Woodford Reserve Rye and Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Rare Rye: Revisited

I usually start out these “Revisited” posts by telling you how long it has been since I last reviewed the whiskey I am revisiting. Usually I am curious as to how the product has changed over the intervening years. This time however, I’m looking at a different type of change. This time I want to see how I have changed since I last had a whiskey. See, I know that the whiskey hasn’t changed since this time I am revisiting a bottle that was only released in 2011. I gave it a very quick review on August 22, 2012 (2,526 days ago).

My local corner liquor store has their expensive liquors in a glass case that you see the minute you walk in the door. I can’t help but glance at the case as I walk in to the store. And for as long as I’ve been glancing, there have been the two bottle set of the 2011 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Rare Rye Selection sitting about halfway up the shelf. And for as long as I can remember, I’ve been walking past it on my way to the bourbon section.

Well, they must have finally decided that it wasn’t ever going to sell in the case because about three or four months ago it was moved out of the locked case and placed on the shelf. In fact, two of them were out on the shelf. And as it sat on the shelf, I’d glance at it as I walked by. And my wife would glance at it as she walked by. And eventually, we both decided that we were curious enough that we needed to revisit it. We both like the standard Woodford Rye and thought it might be interesting to see how our tastes have evolved in the last seven to eight years.

So we bought it. And then because I I had received a question on my review of the Woodford Reserve Rye (reviewed 1,482 days ago if you are curious) that asked how it compared to the 2011 release, I decided to go ahead and pick that up as well. Especially since I really had nothing to go on but memories by the time the question was asked and I was curious as well.

2011 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection, Rare Rye Selection: Aged Cask Rye

Purchase info: $85.99 for a set of two 375 mL bottles at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: Aged in a used barrel. 100% Rye Grain. 46.2% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Spearmint, baking spice and just the faintest hint of caramel

Mouth: Grassy malted rye notes with citrus, cinnamon and a light honey.

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. lingering mint and cinnamon candy.

Thoughts: Although I haven't been a fan of ryes that use malted rye, this is one of the better ones that I've had. I don't mind this one. Not my favorite rye, and I certainly wouldn’t choose it very often, but I don’t hate it. That’s a downgrade from the previous time I had it. In 2012, I said I liked it. I think I liked it because it was interesting and new. But since then, I’ve had many more 100% ryes, including some that were made using malted rye like these seem to have been. I’m not a big fan of the flavor that malted rye brings to a whiskey.

2011 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection, Rare Rye Selection: New Cask Rye

Purchase info: $85.99 for a set of two 375 mL bottles at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: Aged in a new barrel. 100% Rye Grain. 46.2% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Grass, with caramel and mint.

Mouth: Nice mouthfeel. Very minty. Sweet with caramel, berry and pear.

Finish: On the longer side of medium. Lingering wintergreen and cinnamon notes.

Thoughts: Even though there are still hints of the malted rye notes, they are very minimal. Fruity, sweet and minty are the major flavors. I like this one. It has a rich and complex mouthfeel and the flavors work together nicely. Flavorwise, it seems to straddle the line between the Craft Ryes that use malted rye grain and a standard rye that uses malted barley. Still not my favorite rye, but one I will be looking for when I want a change of pace.

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: $29.99 for a750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 53% Rye Grain. 45.2% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Cinnamon, black tea, and honey.

Mouth: Follows the nose with cinnamon and black tea. Notes of dried fruit, caramel and mint.

Finish: Medium length with lingering notes of cinnamon, caramel and mint.

Thoughts: I like this one. The black tea notes provide a nice balance to sweetness and spice.

Comparative thoughts: As I mentioned above, back when I first reviewed the Woodford Rye someone asked how it compared to the old Master's Collection ryes. I can finally answer that question. There is almost no comparison between the Aged Cask rye and the regular Woodford Rye. The presence of rye notes is about the only similarity. But I sort of expected that. Between the New Cask and the regular Woodford Rye there are similarities, but the malted rye notes in New Cask make for a fruitier drink and it has a much thicker and richer mouthfeel. That said if offered a pour of either. I'd take the standard Woodford Rye more often. I don’t mind any of them and like two of them, but I like the Woodford Rye the best. Living up to (and in this case helping to earn) its reputation, the Master's Collection tends to be more "interesting" than "good." Though the comparative aspect of this release made it much more interesting than most of the Master's Collection releases.

