the brackets to bed this year. I retired Wild Turkey 101 from the yearly bracket contest a few years ago. It won every time it appeared until I paired it against other, more expensive, 100-ish proof bourbons during the pandemic. It is literally the GOAT when it comes to inexpensive bourbon. One of the guys I talk to at a local liquor store describes more expensive bourbons using Wild Turkey 101 as the measuring stick. “Is this worth four bottles of Wild Turkey 101?” And I love that. So, I decided to bring it out of retirement to see how this year’s winner stacked up against the old bird. (You may notice it hiding in the back of the photo above.)

Emeritus Round: Whiskey A (George Dickel Bourbon) vs. Whiskey B (Wild Turkey 101)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: “A” has a lot of oak on both the nose and mouth, along with toffee on the mouth. “B” shows nice cinnamon on the nose and mouth along with some caramel on the mouth. Both have a nice spice.

Winner: Very close, but I'm leaning toward “B” (Wild Turkey) in the Emeritus Contest.

Now that we are done, it’s time to turn the page to the future. Next week, we will look at the samples that have been stacking up while the contest was going on. As much fun as this was, it’s fun to try new bourbons, too.

Once again, congrats to George Dickel 8-Year-Old Bourbon on their 2024 Championship!

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11TH ANNUAL BOURBONGUY.COM BRACKETS: ROUND 1: Old Forester 100 Proof vs. Elijah Craig

Hello again, my friends! Let’s continue with the brackets, shall we?

If you’ve been following along, you know that these were tasted in an order only known to my wife, which was another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets continues with Division 1’s Number 1 seed, Old Forester 100 proof, taking on Number 4 seed Elijah Craig.

Old Forester 100 proof, one time known as Old Forester Signature, is probably my favorite Brown-Forman bourbon from a Quality-to-Price perspective. It is delicious, relatively inexpensive (at least when compared to its Whiskey Row brothers), and has enough proof to keep you interested. Did I mention that it is delicious? I was thrilled to include this one in the brackets this year. It is the number one overall seed due to the fact that it is at the high end of this contest’s price parameters and it’s proof. I bought this bottle at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis, MN. It costs $27.99 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.87 per pour.

Their opponent is another bourbon that I buy quite often. In this case, it is because Heaven Hill’s flagship bourbon, Elijah Craig, is often on sale in the low $ 20 range near me. I’m a big fan of bottles that taste good but cost relatively little. Hence, the contest theme. This particular bottle was not on sale but was still priced well. It costs $24.96 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.66 per pour.

All of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and probably influenced the perceptions of one another.

Whiskey A (Elijah Craig)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.66

Details: 47% ABV.

Nose: Brown sugar, mint, cola, and baking spice.

Mouth: Caramel, cola, cinnamon, and oak.

Finish: Warm and on the shorter side of medium. Notes of brown sugar, mint, and oak.

Whiskey B (Old Forester 100 proof)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.87

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, citrus zest, mint, and almond.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with notes of caramel, cedar, mint, almond, and cinnamon.

Finish: Warm and of medium length—notes of toffee, chalk, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts:

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: We had a hard time with this one. Relatively, “A” is the more delicate of the two, which wouldn't matter if one of these was bad. I’ve chosen the more delicate bourbon in previous year’s contests because it happened to be the better one. But both of these were very good. So I'm left with which one made more of an impression. And in this case, that is the robust flavor of “B.”

Post-Reveal Thoughts: There are no surprises here. The proof won out. If this contest had happened ten years ago, it would have been a different story. Old Forester had fallen on hard times and, frankly, wasn’t very good. And Elijah Craig was a 12-year-old powerhouse of a bourbon. But these days, Old Forester 100 is delicious, and Elijah Craig, though delicious, is much more approachable than it once was.

Winner: Old Forester 100 is advancing to round 2.

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11th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The “Not Quite Bottom-Shelf” Edition

Welcome back, my friends, to my favorite posts of the year. It’s bracket time!

Historically, this has been a series where we take a look at the cheapest of the cheapest bourbons, pit them against each other, and decide which you should pick up and which you should leave down on that bottom shelf. The 2022 edition broke me; I dumped out about 7 liters of bourbon, so last year, I tossed out all pricing requirements and did a series of Bonded Bourbons. This year, I’m reinstating the price requirements, but I’ve decided to keep them a bit “relaxed.” My goal was to find readily available bourbons all at about the same price point, in this case, the $20 to $30 price range.

