Starlight VDN Finished Single Barrel Bourbon

You’d think oranges would be the first note I would find, but it is actually the smell of melted Halloween Candy Corn. Those artificially sweet notes actually combine quite well with notes of pithy orange flesh and sharp cinnamon. This is a really fascinating nose when all of those notes combine with oak spice and a more mellow, seasoned oak.
Finish: Orange notes stay on my tongue stick around for a long time. They are a bit sweeter than they tasted on the palate. There is still sharp cinnamon flavors and other baking spice notes floating around giving a warm Kentucky Hug all the way down. The oak turns somewhat dry too. The bourbon underneath shows some lingering notes of oak and vanilla. Overall, the VDN barrel helps cover up about 90% of the youthful bourbon flavors but I still think that this could be a really special bourbon with about 2 more years in the barrel.