Immediately there’s this interesting juxtaposition of darker bourbon (roasted caramel, dried apple, peach, roasted oak, cinnamon, vanilla buttercream) and this brighter chardonnay tang (or at least I think it’s the wine finish), with a little tobacco and fresh coffee grounds. I sort of get this brighter white wine and white grape character, although combined with the bourbon, it comes off more like apricot, which I guess is also a brighter smelling fruit. And because Chardonnay is a white wine, it does add more of top-end sweetness and brightness whereas cabernet sauvignon and port added a lot more low-end dark berry. So far it smells pretty good but still surface level.

After swirling, the white wine clean, fresh, and kind of metallic green grape cuts through the scents at first followed by the darker caramel, apple, apricot, funky vanilla buttercream, oak, cinnamon, clove, tobacco, cocoa powder, and a light wood must. More so now than before, I’m realizing that the chardonnay finish does not mesh well with the bourbon because it’s so bright and the bourbon so dark. They are polar opposites that haven’t married together. The wine finish also creates a metallic alcohol scent that’s strange to smell. It’s not hot, just not so pleasant and it lightly veils all over the bourbon, which seems to smell fine on its own.