Townie Regular Bourbon, Townie Fine Rye, & Townie First Class Bourbon

I’d like to thank the folks at Bluebird Distilling and their PR partner for sending these samples with no strings attached.

It has been a rough week since we last spoke. My wife’s grandmother passed at the age of 99, and one of my dogs may or may not have had a stroke. I’m pretty sure those two things are unrelated, as they never met each other. But there has been a lot of stress in the household as we worked through grief on two fronts.

The good news is that my pup seems to be getting better, even if she does currently need to be hand-fed like a baby. But the vet thinks it should be a temporary thing, so I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep my pup living a good life, even if that good life now seems like it will be shorter than it did at this time last week. So since I am not in a great headspace at the moment and because we have a lot to cover, let’s jump straight into the whiskeys, shall we?

Townie Whiskey is a brand of “procured” whiskey put out by Bluebird Distilling in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The line is not distilled in-house—at least not entirely—but are instead a line of less expensive offerings that are intended to be…they don’t explicitly say “well bourbon,” but that’s the vibe I’m getting from their marketing. Here is what the brand has to say for themselves:

The brainchild of Jared Adkins, founder and owner of Bluebird Distilling, Townie Whiskey is an approachable and economic counterpart to his scratch-made craft spirits. An unpretentious whiskey line made to be enjoyed straight up or paired with a light beer in a boiler maker. Adkins and his distillers hand selected barrels and blended each expression (with their own scratch-made juice) in order to deliver a high quality yet affordable product.

So, now onto the important part, how do they taste?

Townie Regular Bourbon

Purchase Info: This was sent by the producer for review purposes at no charge. The suggested retail price is $34.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.33

Details: 42% ABV.

Nose: Green apple, dried grain, and fresh cut hay.

Mouth: Baking spice, apple and dried grain.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Lingering notes of green apple and fresh cut hay.

Thoughts: Not a fan of this one when poured neat. That said it does ok in a highball or an Old-fashioned. It's a little more expensive than I'd want my cocktail-only pour to be (almost 1.5 bottles of Wild Turkey 101) but pricing tolerance is a personal issue. I'm giving this one a neutral rating. It's not for me, but it isn't like there is anything objectively wrong with it.

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Townie Fine Rye

Purchase Info: This was sent by the producer for review purposes at no charge. The suggested retail price is $34.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.33

Details: 43% ABV.

Nose: Cedar, wintergreen, and cinnamon

Mouth: Cedar, molasses, caramel, and a subdued cinnamon spice.

Finish: Bright and of medium length- Notes of cedar, molasses, cinnamon, and caramel.

Thoughts: Neutral on this one too. I think the lack of proof on this dilutes it a little too much. It doesn't have the spicy burn I expect from a rye. This is not to say that it is bad; it is just that it isn't for me.

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Townie First Class Bourbon

Purchase Info: This was sent by the producer for review purposes at no charge. The suggested retail price is $39.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.67

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, baking spice, and dried grain.

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, baking spice, and green apple.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Lingering notes of floral vanilla, green apple, baking spice, and dried corn.

Thoughts: This is much better than the 84° proof version of their bourbon. The online description says it is made from their favorite barrels. Which makes sense based on the increase in quality. I do think the added proof helps too. It has a nice burn throughout the tasting process. Just a touch more green apple and corn than I'd like on the finish, but this isn't bad. Much like all of these, I will probably set it aside for cocktail use, but this one especially would also be ok if it were just poured neat and served to me that way.

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Buffalo Trace Antique Collection: Sazerac 18 Year Old Rye Whiskey

I’d like to thank the folks at Buffalo Trace for sending this sample with no strings attached.

It’s a gloomy day today. We had a touch of snow, but it doesn’t look like any will stick around. Still, it feels cold and dreary—the kind of day when you wish your house had a fireplace so you could curl up under a blanket, watching the flames dance. And as evening sets in, if you were to pour yourself a glass of wine or a couple of ounces of something brown, well, who could blame you? Let’s be honest: on a day like this, that hypothetical glass might pair perfectly with tonight’s whiskey.

