Quick disclaimer before we get into it. I typically keep Fresh Crack Fridays away from store picks and bottles that are genuinely hard to get. This week I’m making an exception because this one was too interesting to sit on.

Art of the Spirits Mogadishu. 147.2 proof. A blend of 45 percent 13-year single barrel rye finished in Four Square rum and 55 percent 11-year single barrel bourbon. This is a hazmat bottle, meaning it clocks in above the 140 proof threshold that requires special shipping and handling regulations. This particular bottle is number 63 of the batch.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Somebody in the local group posted a bottle numbered 22 of 23. This one is number 63. Just like anything military related, the math ain’t mathing. We’re drinking it anyway.

Quick shoutout to the salesman at Veterans Liquor, because this bottle almost didn’t happen. I was about to walk out of the store. He stopped me, showed me this bottle, told me it was the last one they had. Tater alarm went off immediately in my head. Then he said it was 140 proof and I said let me see that bottle, friend. Mary Sue, give that man a raise.

Nice pop on the open. No smoke. 147 proof all over my hand. The bummer about opening something like this is knowing I probably won’t find another one. If it turns out to be exceptional that realization is going to hit even harder. Genie is out of the bottle. Here we go.

The nose is all caramel. Just tons and tons of caramel. White grape underneath that, a little apple, some red fruit. A tobacco note sitting in the background with a little leather and oak. It smells genuinely delicious and you would have absolutely no idea this thing is 147 proof just from the nose alone.

The palate is where the proof announces itself, but not in the way you’d expect. It runs hot in the mouth, no question, but there is no burn in the chest. None. At 147 proof that is remarkable and says a lot about how well this blend was put together. The caramel from the nose carries right over and dominates the palate. Almost overbearing in the best way. There’s a raisin bread quality to it that I wasn’t expecting. Rich, sweet, and a little chewy. The rye spice and rum finish from the Four Square casks add just enough complexity to keep it from being one note.

The finish increases the intensity of that tobacco note and brings the rye spice up more prominently. It’s a long finish for something this proof and it closes out well.

On value. The rule I use is roughly ten dollars per year of age. This is an 11-year at its core. I paid $99 and change out the door at around $108 after tax. For a one-off hazmat blend at this age and proof that is an exceptionally reasonable ask. Way reasonable.

Now. Should you open it or sit on it.

Hazmat bottles carry a secondary market that can get genuinely insane. If you’re a collector or a flipper, cracking this open is technically leaving money on the table. I get it. I understand the logic.

But I opened it. And I’d do it again.

Open your bottles. That’s the whole point.