This annual release from Heaven Hill’s Parker Beam is a collaboration with longtime Cognac blender Alain Royer, who supplied 6 350-liter casks used for aging Frapin Grande Champagne Cognac that Parker put his 10-year-old bourbon into for an extra six months of maturation. The result is a bourbon with a nose of raisins, plums, red grapes, a hint of dried flowers, and touches of oak, vanilla, and allspice. The taste is spicy with great black pepper and cinnamon notes that don’t blow out the tartness of red grapes and sweet notes of caramel and brown sugar underneath…nicely complex and well-balanced. The finish is long, smooth, and spicy with a sweet undertone and excellent balance.