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1792 Aged Twelve Years

I’d like to thank Sazerac for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

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This week I had my 14 year old nephew staying with me. If I ever get as excited about bourbon as he gets about Fortnite, someone take my booze away. It'd be time for a dry out. He’s a good kid, love him to death, but he does have an obsession with this one video game. And hey, I get it. He get’s to hang out with his friends and he gets to play a game as well. Honestly, from what I noticed, half the time they aren’t even playing the game, they were just chatting. So I guess it isn’t much different than being on the phone all the time when I was a kid in the early 80s, except they get to have more than one other person on the line.

So because I am exhausted from dealing with a hormonal and moody teenager for most of the last week, I am looking forward to keeping things nice and simple tonight. Unlike recent posts, we are just talking about one bourbon. And it is one I have been looking forward to ever since they announced it.

Sazerac has been putting out limited releases under the 1792 brand for a few years now. I think I have liked every one of them. I was a big fan of the Port Finish. The High Rye was pretty amazing. I damn near fell in love with the Full Proof. So when I saw the announcement of a 12 year old version of 1792, I was pretty stoked. The press release states that this is the same recipe as the flagship 1792 just older, obviously. Plus, the suggested price is right in line with the other limited 1792 bourbons at $50.

1792 Aged Twelve Years

Purchase Info: This review sample was graciously provided by Sazerac for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Details: 12 year age stated. 48.3% ABV

Nose: Cinnamon, cherry candy, eucalyptus, caramel.

Mouth: Lots of oak, caramel, cinnamon, hints of cherry Cola. Nice and spicy.

Finish: Spicy and medium length. lingering oak, caramel and cinnamon.

Thoughts: I'm on record as not being a fan of super oaky bourbons. Even so, I don't mind this one. It won't be my first choice but I'd certainly be happy to have it on my shelf. Not that it would last there very long. My wife loves older, oaky Bourbons. As such, I'm turning this over to her.

Wife thoughts: OMG YUM! oh wait… I have to say more than that. This is nice and spicy with the oak that I love in older bourbons. And it is priced like the older bourbons of yesteryear too. Brings back memories of pre-hiatus Elijah Craig 18 year. Add a small ice cube and this is a nice sipper.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Scrappy's Bitters

A couple of months ago, I got a bottle of Legent™ from Jim Beam. Among the marketing materials that I received with the bottle was a book of cocktails that featured Legent™ as their main ingredient. As you might have guessed, I was intrigued. There was a problem though. I like cocktails, but I really only keep the ingredients on hand for those that I really like. Ones that I will make often. Unfortunately, the cocktails that come in marketing materials need to be unique in order to position the brand’s…

Ugh, I hate marketing speak so let’s just say they use a lot of ingredients that a normal person would not have on hand. Hell, many bars wouldn’t have some of these ingredients on hand. So when I decided that as part of the review I was going to try one of their featured cocktails, I chose the one that involved the least amount of spending on my part.

I chose the Kentucky Kyushiki mostly because the only thing I needed to buy was a bottle of bitters. That particular cocktail is basically a riff on an old fashioned. Just bourbon, flavored simple syrup and lavender bitters. Now, I had no idea where to find lavender bitters, but a quick search of the Total Wine website showed me that they had a sampler pack from Scrappy’s Bitters that had a bottle of Lavender Bitters in it. Yay!

So there went twenty dollars toward a half-ounce bottle of bitters that I wanted and three more that I really didn’t care about. And so, of course I decided to spend another twenty dollars on the other four pack so I could try their entire line. You know, for science. Or something.

When I test bitters, I tend to do it in the most reproducible way possible. Namely I make my favorite non-alcoholic drink (bitters and soda water) and then an old fashioned. Both are very simple drinks where the differences from drink to drink are solely from the bitters. I used Maker’s Mark as it is a pretty plain palette to paint the bitters across. The impressions below encapsulate both testing methods.