It’s been six years since I last reviewed a member of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Back then, the suggested price hovered around $100; now, it’s climbed to $150. But really, what whiskey hasn’t gone up in price over the last six years? Not many. This time, I got my hands on a sample of the 18-year-old Sazerac Rye. To put it into perspective, this stuff has been aging in a barrel longer than I’ve been writing about whiskey. Heck, it’s been in that barrel longer than I’ve been drinking whiskey—I only started diving seriously into the whiskey world around 2010.

So, let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Sazerac 18 Years Old

Purchase Info: This 100 mL sample was sent to me at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $149.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10.00

Details: 45% ABV. 18 years old

Nose: Oak and leather lead the way, with notes of cinnamon and plum underneath.

Mouth: Leather, stone fruits, vanilla, cinnamon, and a hint of cedar.

Finish: Medium warmth and long. Notes of oak, cedar, cinnamon, and just the suggestion of anise.

Thoughts: The barrel really takes the stage on this one—which makes sense, given that the whiskey sat in there for the better part of two decades. In fact, the barrel influence is so prominent that it wasn’t until a couple of sips in that I started picking up the cedar notes I associate with rye spice. That said, even though I’m sensitive to overly oaky whiskies, I really enjoy this one. If I happen to see it in a local liquor store lottery, you can bet I’ll be adding my name to the list.

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Knob Creek Bourbon X Rye

Hey hey, it’s Bonus Post Day! Again!

If you ever talk to a Minnesotan in late October and mention snow, they’ll inevitably bring up the Halloween Blizzard of 1991, when 28 inches of snow buried trick-or-treaters as they braved the streets for candy. I lived through it 30 years ago, and I heard a lot about it yesterday as snow was once again predicted for Halloween.

But this time, it was just a dusting and seemed to have barely affected the kids going door-to-door. Of course, that doesn’t mean I had a lot of kids come to my house. No, I got just one. He was dressed as a dragon—a costume that fit nicely over a warm winter coat since it was below freezing once the sun went down. That made me sad. I don’t usually get many kids at my house, but the cold kept the little kids away, and they’re the most fun to give candy to.

Today, however, marks the start of a new month and the beginning of the holiday season. As far as I’m concerned, the time from Halloween to New Year’s is the best part of the year, and I’m hoping for plenty of festive cheer. So, since we’ve turned the page on Halloween, let’s turn it to whiskey—specifically, a new limited-time offering from Jim Beam’s Knob Creek brand.

Knob Creek Bourbon X Rye is a blend of straight whiskeys composed of 30% Knob Creek 9-year-old bourbon and 70% Knob Creek 7-year-old rye whiskey. It’s bottled at 113° proof and has a suggested retail price of $44.99 for a 750 mL bottle. The press release says it’s limited, but I bought it at Total Wine in August, and there are still some on the shelves today—so take that how you will.

Let’s dig in.

Knob Creek Bourbon X Rye

Purchase Info: $48.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.27

Details: 56.5% ABV. Blend includes 30% Knob Creek 9-year-old bourbon and 70% Knob Creek 7-year-old rye whiskey.

Nose: Cedar, mint, caramel, chocolate, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Cinnamon, mint, red fruits, citrus zest, cedar, caramel, and oak.

Finish: Warm and long with notes of cinnamon red hots, cedar, and spearmint.

Thoughts: This is really rye-forward, and I’m here for it. It’s got a nice balance of spicy and sweet, with cedar and mint being prominent throughout. This is quite tasty. Is it a replacement for the higher-proof Knob Creek Rye or Bourbon single barrel releases? I wouldn’t say so, as it’s sweeter than the rye but much more vibrant and spicy than the bourbon. It’s a third option that kind of splits the difference. So, do I like it? Well, let’s just say I hadn’t had this bottle open very long when I realized it was about half-empty, having become my go-to pour. I had to put it away so I’d have enough left for a review. So yeah, I’d say I like it quite a bit.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Penelope Toasted Rye Whiskey

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Penelope Bourbon for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

It's a good day today. I think I have the anniversary trip for my wife and me planned out. Just need to run the last bit past her. Yesterday, I reached out to Delta about why I was bumped off our direct flight to one with a layover, and they responded by changing me to a flight on a different day where I wasn’t sitting by my wife. Not at all what I was asking for, and after speaking to a manager, I decided to cancel the flight and move on from Delta for a while. So now: road trip. Not as rough of a timeline as last time, nor as long of a drive, so it should be okay.

