Borough Bourbon Batch 2

This was the top performer in my rum-finished division of my barrel-finished bourbon bracket. The final rankings were: 1 - Borough Batch 2 2 - Blood Oath Pact 5 3 - Jefferson’s Old Rum Cask 4 - Dovetail (not a bourbon, my mistake) So, who is Borough? While putting together a rum-finished bourbon bracket, they were the answer to my question: “Who else makes a rum finish that I can buy online?” At $65 shipped, this bourbon struck that perfect balance of availability and affordability for my little experiment to make it a four-entry round. But if you haven’t heard of them, as I hadn’t, here’s what I discovered. (Note: they are somewhat vague about specifics, which is understandable for sourced distillate.) 1) Distilled in Bardstown 2) Aged “600 miles west” in “the Great Plains” 3) Finished in Barbados rum casks in Washington D.C. Additionally, I learned that this distillery, Republic Representatives, is female-owned. The tasting of Borough: The nose is primarily sour. I detect oak, high rye, and lemon. There's also melted butter. Very standard bourbon, well executed. Body is delicious. It’s not unique, but it deviates from typical bourbon notes. There’s sugar, watermelon, and citrus. I’d say orange. This is delicious. It tastes very much like Hotel Tango bourbon, in all the right ways. Until this body, I don’t think I fully grasped how these rum finishes were impacting the bourbon, because I have yet to taste a rum finish that introduces something new to the flavor profile that a bourbon couldn’t achieve on its own. (In contrast, a sherry finish very much does impart something unattainable solo.) While that remains true, when comparing this to a very similar tasting spirit, I believe the rum finish takes that watermelon and citrus and sweetens it, making it taste even more tropical. Finish shifts towards nuttiness. There are salted peanuts, walnuts, cinnamon, and oak. It gives the impression of praline. Now also caramel. I’d say the peanut flavor dominates the overall profile in this finish. It goes down smoothly, with low heat. Fantastic. I was so fixated on this having some connection to Hotel Tango Bravo (also sourced) that I investigated. I couldn't find any connection, as HT appears to source distillate from Middle West Spirits out of Columbus, OH. So unless someone knows of a recipe or yeast strain link, what my taste buds are actually indicating is that both Hotel Tango and Republic Representatives have somehow jointly discovered a unique and delicious bourbon flavor profile that is destined for greatness. Much like HT Bravo, this Borough Batch 2 astonished me. Purchased on a whim from an online retailer in Connecticut, this $65 bourbon won the rum-finished division of my finished bourbon bracket, outperforming much more well-known and expensive whiskeys. If you enjoy this sort of thing, you owe it to yourself to give this a try.