Scrappy's Bitters

Purchase Info: $20 each for two sample packs of four half ounce bottles each at Total Wine, Burnseville, MN.

Orleans: Strong anise notes on nose and mouth. Brings out a lot of spicy notes to a Maker's Mark old fashioned while maintaining the anise notes.

Aromatic: Cinnamon and clove flavors at the forefront, not as richly flavored as Angostura at the same dilution. Adds a little baking spice to the old fashioned. I'd choose Angostura over this.

Orange: Jellied orange slice candy, hints of spice. Maintains the orange candy flavor in the old fashioned. If you choose this over Regan's or Angostura orange, use it sparingly. The orange flavor easily overpowers Maker's. Though I wouldn’t choose it over either of those unless you really like orange candy flavors in your cocktail.

Celery: Strong celery notes on the nose and mouth. Almost salty tasting along with fizzy water. Adds an interesting herbal finish to the Maker's Old-fashioned. I mean that in the most minnesotan way possible. I do not like celery and this has a lot of celery. However in a rye old-fashioned, this sings. Really good pairing with the herbal notes of a good rye.

Grapefruit: Sweet Grapefruit on the nose. Generic citrus on the mouth. This reads as orange in the old fashioned. It actually works better as an orange bitters than the orange did.

Chocolate: Dark Chocolate nose. Milk chocolate and caramel mouth. This turns the old fashioned into a liquid candy bar. Nice dark chocolate notes on the finish.

Lavender: Floral lavender on nose and mouth. Mouth brings lemon zest. as well As to be expected, this adds a floral note to the Maker's old fashioned. Honestly this works better with Beam-branded products than it does with Maker’s.

Cardamom: As to be expected, cardamom notes predominate on both nose and mouth. This brings out a lot of baking spice to the old fashioned. Including a nice "Christmas note". Not sure I’d want this all the time, but I can see uses for it occasionally in the right cocktail.

Thoughts (After fizzy water): Most of these are fairly straightforward. For the most part these are pretty one-note affairs. For example the Orleans is just anise. As opposed to Peychaud's which has anise and other herbal and bitter notes, or the Orange which is just an orange candy flavor as opposed to the orange and spice melange of Angostura's Orange Bitters. In fact it seems many of these are lacking in much bitter flavor at all. They remind me of Fee Brothers in that respect. Great for use as a flavoring, but not really as a bittering agent.

Thoughts (After use in a Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned): Overall, I think the Orleans is my favorite. It takes your typical aromatic bitters note and adds a hit of anise which really elevates the drink. I like the lavender in the Kentucky Kyushiki and it works very nicely with Beam-branded bourbons. It also works nicely in a gin and tonic. Other than that, most of these I don’t know that I will find a use for. The orange and aromatic aren’t as good as the two big guys and the rest I’d only use every once in a while. As far as I'm concerned, the Orleans and the Lavender are the two I will continue to buy full bottles of, and the rest I’ll struggle to finish the half ounce bottle. As always your milage may vary.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Bernheim Original: Revisited

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

It has been one thousand, seven hundred and fifteen days since I last did a tasting of Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey. It was purchased right after they added the seven year age statement to the bottle. That age statement addition was the reason that I purchased my first bottle of Bernheim, but sadly that was also the last bottle I purchased of Heaven Hill’s Wheat Whiskey. Not because I had some strong feeling toward it. But precisely because I turned out that I didn’t have a strong feeling toward it. I just sort of forgot it existed.

Now, I can be excused for that, at least a little bit. I do tend to reserve a majority of my whiskey budget for the site and it can be hard to remember to go back to something once I’ve written about it. In this case though, it just didn’t make that strong of an impression on me to warrant a second look.

And so it stood for almost five years. Until one day a couple weeks ago, a package came from Heaven Hill. They tend to send things unannounced so I was interested what new thing it would be this time. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found this bottle of Bernheim. At first I thought, “well…cool!” and was happy. Then I thought, “oh, I’ve reviewed that” and I had a bit of a sad. Not because I had free whiskey, mind you, just that I wouldn’t be getting content out of it. Of course, once I looked up how long ago I’d reviewed it, I got happy again because it was a prime candidate for revisiting. Especially once I remembered that I hadn’t even had a sip of Bernheim since that bottle five years ago.

