On the nose I’m getting light wheat grain and a lot of bubble gum. Not Trident or Hubba Bubba, but Topps baseball card gum. The gum that could also be used to shim an unlevel chair, that kind of gum. It’s not unpleasant, but it has that chalkiness to it that you remember from when you were a kid opening a pack of baseball cards. I know, I know, many adults still open packs of baseball cards, but I don’t think gum is still included. If you’re opening a pack of 1983 Topps, I don’t recommend chewing the gum enclosed.

I’ve had a lot of bourbon that has a great nose, then everything is downhill from there. This one is very much the opposite. The noise isn’t strong, and the notes I get aren’t ones that I gravitate towards usually. A bit of musty oak and leather, and a very slight hint of anise. What the hell, a hint of black licorice! You know, the stuff that sits at the bottom of the candy aisle in that one corner market in your childhood neighborhood. You’ve never seen anyone eat it, the same box has been there forever, yet one package mysteriously disappears every few months. Maybe whiskey makers are secretly scouring the country for that candy. Anyway, it’s there in the nose of Old Elk.