thanks to Bobby Childs over at Adventures in Whiskey for the sample!
Color: medium brown, with a reddish tint. Head to head vs. 2015-03, it looks exactly the same to me.
Smell: big, spicy and bold. Certainly some serious wood and booze influence. I get barrel char, a massive cinnamon kick, and some underlying sweetness in the form of burnt caramel and vanilla. Not at all subtle - it's in your face, big-time bourbon. Once it airs out a bit, you get more of the sweetness and less lumberyard. Also a minor latex or rubber element in the background.
Taste: exactly what you'd expect given the way it smells. It's a massive bombshell of a whiskey. Slight burnt caramel and vanilla sweetness on entry, but then it's off to the races with a cinnamon kick and some massive cheek-puckering lumberyard influence, as well as alcohol burn. I feel like I'm sweating oak juice, in a good way. The finish is medium-long, and driven by oaked spiciness and alcohol heat.
Overall: it's the classic Booker's profile, love it or hate it. I've definitely come around to it, and would recommend it for bourbon enthusiasts who regularly gravitate towards spicy and overproof bourbons (Wild Turkey 101, Old Grand Dad 114, etc.). The only thing holding it back in my opinion is a lack of complexity and a little too much wood. It punches really, really hard with the barrel influence, the proof, and the spiciness, so a beginner bourbon it is not. Solid B+ for me.
Versus 2015-03: there is no mistaking that both of these bottles are Booker's. That said, the 03 version to me is slightly more approachable on the nose. I get less lumber and fumes than in the 02, as well as a more rounded sweetness. Similarly, the palate is less harsh with the 03. There's a noticeable sweetness on entry, a bigger and more balanced mouthfeel that is - again - less spicy cinnamon and oak and more...complex. There are baking spices, there's tobacco, there's a strange but pleasing mustiness, and the finish includes these notes but is still long and punchy. I stand by the A-/A for the 03 version, and prefer it to the 02. The biggest difference for me is that the oak is more integrated in the 03.