At the time, I’d summed up my feelings like this:

This is pleasant though uninteresting. It can take a little water, but not much. I like it but wouldn’t want it for every pour. I’d love to see that age statement creep up even further.

I said that last bit partly as a bridge to the whiskey I was comparing it with that night. See, I’d decided to pair the Bernheim review with the Parker’s Heritage Wheat Whiskey that had also been released right about that time. And honestly, I think the presence of the same juice, but at an older age and higher proof sort of set Bernheim up for failure. Parker’s Heritage cast a long shadow. So now many years removed from its limited edition brother, I think I am prepared to take another look at it and judge it on its own merits.

Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey

Purchase Info: This review sample was graciously provided to me by Heaven Hill for review purposes. It retails locally for between $24.99 and $34.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Details: Wheat whiskey. 45% ABV. 7 years old.

Nose: Bubblegum, black pepper, black tea

Mouth: Sweet and nutty with caramel, black pepper and bubble gum.

Finish: medium length with" just enough" burn. Peanut and cinnamon fade to reveal a lingering bubblegum note.

Thoughts: I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I will often take a glass of bourbon to bed with me to sip on while I read a book or watch a little tv. Sometimes, my wife is nice and will get it for us. When she does, she likes to not tell me what she brought. Sometimes this is a scary thing (especially around Bottom Shelf Bracket time) but most of the time it is fun to see if I can figure out what she decided on. After we got this bottle of Bernheim, it was her go to pour. And I realized that I really enjoyed it. It made a nice “end of the night” drink.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Stolen X Rock & Rye

I’d like to thank Ro-Bro Marketing & PR, Inc. for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

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I knew next to nothing about Stolen Spirits when I accepted the request to send me a sample of their new Stolen X brand of rock and rye. I love rock and rye. It is one of those things that I love to have around for when I want a cocktail, but I’m feeling too lazy to make myself one. Unfortunately, if I have it around, I’m always too lazy to make a cocktail and just end up drinking the bottled stuff instead. One of these days I’m just going to have to make my own. I already make my own boozy cherries and my own orange bitters, why not a bottled cocktail too?

So even though, I knew next to nothing about the brand that was putting out this particular rock and rye, I did know enough about rock and rye to take a flier on it. I mean, I’ve had plenty of bad liquor that is marketed for consumption as a shot (most of it, I’ve poured straight down the drain), but I’ve seldom had a bad rock and rye. So after I said yes to the sample, I got down to Googling.

That’s one of the services we at BourbonGuy.com provide to our readers, we Google so you don’t have to. Here is what they have to say about themselves on their Facebook page:

“Our history is simple and grounded in one fact: We like to party. Our brand was born from two Kiwis sick of their day jobs, a need to escape and the love of a good time.”

And in the press release for the Rock and rye they say:

“Humans have been drinking horrible shots since the discovery of fermentation,” said Marc Bushala, CEO of Spirits Investment Partnership. “There has not been much evolution from the swill that we hoisted in college to what people are shooting today. I don’t really recall why we did shots of a certain herbaceous concoction that looks and tastes like shoe polish, but I remember that we drank a lot of it. The main difference with the popular shot brands today is the use of artificial flavors and sweeteners to make bad booze more palatable - we think that people will love great rye whiskey blended with all natural ingredients that actually tastes good.”

I don’t know about you, but I can get behind all of that. So now that we know just a little about the product, we should probably focus on the most important thing: how does it taste?

Stolen X Rock & Rye

Purchase Info: This review sample was graciously provided to me by Ro-Bro Marketing & PR, Inc. for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle with plans to release a liter bottle for $29.99 and 100 mL cans for $2.99 this summer.

Details: Rock and rye bottled cocktail, 40% ABV.

Nose: A lot of orange on the nose plus cinnamon.

Month: Orange oil, cinnamon and honey.

