NULU 8 Year Bourbon Experimental Cask Series Apple Brandy Finish

The nose on this barrel brings with it tons of maple, sweet cream, vanilla bean, peach cobber and warm apple crumble. The tannin shows through with more notes of baking spice: clove, nutmeg, a hint of cinnamon. Apple integrates well, showing plenty of oak dryness and pleasant complexity from the tannins. With as long as this finished, I'm thankful there's a good deal of extra oak here, it's holding together a really complex profile that needs dryness and structure to balance the heavy caramel and vanilla bean sweetness of the bourbon with the apple and savory baking spice profile of the brandy. The finish is incredible, its one of the longest finishes I've encountered on a bourbon and while most finishes remain a continuation of the palate of a bourbon, this one carries through more funky tobacco, rich maple, and apple notes that ebb and flow.