Nose: Luxardo cherries, black forest cake, smells like a bourbon! Tobacco and leather. Milk chocolate. Raw honeycomb. Dark chocolate oranges, those you smash and split into slices, and warmed up homemade chocolate pudding. Celery salt. Gift wrapping paper and glue on bows. Lavender hand soap from a high end shop. Anise. Butterscotch.

Palate: The depth here is so impressive given the abv and thinness that comes with that. This is a bit drier than expected but is kept at bay by the strength of the palate. Bitter chocolate, cocoa nibs, coffee beans. Heading into mole territory. Almost powered chiles. Freeze dried cherries and turkish apricots. The earthy n oak flavors taper off and present a potent floral bouquet at the finish, rose hips and begonias. This truly works at 40% and while I can’t help but wonder if at a higher proof it would be more enticing, it might just be pure chaos.

Rating: 8 / 10 – the glass just continued to evolve. I started a 7, but then poured another. And then the whole sample.