Finish: Lingering orange

Thoughts: You can tell this was intended to be served over ice. I tasted it neat in a Glencairn first just so that there would be a baseline between this and other reviews. On its own it is very sweet and orange forward. But, when you serve it over ice as they recommend, the rye notes move more to the forefront and the finish is more enjoyable as the dilution allows a bit more spice to show. This is a pretty delicious orange cocktail. I'm a fan.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Rebel Yell 100 proof

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Luxco for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

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It feels as though every single time I start a review of something in the Rebel Yell line, I trot out my old story about how when I first had the brand, it lost horribly in my first ever Bottom Shelf Brackets. And how through the power of brand revitalization and line extensions, I was convinced to give it another chance and ended up thinking it made a decent cocktail bourbon. It’s all very heartwarming.

Today however, I want to talk about something else. Well actually, someone else. That someone is me…well and you. First: me. “Me” is honestly my favorite subject. There is a reason that instead of rehashing dry details on the production or retyping the back of the bottle or the press release, I try to start each review with a bit of a personal anecdote or a tale of how I came to find the particular bottle that we are discussing. Years ago, I found out that if I wrote a personal blog, literally ones of people would read it. Later I found out that If I wrote almost the same blog and added a whiskey review to the end, then all of a sudden (over the course of 8 years) it would gather an average monthly readership of over 15,000 people.

Which brings me to you. Thank you. Thank you for all the emails, the questions, and the kind words. But most of all, thank you for hanging out with me and listening to me tell stories, be they about myself, dogs or whiskey. So let’s all grab a drink and learn about Rebel Yell 100.

Rebel Yell 100 is a new 100 proof variant of, you guessed it, Rebel Yell. It is the same wheated bourbon as the original Rebel Yell, just with more proof. And boy, what a difference that added proof makes. Where the 80 proof version makes a good cocktail bourbon, this 100 proof version can stand on its own when sipped neat. In fact, I’m having a little right now as I write this.

Rebel Yell 100

Purchase Info: This review sample was graciously provided to me by Common Ground PR and Luxco for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle. This is (or will be soon) available nationally and at the Lux Row Distillery.

Details: Wheated Bourbon, 50% ABV.

Nose: Cinnamon, mint, vanilla, chocolate.

Month: Spicy tingle on the tip of the tongue. Cinnamon red hots, brown sugar, mint, lemon custard

Finish: Warm and medium length. Lingering chocolate, cinnamon, and vanilla pudding.

Thoughts: I'm very impressed with this one. I've documented my turn around on the Standard Rebel Yell. I went from disliking it to realizing it made a fine cocktail Bourbon. This 100 proof version is a fine cocktail ingredient but it also works great as an everyday sipper. And at a suggested price of $20? This is a no brainer of a pickup. And this is coming from a guy who normally isn’t a wheated bourbon fan. Yep, as soon as I see it on the shelf, it is coming home with me.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Blood Oath Pact No. 5

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Luxco for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

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Running a little behind due to paid work overloading the schedule this week. (I mean of all the “terrible” problems to have. I’m too busy making money to drink whiskey. Sigh.) So instead of delaying this any longer, we are just going to cut straight to the details and leave out any of the nonsense I usually like to populate my articles with.

Ok, maybe a little nonsense. Am I the only one who likes finished bourbons as a change of pace once in a while? I know some people decry them as “flavored bourbon.” But I don’t even particularly hate the idea of flavored whiskey (I just choose not to drink it). That said, I don’t think of finished bourbons as “flavored bourbons.” Not if they are done correctly. I mean, sure, Angel’s Envy Rye tends to taste more of rum than it does rye. But a good barrel finishing can make a true masterpiece. I’m thinking of the old 2011 Parker’s Heritage Collection Cognac Finished. It was delicious, I loved that one.

So what about Blood Oath Pact No. 5? Before we find out where this particular finished bourbon falls on the “Angel’s Envy Rye” to “Masterpiece” spectrum, here is what the producer has to say about it.

“Pact No. 5 starts with an eight-year-old ryed bourbon rested in used dark Caribbean rum barrels for six months to add a touch of warm island spice. Once this bourbon picked up some of the rum notes, Rempe combined it with an 11-year-old silky wheated bourbon and an extra-aged, peppery 13-year-old rye bourbon.”

