This vintage installment in the Foursquare ECS line gave us strong notes of vanilla and oak, with subtler hints of allspice, coffee, ginger, and cinnamon.

It’s fair to say that the 2008 gets a lot of love; on RumX it gets an 8.7/10, a distinction shared by only one other ECS vintage, 2004. In my opinion, it lives up to the hype.

This pot-column blend spent 12 years tropically aging in ex-bourbon casks: the standard treatment for the ECS vintages. It’s additive-free and non-chill-filtered, similarly hallmarks of the ECS in general.

On the nose, you get the classic Foursquare one-two punch of vanilla and oak, supported by an underlying sweetness and warmth. On the palate more pronounced spice notes enter the mix: ginger, cinnamon, and allspice. The woodier flavors are very well integrated; it’s oaky, but it’s not over-oaked. On a second sip you might notice some subtle coffee, caramel and coconut flavors and maybe even a hint of salinity. The finish really indexes on the ginger and cinnamon notes, backed by the main chorus of oak and vanilla. You may also catch a slight note of leather—less new car, more old leather rucksack.

While I’ll leave the more head-to-head comparisons for the blind taste test write-up, it’s safe to say this is one of the best ECS vintages of the past couple of years. It’s delightful as a sipper (8.3/10) and surprisingly makes a compelling cocktail (7.5/10) even if that may seem a waste with where secondary market prices are.