Here is how we set everything up. And it is an oh-so-simple process. I seed the whiskey in the bracket, in this case, by price. Then, I pour 200 mL bottles of each contestant whiskey and label them with a nonsense name. Finally, I make a separate bracket with the nonsense names and give that and the 200 mL bottles to my wife. After that, she takes care of everything. She has no idea what is in each bottle due to the nonsense name. She pours and keeps track of the winners while we do our tastings. And all I need to do is taste and write. It’s a pretty slick system.

So, who are the participants, and how did they get chosen?

Well, every year, I try to put in limitations that will force me to choose a new set of participants. Well, mostly new, anyway. We still have four this year that were in previous editions. Because the “bottom-shelf” ones have gotten so much worse than they used to be due to inflation and strategic price increases, this year, I limited myself to only bourbons priced between $20 and $30 for a 750 mL bottle. This allowed me to get some names that are familiar to the general public but that might be overlooked due to the general public’s idea that “more expensive equals better whiskey.” A while back, I also asked what you guys wanted to see included as part of a giveaway. I included as many of those as I could. Some weren’t available in my market. Others were quite expensive. Some had just been in so many contests that I looked for fresh faces. But I included what I could.

The contestants were seeded by price. If there was more than one at the same price, the tie was broken by proof.

• Division 1, Seed 1: Old Forester 100: This was purchased at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis, MN, for $27.99 or $0.037 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 1: Buffalo Trace: This was purchased at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN, for $27.99 or $0.037 per milliliter.

• Division 1, Seed 2: Old Grand-Dad 114: A reader suggested Old Grand-Dad Bonded, but since I saw this fit the price constraints, I upgraded. This was purchased at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN, for $26.99 or $0.036 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 2: Wheel Horse Bourbon: This was a reader suggestion. It was purchased at Top Ten Liquors in Chanhassan, MN, for $25.96 or $0.035 per milliliter.

• Division 1, Seed 3: Ezra Brooks 99: This was purchased at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis, MN, for $24.99 or $0.033 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 3: George Dickel Bourbon: This was purchased at France 44 in Minneapolis, MN, for $24.99 or $0.033 per milliliter.

• Division 1, Seed 4: Elijah Craig: This was purchased at Top Ten Liquors in Chanhassen, MN, for $24.96 or $0.033 per milliliter.

• Division 2, Seed 4: Old Tub: This was a reader suggestion. It was purchased at France 44 in Minneapolis, MN, for $21.99 or $0.029 per milliliter.

I’m going to tell you right now, that there were some real surprises here. I was honestly shocked at the winner. But that is for the future. In the mean time, who you got? Let us know down in the comments.

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Bernheim Barrel Proof, A224

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

I had my weekly allergy injection this afternoon, and it is knocking the shit out of me tonight. So, let’s jump right into the review, shall we? Luckily for all of us, tonight’s whiskey is another of Heaven Hill’s Barrel Proof series of whiskeys, and since we’ve covered the other two during the last couple of weeks, we should all be up to speed on them. Or at least close enough.

Bernheim Barrel Proof is, as the name suggests, a barrel-proof version of Heaven Hill’s Bernheim Wheat Whiskey. The mash bill is 51% wheat, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley. This batch was aged between seven and nine years before being bottled at 125.2° proof. The A224 designation means that this is the first batch (A) of 2024 (24), and it was released in February (2). The suggested retail price is $64.99.

Let’s see how it tastes.

Bernheim Barrel Proof, A224

Purchase Info: This bottle was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $64.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 62.63 ABV. Mash bill: 51% wheat, 37% corn, 12% malted barley. Aged 7-9 years.

Nose: Nutty and floral with caramel and oak.

Mouth: Spicy, floral, and nutty with cinnamon, caramel, mint, cherry, and oak.

Finish: Hot, spicy, and on the longer side of medium length. Notes of toasted nuts, cinnamon, and cherry.

Thoughts: Hot, spicy, and nutty are the three words I would use to describe this. It's quite good, but not quite as good as the Larceny or Elijah Craig Barrel Proof whiskies. This doesn't have the same level of richness that they do. But if you like a nutty whiskey, then this is one for you.

Comparison to B923: A224 is much more vibrant on the nose. A224 is nuttier and hotter in the mouth, but B923 is much sweeter. I'd personally pick B923 if given the choice because it is a little gentler if such a thing can be said about something that is over 120° proof.

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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.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, A124

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

You didn’t think I would leave you with just a promotional post for the rest of this week, did you? I wouldn’t do that…again…so soon after the last one.

