George T Stagg bottled 2012

Many thanks to @cpstecroix for a sample of the 2012 George T. Stagg from the limited Ontario release, which preceded the 2012 USA release by four months

Nose: unbelievable, probably the best bourbon nose I have ever encountered, fiercely strong, incredibly beautiful, and quite mellow all at the same time. Perfection in the nose. There is beautiful sweet maple and oak, vanilla, natural wood caramel, rye and the semi-mute corn flavours, all beautiful, and all in perfect balance. A few drops of water tones down the flavours slightly, but brings out fruitiness. You could spend hours with this nose

Taste: the nose flavours are all there on the palate, with the addition of some dark fruits. As with the nose, this is the kind of whiskey you can explore for hours. This is quite enjoyable neat, but I prefer it with a few drops of water. Water brings out the flavours well. As with the nose, water brings out some fruitness. Out-of-this-world bourbon

Finish: everything present from the delivery continues long and strong

Balance: One more fantastic George T. Stagg. Everything is in balance, though I like the mouth flavours better with a bit of water than without. This is probably the best Stagg nose among the 2010, 2011, and 2012 releases, and probably the best of many very fine bourbon noses I have encountered. I liked the total package of 2010 George T. Stagg a little better because the mouth flavours of the 2010 release were completely accessible without any water. I do prefer adding the water here, for the palate. Now I will have to find bottles of this for myself to buy, about 8 weeks from now

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