The 51% corn / 49% rye mashbill leads with black pepper, dried cherry, and rye bread — the same high-rye DNA as the Cask Strength. The Mizunara finish softens that spice and adds sandalwood, dried coconut, and a faint incense note that lingers well past the swallow. Oak presence is firm without going tannic. Mizunara is one of the rarest finishing woods in whiskey — Japanese oak grows slowly, warps during cooperage, and produces a flavor profile found almost nowhere else in bourbon. Dark Arts sources the base spirit from Indiana and finishes in imported Mizunara casks, one of the few American producers working with it at this price point.