No, you got a quick-to-write promo post because I got to leave the house yesterday and visit one of my favorite record stores while waiting for my wife’s two-hour hair appointment to finish. To say that I jumped on the opportunity to leave the house is an understatement. Dogsitting is a 24/7 business, and we are a one-car household. So the confluence of events leading to having no pups around and actually having our vehicle available while the stores are open is rare and looked forward to.

Today, we are looking at the latest Elijah Craig Barrel Proof release. You guys are passionate about these releases. I’ll tell you that. The last two posts garnered negative feedback, the earlier one yelling at me for not liking it enough, and I was accused of never even doing the tasting last time. I don’t do this for accolades (I just like telling stories), but honestly, some of ya’ll are getting silly. It’s just whiskey. Even delicious whiskey isn’t as important as the people you drink it with.

So, let’s dive into this before I piss off anyone else.

This is the first Elijah Craig Barrel Proof release of the year. At less than eleven years old, it is also the youngest they have put out since removing the 12-year age statement. The suggested retail price is $74.99.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, A124

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $74.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 59.5% ABV. 10 years, 9 months old

Nose: Very “stereotypical bourbon” on the nose: Oak, cinnamon, caramel, vanilla, and maple.

Mouth: Oak, maple, brown sugar, leather, caramel, red fruit, and baking spice.

Finish: Medium to long and warm. Spicy and sweet. Notes of tobacco, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Delicious as usual. Sweet and spicy with rich barrel notes. Nice heat, but not overly so. I am really enjoying this one.

Comparison to C923: C923 got a heart from me. I loved it so much. So take this with that in mind. C923 is much sweeter on the nose. A124 is not nearly as hot, but C923 is much sweeter. Both are delicious, but if forced to choose, I'd go with C923 just because it's a bit more vibrant in the mouth. I like A124 a lot but as I said, I loved C923.

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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, A124

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

Welcome to 2024, folks. Sure, I know that we already have a month and a half under our belt, but as far as I’m concerned, the new year starts when Heaven Hill drops the first of their three-times yearly batches of Larceny Barrel Proof and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. I always look forward to these releases. And why might that be, you ask? Because they’re always delicious. And it is nice to look at things you know will be tasty. Since it is the first drop of the year, let’s review a little basic info about this.

Born as an offshoot of Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald line of wheated bourbons, Larceny bourbon uses wheat instead of rye as the “flavoring” grain. In this case, Heaven Hill tells us that the recipe is 68% corn (remember to be bourbon, it needs over 51% corn in the mash bill), 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. This release being barrel-proof means there is no water added to the batch. They dump, blend, and bottle at whatever strength it comes out of the barrel. Now, of course, that sometimes leads to a very hot product. The first batch of this was so hot that I was worried about what they were trying to accomplish. It has calmed itself a bit here and there in the intervening years, though, as we will soon see, they are sometimes very hot.

Speaking of different batches, if you run across this in the store, how do you know which batch you have? Heaven Hill has nicely given us the key to knowing what is in our hands as we hold that bottle of the precious liquid. The batch code is made up of three parts. The first part is a letter, A, B, or C. This corresponds to if it is the first, second, or third batch of the year. The second part is a number. To this point, it has always been 1, 5, or 9. This is the month of the year the release came out. The final part of the code is made up of the final two digits, which indicate the year. So, in this case, A124 means it is the first batch of the year, and it was released in January of 2024. Simple.

But unless this is your first time learning about Heaven Hill's barrel-proof releases (in which case: welcome! The bar is in the corner. Pour yourself something nice), you probably just want to know how this one tastes. So, let’s dig in.

Larceny Barrel Proof, A124

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: 62.1% ABV. 6-8 years old, per the press release

Nose: Sweet almond, caramel, vanilla, mint, and oak.

Mouth: Cinnamon, almond, oak, mint.

Finish: Warm and long with cinnamon, mint, and oak notes.

Thoughts: This version is drier than recent versions, but it's still very good. It's as hot as, or hotter than, you'd expect 124° proof to be. Recommended if you like hot, dry bourbons. I like it, even if it is hotter and drier than I’d usually prefer. It does take a splash of water well.

Comparison to C923: C923 is much sweeter on the nose and mouth, showing much more caramel notes. Both are good, but I really like C923 a lot more. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, though. Your mileage may vary.

