Rich molasses | Freshly sanded oak | Cinnamon whipped cream | Fresh rye grain | Light brown sugar | Luxardo maraschino cherries

Luxardo maraschino cherries | Rich syrup | Rye spice | Charred oak | Cinnamon stick | Syrup notes dominate

Dry oak | Rye spice | Leather | Tobacco leaf | Spiced syrup | Peppercorn mix | Lingering tannic oak | Intensely dry

Started by Michael Myers, a former New York City fashion and beauty photographer, 291 Whiskey is based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In order to create this whiskey, the company states that “291 “M” Colorado Whiskey starts as 291 Colorado Barrel Proof Rye Whiskey, which is aged in new American White Oak barrels and finished with Aspen staves. The whiskey is then transferred to 291 barrels previously used to barrel-age Wisconsin maple syrup by producer Lincoln County Reserve Maple Syrup.” This whiskey is part of the company’s seasonal release line. Like the brand's other whiskey products, this whiskey is also finished with Aspen wood staves.

If you like syrup and richly flavored maple syrup-influenced notes, then 291 M Colorado Whiskey Batch 7 is calling your name. Opening on sweet scents, the whiskey takes no time to reveal the fact that it was finished in used maple syrup barrels. The midpoint follows the same theme, delivering a sickly sweet onslaught of Luxardo maraschino cherries and rich syrup that all the other flavors try to battle with to be known. The finish ends with a contrasting combination of intensely dry notes along with various spices and spiced syrup. The dryness lingers along with tannic oak, leaving a lasting impression that makes sure you don’t forget what you just drank to a fault.

Ultimately it’s this over-indexing on syrup notes and the whiskey's intense, overly dry finish that takes away from its enjoyability. The whiskey ends up coming across as more “cocktail-ish” with syrup directly added to a base whiskey as opposed to a well-integrated finished whiskey. This plays in its favor, though, as it completely masks its 120 proof. If you tend to gravitate toward sweeter whiskeys, and know what you’re getting yourself into beforehand, 291 M Colorado Whiskey Batch 7 may scratch an itch that few others on the market are able to do so.

The total number of bottles produced for this release was 1433.