Rebel Yell American Whiskey

May 28, 2015 Eric Burke

This is the second part of a two part post. The first being the story of how I got the bottle and a reminder that you don’t know what’s in a bottle of whiskey until you open it and take a taste.

Well. I’ve spent two weeks with this whiskey. It’s half gone and now I think I can talk about it. I’ve turned the bottle over and over in my hands looking at what is said and what is not said on the label. And I noticed a few things.

The most obvious is that it is a blend of bourbon and rye. The back label says: “Our original, time-honored recipe, perfectly blended with the rebellious spirit of rye.” From that I’m guessing it is the normal Rebel Yell wheated bourbon mixed with rye.
“Distilled and aged in Kentucky and Indiana.” So I’m going out on a pretty sturdy limb and saying that rye is from MGPi.
This is a two-year age-stated whiskey. Remember, that’s the youngest whiskey in the bottle, there might be older whiskey in there. In fact I would guess there is since the flavor has a depth I wouldn’t expect from a two year whiskey.
Though it is two year, nowhere does it say “straight.” We’ve learned from Templeton that you can add minute amounts of flavoring to whiskey that isn’t labeled “straight.” Just throwing that out there. Though it is very possibly not applicable, I get a little nervous when a whiskey doesn’t say straight when it could.

I’m breaking format and telling you my thoughts now since this is such an odd situation. I can find next to nothing about this online aside from the Rebel Yell website, the COLAs and Chuck Cowdery’s blog announcing it back in February. I can’t even tell if it is for sale yet so I have no idea if this is a good value. I’d say if you get it for free in a regifting situation, the value is excellent. If you pay more than $20-25 you are probably over paying. It’s tasty but not on par with many other widely available whiskeys at that price point. Some even sold by Luxco, the company who makes this.

Rebel Yell American Bourbon

Purchase Info: Didn’t I just say I got it in a regifting situation?

Details: A Blend of bourbon and rye whiskey, 45% ABV

Nose: Cedar, mint, white sugar, leather and hints of vanilla

Mouth: Thin in the mouth, but it has a nice tingle to it. Oak, cloves, dark chocolate and a nice earthiness.

Finish: Fades quickly. The mint is back along with chocolate and cedar.

Thoughts: As detailed in the previous post, I went into this expecting something terrible. As such, it exceeded expectations. As a two-year age stated whiskey, I’m very impressed with it’s depth of flavor. Overall, for what it is, this is an impressive whiskey. I just don’t think I’d pay more than $25 for it.

Who knew all you needed to do to make Rebel Yell bourbon drinkable was add some MGP rye? So we've learned that.

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A nice treat to share: Angel's Envy Rye

April 30, 2015 Eric Burke

Every morning my dog, Whiskey, begs for her morning treats. She will sit nicely, take the treat from you, run into the living room, set it down and come back for the next one. She does this twice as she gets two treats every morning.

If it is the weekend, she will eat them right away while we eat our breakfast. On work days she does something a little odd. She leaves them on the floor until we get home. Once we get the running around outside taken care of, she will grab the treats and bring them to where we are sitting and proceed to eat them. It is almost as if she understands that good things are even better with friends.

Even if she doesn’t understand it, I do. Think about it. A romantic movie is better when watched with someone you love. A good meal is better with good company. And a good whiskey is better when shared with friends. In fact, the better the whiskey, the more apt I am to share it.

When I finally bought a bottle of Angel’s Envy Rye, the first thing I thought about was who I wanted to pour samples for. It is only fair, I first tasted it after receiving a sample from a friend. Angel’s Envy Rye is a fairly new arrival to Minnesota. I started seeing it on the shelf when Total Wine appeared on the scene. It’s expensive for what it is. You don’t expect something that starts with MGP Rye to go for near $90.

Angel’s Envy Rye is finished in rum casks. And it shows. There is little to none of the typical MGP profile here. It has been completely changed by the rum. It is sweeter and has picked up more complexity. It really is a treat worth sharing with friends.

Angel’s Envy Rye

Purchase Info: $84.99, 750 mL. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: Batch#: 3F, Bottle#: 1696, 50% ABV, rye whiskey finished in rum casks

Nose: This smells like a good candy store. Fresh chocolate, nuts and a bit of fruitiness. Also pumpkin pie.

Mouth: Warm with ginger spiciness. Very sweet with nutty cocoa, cloves and molasses.

Finish: Surprisingly little burn for 100 proof but a lingering spicy sweetness.

Thoughts: This is a ginger molasses cookie in a glass. It’s very sweet and so not something I’d want all the time but tasty enough to have with (or for) dessert occasionally.

A nice reward for a job well done: Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye

March 10, 2015 Eric Burke

Some days you just want a good whiskey. Something to relax with after a job well done. For me today is one of those days. My wife recently informed me that the washing machine wasn’t working. It wouldn’t advance through the cycles on its own. Though I know next to nothing about washing machines, we decided that it was worth it to pick up the offending part and give fixing it a shot.

