Redwood Empire 14 Year Single Barrel Haystack Needle Straight Bourbon

From a single barrel selection. Winter 2022 bottling. Reddish-mahogany color. A robust, grain-forward aroma, similar to maple syrup Cheerios. Faint notes of fig and rosemary, with a slight hint of cherry. Palate: Starts sweet. Quickly shifts to a grainy mid-palate with more dark fruit and herbal notes. The finish is long and spicy, with intermittent sweet fruits from the port finishing casks. Lingering hints of French toast and dill. Traces of almonds. This might be even better without the port finish, which adds a darker fruit dimension. An excellent pour.

The aroma is dominated by milk chocolate and strawberries. The palate offers rye spice. The finish is satisfactory. Overall, it's quite enjoyable and clearly outperformed Knob Creek 12 in a blind tasting.

Mature and confident. Not trying too hard to be something it's not. A genuinely bourbony bourbon. Quite similar to GTS