I... um... may or may not have just brought a bottle of this stuff back from Belgium ( I am in Oregon). When I was asked if I had any fruit, plants, bacteria cultures, or liquor, I just said "yeah, I got some booze". I feel that the use of this more uh, colloquial term tends to engender fairly immediate disinterest and I breeze through customs. I was much more concerned when I brought back the HC 15 year (certainly worth a thread of its own) from Barcelona in May. Much, much, more expensive and I had some authentic absinthe on me as well. But the same casual approach with the customs officials worked just fine. Back to the barrel proof: my girlfriend tasted first and remarked: "sweet". I was surprised because I had figgered that something cask-strength would have more bite. It was excellent with a Neuhaus dark chocolate praline that also came from duty-free at the Brussels airport. The question of the moment seems to be: Does anyone have the inside skinny on how long this stuff is in wood?