Blood Oath Pact No. 5

Purchase Info: This review sample was graciously provided to me by Common Ground PR and Luxco for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $99.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Details: 49.3% ABV. Finished in Caribbean Rum casks

Nose: Honey, caramel, cinnamon, and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Spicy and sweet with cinnamon, clove, honey, mint, caramel

Finish: Medium length and warm. Lingering sweetness and cinnamon red hots.

Thoughts: This is quite tasty. I'm enjoying the combination of sweet and spicy. This doesn't have the same level of rum cask influence as, say, Angel's Envy Rye. And boy do I ever think that is a good thing. With Angel's Envy, the rye is overpowered by the rum. And if I wanted rum, I’d just drink rum. Here the rum seems to accent the bourbon flavors instead of dominating them. And that is what I like in a finished bourbon. I like it to be bourbon with an accent of a complementary finishing flavor. If I had the cash on hand, I'd totally treat myself to a bottle of this.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Wilderness Trail Settlers Select Single Barrel Rye Whiskey

Holy Fuck!

Today was one of those days where your phone bleats out an alert for an incoming tornado. To be honest, I didn’t even know that my phone was set up to do that. I’m kinda glad it did. I was three hours deep in a two hour animation project and I was a bit inattentive to the color of the sky outside. When the sky turns green, you know that some nasty shit is about to go down.

I got all the pups downstairs and honestly they had fun for the first couple minutes, exploring all the new areas that they never get to go to. It kind of reminded me of the one time there was a bomb threat called in to my elementary school. We all evacuated to a nearby church. We played and romped, but after a while we got bored. Similarly, boy did these pups get bored. And it took way less time than in my memories of elementary school. We were down there for fifteen minutes…after five they were barking in displeasure. Loudly. And continuously.

But the storm passed just about the time my wife got home, luckily with no damage to cars or structures. The yard was flooded, but it has been for most of the spring. The dogs were happy to be released. And I was ready for a drink.

By chance, I grabbed tonight’s bottle (I had it out to photograph for tonight’s post before the storm hit) and my wife made me a delicious cocktail with it.

Wilderness Trail Settlers Select Single Barrel Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $63.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Liquor Barn, Louisville, KY

Details: 56.5% ABV. Barrel Entry Proof: 100° proof. Mash Bill: 56% Rye, 33% Corn, 11% Barley Sweet Mash. Barrel#: 15D17. Bottle 50/221. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Earthy with Cardamom and mint.

Mouth: Spicy. Mint, cinnamon, sesame seed, honey.

Finish: Medium finish. lingering notes of cinnamon and cardamom

Thoughts: Last year right about this time I reviewed the first release from Wilderness Trail, their Bottled in Bond Bourbon. At the time I said: “I wasn't paying attention to Wilderness Trail previously, but I sure am now! This is one of the few Craft Distilleries to have put out a product that can not only compete with the big boys in their own style but would beat some of them too. I really like this and cannot wait to see what comes next.” So, as you might guess, I was super excited to try this rye whiskey. I was prepared to love it.

Well, I don’t love it. I do however like it. Overall, this is a decent rye. It shows a lot of spice and has a nice mouthfeel. Sometimes I get very young tasting notes when I have this, other times they are nowhere to be found. It depends on what else I’ve had on my palate that day. As such, for me, this has been relegated to a cocktail rye most of the time. And honestly, the price I paid does not match the uses I am normally putting it to.

Bottom line: It has a youthful brashness rather than the barrel flavors that would come with further aging. You may love this. If so, I recommend it to you. For me, there is nothing wrong with it that more time in the barrel wouldn’t fix. If however, you prefer your ryes to not come with the chance of overly youthful exuberance, then maybe go with a Sazerac, Wild Turkey or Rittenhouse Rye and save yourself quite a few dollars. Personally I bought it on vacation (with the vacation splurge on spending) so although I’m a bit disappointed by it I do not regret buying it.

Of course, maybe it’s just the barrel I lucked into. Single barrels vary after all. For instance, I had a glass at 21C in Louisville and thought it was quite good (though not worth the $18 per pour asking price). So your milage may vary. However I probably won’t be buying it again until it has a bit more age under its belt.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!