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Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Fall 2023 Edition

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

Getting this done a little early today. I get to go out with my wife tonight as we revel in the mid-holiday lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas when fewer people need dog sitting. I love my job. I really do. But I do miss being able to leave the house. So tonight, my wife and I are headed over to the Mall of America (not for any real reason other than that it is basically the closest mall to our house that still has more than a couple of stores in it) to do a little Christmas shopping. I’d say more, but I know that some of the folks I buy presents for may be reading this, and I don’t want to give anything away.

So, let’s move over to the bourbon, shall we? Tonight’s bourbon is the most recent release in the Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond series. One of the few bottles that are over $100 that my wife would probably purchase just for the bottle. This is really weird to me as we have an empty bottle of the vintage design that these were based on. Of course, you don’t get really tasty whiskey with that vintage empty, either, so maybe that’s why.

Quoting from the press release now:

“As a leader of the Bottled-in-Bond category, Heaven Hill is proud to offer a premium product within this special class which showcases the authenticity and quality of the American Whiskey portfolio,” said Conor O’ Driscoll, Master Distiller at Heaven Hill Distillery. “The Fall 2023 8-year-old Old Fitzgerald Bottled-In-Bond has the best qualities of a classic Kentucky Bourbon with the unique sweetness and spice this beloved brand is known for.” 

These are usually really tasty but also often much older (and more expensive), so let’s see if this one stacks up.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Fall 2023

Purchase Info: This 200 mL sample was provided at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $109.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $7.33

Details: 50% ABV. 8 years old

Nose: Brown sugar, oak, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mint.

Mouth: Chocolate, mint, cinnamon, oak.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of cinnamon, mint, and nutmeg initially, with chocolate, caramel, and oak appearing after they fade a bit.

Thoughts: Well, this is delicious as usual. The chocolate notes build and intensify as you take more sips, and are delicious all the way through. The nutmeg note is quite prominent and carried through the entire tasting process, attaching itself to the oak notes in a way that initially made me think of a Christmas Wreath before resolving into its constituent parts. So yeah, it’s really good. If I saw this at retail, and it was close to its SRP, and I felt like splurging, I’d bring this home so my wife could have her bottle. But luckily for my wallet, at least two of those are unlikely to happen.

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Bernheim Barrel Proof, B923

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

I’ve been very into jigsaw puzzles lately. Last year, while on vacation, I spent many an evening in a National Park with a drink, a little music, and a puzzle to fill the time between our last venture out into the local sights and bed. And then, I picked up one from the airport and spent the next couple of months putting it together (it was very hard) only to find that one of my guest pups had eaten the final piece.

This year, I grabbed a couple from the airport to shove in my bag to sort of extend the vacation feeling. I tell you what, a glass of whiskey, a record on the player, and a partially completed puzzle have become my favorite way to spend an evening with my wife. It’s low-tech, it’s relaxing, and honestly, it’s fun.

And what whiskey might I be pouring these days? Well on at least a couple of evenings, it was the predecessor to tonight’s whiskey. I’d stashed the bottle of A223 that we reviewed in February so that when the second release came out, I’d have something to compare it to. And now that we are here, that bottle has become the go-to pour.

As far as specs, not much has changed between the two. A223 was 118.8° proof. B923 is 120.6° proof. Other than that, they use the same mashbill, they have the same non-stated age range, and are aged in the same locations. So, let’s see what Heaven Hill has to say before we dig into the important part of how it tastes.

The Bernheim Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey mashbill consists of 51% wheat, 37% corn and 12% malted barley. This is the same mashbill used in the Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey. Aged between 7-9 years in Heaven Hill's traditional open rickhouses, this edition is bottled at 120.6 or 60.3% by volume.

Bernheim Barrel Proof, B 923

Purchase Info: This bottle was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $64.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 60.3% ABV. Mashbill: 51% Wheat, 37% corn, 12% Malted Barley. 7 to 9 years old (per the press release).

Nose: Caramel, chocolate, and leather.

Mouth: Caramel, chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oak.

Finish: Long and spicy with vibrant notes of Cinnamon Red Hots candy.

Thoughts: This is much more vibrant than I would have expected. There is a lot of barrel influence with the chocolate and leather notes. Plus, there is a ton of cinnamon on both the mouth and finish. It's quite warm in the mouth, but it takes a splash of water well. I really like it.

Comparison to A223: Very similar on the nose. B923 has a much stronger cinnamon focus and is quite a bit hotter in the mouth than the previous release. Both are quite delicious, and I don't think one could go wrong with either. If forced to choose, I'd probably have to flip a coin as there are only subtle differences that could only be noticed in a head-to-head.

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