I like fixing things. If it’s already broken, what’s the harm? The worst that can happen is that I still have something broken. So I pulled it out from the wall and took a look. The control area was accessed by removing three screws and sliding the front to one side until it popped free. After that it was just a matter of removing the old timer and plugging in the new one. Easy enough. I put everything back together and it worked. The machine advanced through the cycles just fine…except…

Why wasn’t the water stopping where it should? I shut the machine off and had myself a think. I seemed to remember that at one point my mother-in-law was house-sitting for us and had the washing machine break down. It wouldn’t agitate. The solution, once the repair guy got there, was to clean a hose leading from the pressure sensor to the bottom of the tub.

Well, I guess there is nothing more to do than take the front off and take a look at it. Coincidently enough, it was plugged with gunk. I guess there were two things wrong with it. After cleaning out the hose and getting all the gunk out, I reattached it and tried it out. Worked perfectly.

Now that deserves a nice whiskey. And boy did I choose a good one. I’ve sung the praises of Smooth Ambler before. I respect the hell out of those guys. They distill their own stuff, but they are also merchant bottlers. And unlike a lot of the more notorious companies out there doing this, they have no problem telling you this. It’s right on the bottle. It’s on the website. They’ll even tell you when you visit without being asked. Good whiskey sold by good people. Can’t think of a better whiskey with which to celebrate a job well done.

Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye

Purchase info: Ace Spirits, 750 mL bottle, $36.99

Details: 49.5% ABV, 7 years old, Batch #38, Bottled on 6/6/14

Nose: Mint, dill, sweet cinnamon, vanilla and a hint of oak

Mouth: A nice heat. Black tea, mint, bubblegum, black pepper and cloves

Finish: Nice and long with a good warmth. Lingering black pepper, dill and baking spices

Thoughts: I love this one. It’s spicy, sweet and delicious. It’s a very nice MGPi Rye, and I tend to really like those (especially as they get in the 6+ year range). This batch is highly recommended.

New Stash Addition and Review: Bulleit Rye

June 17, 2012 Eric Burke

Can I tell you a little something about this week? This week, I moved my daughter into her first place that wasn't a dorm room. She's decided not to go back to college and wants to start her own life. Which, I can respect. I did something similar after my first year of college. Took me three years, but I finally went back. And I ended up on path I would have never even thought of if I had stayed in school and not taken the break.

So, I'm moving her out of our house. She's about half packed. (Hopefully she'll be back for the other half soon.) I'm carrying her boxes along with her boyfriend who is just the tiniest bit closer to my age than hers. Just past the halfway point, in fact. And, of course, fatherly disapproval is in full effect. So we're moving things, I'm trying to be nice (and mostly succeeding) when he asks me if I'd seen the last MadMen. I love that show, so the question gets me talking. We have a little chat, nothing worth hugging it out over, but things are going good. When we get home, I tell my wife to let our kid know that the ban on her boyfriend coming over has been lifted. Not because I'm all of a sudden going to be friends with this "old man" (28) dating my daughter (20), but because I felt I needed to revisit my feelings regarding him. To keep the kid happy. And maybe to keep her visiting more often.

Which brings me to the new addition to my stash. Bulleit Rye is another thing I felt like I needed to revisit to see where my feelings currently were at. Unlike the kid's boyfriend, my initial feelings for this whiskey were very positive. But not unlike the kid's boyfriend, my first impressions were made at a time when I didn't know a lot about what I was judging. I'd just started my whiskey journey when I first tried Bulleit Bourbon. The Rye came out very shortly after that and I tried it as soon as I could get my hands on a bottle. I fell in love. It was the first rye, I'd had and I loved it. The flavors were so different from all the bourbons I'd been drinking. It was exciting and strange. I tasted more than just vanilla or carmel. There was something else. Something that overpowered all of that. And it excited me.

Fast forward a bit. I've tried other ryes now. I like them all, but most seem like they could almost be bourbons. My guess is a few percentage points the right way on either corn or rye on the mashbill and a lot of them would be bourbons. They are sweet and just not as exciting as that first rye was. So a revisit was in order. And let me tell you, my memory wasn't fooling me. I still love this rye.

Nose: Clean, almost antiseptic. Cherry and pipe tobacco.

Taste: Initially just more cherry and tobacco, but after citrus, mint and some cinnamon candies come out to play after a bit.

Finish: This sticks with you a while. The flavor is there for long after the warmth fades.

Rating: For the price of this whiskey, there is no reason for it to not always be on your shelf. It works great in cocktails and I love to drink it neat. Inexpensive, tasty and versatile. Love this one.

Hello from the Future! I just wanted to let you know that I have revisited this review. Come see how I liked Bulleit Rye in 2018!

Blog

Rebel Yell American Bourbon

Angel’s Envy Rye

Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye