Dark brown sugar | Molasses | Cocoa powder | Toasted coconut | Prune

Coffee cake | Syrup soaked raisins | Light summer fruit

Molasses | Fruit cake | Leather | Charred oak

Peerless Rum Barrel Finished Bourbon is the company’s second barrel finished bourbon to be released following their Double Oak Bourbon. For batch 2, the biggest change is that the bourbon underwent a second rum barrel finishing, which, according to the company's press release, enhanced the notes and complexity of the rum finished bourbon.  

The aroma is spot-on for what you’d expect from a rum finished bourbon with its ample notes of dark brown sugar, molasses, and cocoa powder. Surprisingly, the rest of the sip doesn’t necessarily scream “rum.” The influence is there of course, but you don’t get a pure rum taste and instead get more of the individual flavors rum can give off, like syrup soaked raisins, summer fruits, molasses, and fruit cake. As a result, I would have never guessed that this went through a secondary rum finish. The intensity of the rum finish just isn’t present, and it left me wanting more of what I got. I simply don’t taste the same flavor notes the company describes, which is a shame because how they describe it sounds delicious. What I instead taste is a much more tempered sip. Flavors are kept in check and highly controlled. It makes for a nuanced bourbon, which isn’t what you often get in other rum-finished whiskeys. For the price though, I just expected more.