Heaven's Door Single Barrel Select Cask Strength Golden Bear Store Pick

I have become very close to the people at Golden Bear Liquor Store and I walked in as they were unboxing their store pick. As I walk in they said I would be the first person to try it. He asked what I thought about it and I said I will buy a bottle and do a proper review. Here we go! Aroma: Cream soda stands out on the nose, soft vanilla, snickerdoodle cookies Taste: Buttery, vanilla ice cream and sugar cookies, cloves Finish: Explosion of heat and honey with medium length It is surprising how sweet this whiskey is. With water the aroma becomes predominantly more vanilla. Taste becomes more honey and black tea on finish. This is different from a classic bourbon but still lands in bourbon territory. Not really oaky but very vanilla. It is interesting how it gave it more vanilla than oak. And very little influence from the rye in my opinion. It leans toward a strong Irish in a way that I like. They asked me to do the rating out of 10 so I would say....... personally.....5.5. This gives you a cask strength experience with familiar flavors and goes a different way than I expected.