But like I said, it's a good day. Not only did I get that pesky anniversary trip planned, but the sun is out! I swear, after a drought the last two years, Mother Nature is making it up to us by giving us all the rain we missed and then some. And though I’m glad I do not need to water the garden, I am very glad that I can see the sun today. Minnesota gets gloomy enough with our nine months of gray winter skies.

The final reason it’s a good day is I get to write about a delicious rye whiskey today. And as you can see from the photo above, I’ve been enjoying the heck out of this one. But before we get into the tasting notes, let’s take a look at what the company has to tell us about this one. They went through all the trouble of giving us all the geeky data, we might as well read it. But first, the marketing speak:

Our Toasted Series is a testament to the power of serendipity. When we began to explore toasted finishes, we weren’t expecting each barrel to be so different — so we decided to embrace this variety of chars and toasts that make every bottle in our Toasted Series truly one-of-a-kind.

After full maturation in charred new American oak barrels, we finished 100% straight rye whiskey in a new, freshly toasted barrel.  While it can be hard to predict the flavor profile of each bottle in our Toasted Series, the deep notes of vanilla imbued by the toasting process add another dimension to our signature flavor profile.  Whether you’re into a Heavy Toast or Lighter Char, our Toasted Series truly offers something for everyone. 

That’s the serendipity of Penelope.

Now onto the good stuff. This rye whiskey is made from MGP’s 95% rye mashbill (it took me a couple of minutes to understand that the “100% straight rye whiskey” in the marketing speak above was just saying “no additives” and not referring to the mashbill). The whiskey was aged for six years before being put into a second barrel that was charred to a level two and toasted to a heavy toast level. This is the second release of Toasted Rye and has a suggested retail price of $74.99.

Penelope Toasted Rye

Purchase Info: This bottle was provided at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $74.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 6 years old. 50% ABV. Mashbill: 95% rye, 5% malted barley.

Nose: Cinnamon, spearmint, cedar, and honey.

Mouth: Strong, but not overpowering, oak hits first with notes of cinnamon, dark chocolate, caramel, mint, and cedar following after.

Finish: Bright and vibrant with medium length. Notes of cinnamon, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: I like this one. It's hitting all my favorite rye notes like mint, cedar, and cinnamon. There is just enough oak to support the delicious rye notes without taking over. There is some sweetness to it, especially when consumed out of a rocks glass rather than tasted in a Glencairn. Overall, I really like it.

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Knob Creek 10 Year Rye Whiskey

Wow! So much has happened since we were last together. I took an unexpected drive to California. And I do mean unexpected. I was supposed to be on an early morning flight with Delta on the day of the CrowdStrike meltdown. That flight was canceled as we arrived at the airport, as was the next day’s flight we were rebooked on. At least we didn’t need to drive to the airport and back to figure that one out; it was canceled by 3 am.

It was at that point, wide awake at 3 am on a Saturday and trying to make big decisions, that we chose to do something we might not have considered otherwise: drive straight through from the Minneapolis suburbs to Eureka, California. Google Maps told us it was a 31-hour trip, while Apple Maps said 30 hours. So we said, “Fuck it! We like a road trip,” and took Delta up on their offer of refunded tickets.

About 1 am Sunday morning, we crossed into Nevada on I-80 and started regretting our decision. The only other things on the road were tired truckers and swerving semis. It was then, with my wife and nephew asleep in the car, that the song "Hotel California" started running through my head—especially the part that goes, "My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim. I had to stop for the night."

It turned out both my wife and I, taking turns driving and sleeping, had hit a wall at the same time. Thank goodness for Flying J parking lots. After a solid two hours of sleep, we were back on the road. We made it to Eureka just in time for hotel check-in and made good use of the beds. Might have been the most comfortable beds I’d slept in for a long time—at least for the first night there.

On the way back, we were smart enough to spend the night in a hotel halfway home. That was much nicer.

So, now that you’ve heard my story, let’s jump over to tonight’s whiskey: Knob Creek 10 Year Rye. It’s, you guessed it, a ten-year-old version of Knob Creek Rye. The base product now carries a seven-year-old age statement. I’d had the seven-year previously. It’s good, but when I saw this on the shelf, well, it was in the cart before I even noticed the price. I mean, I like Knob Creek Rye. Why wouldn’t an older version be better?

Knob Creek 10 Year Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: $71.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.80

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, oak, and cherry Cola.

Mouth: Cinnamon, cedar, spearmint, and oak.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of cinnamon, cedar, mint, and red fruit.

Thoughts: The finish is the best part of this. It just blossoms with flavors when you swallow. Of course, that doesn't mean that the rest is bad—quite the contrary. The nose and mouth are very good. It's just that the finish is even better. It is spicy with lots of wood notes. I like this one a lot.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

A. Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey

Does anyone else out there just never eat at their kitchen table? I try to. But then I set the mail on it. And then an Amazon package for my wife or kid. Then I set something for the dogs on it. And this keeps going until I just have to fully commit to the fact that I don’t have a table—I have a storage space. Some people have a junk drawer to keep their odds and ends in; I have a junk table.

Well, until either my wife or I get sick of it. Then we clean it up, put everything away, and try to get a couple of meals or a jigsaw puzzle in before the cycle starts over.

So, I was cleaning off my table this weekend when I found the last two issues of Chuck Cowdery’s Bourbon County Reader. It’s one of the few bourbon-focused publications that I still read. As I’ve slowly withdrawn from being chronically online over the last few years, I’ve found that I like reading things that aren’t on a screen. It’s nice to be unconnected at times. That’s why I like Mr. Cowdery’s newsletter. Not only is it always interesting and informative, it’s paper and lands in my mailbox.

I bring that up because May’s issue was where I first heard about tonight’s whiskey: A. Overholt from Suntory Global’s Beam division. A. Overholt is a line extension in their Old Overholt line. Though, unlike previous line extensions, this isn’t just Old Overholt with a little more age or a different proof. No, for this one Beam used an entirely different mashbill. There is no corn in this whiskey. It is 80% rye and 20% malted barley. It was aged four years and bottled at a non-chill filtered 95° proof.

According to Mr. Cowdery’s article, this unusual mashbill used to be anything but. It was a fairly standard mashbill for the historical Monongahela Rye, a Pennsylvania product. However, as rye fell out of favor and the whiskey industry consolidated, rye-making moved to Kentucky. Over time, more and more corn was added to the mashbills (partly because corn is cheaper, partly because corn gives a better mouthfeel) until many rye whiskeys were just a few percentage points away from being high-rye bourbons.

At least until MGP’s 95% rye mashbill hit the market in a big way a little over a decade ago. In the intervening years, rye sales took off in ways that took some companies by surprise. Wild Turkey even took their 101 Rye off the market for a while to help stretch their supplies further. And as more and more rye whiskeys that were sourced from MGP hit the market, I decided that I actually preferred a higher rye content in my rye whiskey than the “barely legal” version that many Kentucky distilleries were putting out at the time. So, it was with great pleasure that I saw new Kentucky distilleries releasing just that. For a long time, Old Forester was one of my favorites with their 70% rye mashbill. And now Beam joins the club by leaving the corn out entirely.

So, let’s see how this thing tastes, shall we?

A. Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $40.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.73

Details: 47.5% ABV. 80% Rye, 20% Malted Barley. 4-years-old.

Nose: Wintergreen, cedar, and a nutty/bready note.

Mouth: Toasted grains, cedar, and nutmeg.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of toasted grains, cedar, wintergreen, and nutmeg linger.

Thoughts: This is completely unlike any rye I've had. There are lovely bready notes throughout. Toasted whole grain notes bring a ton of warm, comforting flavors to the mouth and finish. And the wintergreen and nutmeg add top and bottom notes to the whole.

I wasn't sure what to expect here. I kind of expected something like a nuttier MGP 95/5% rye with the lack of corn. But, while this does have more nutty notes due to the increased malted barley, it doesn't present the rye in the same way. This has a nice mouthfeel but isn't sweet in the way a bourbon would be. I like it. I can't wait to spend more time with the bottle. In the short time I've already spent with it, I can attest it makes a mighty fine Sazerac cocktail and a delicious Old Fashioned.

Heading out for a week’s vacation so no posts next week. BourbonGuy.com will be back to it’s regular schedule July 30th, 2024.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Cedar Ridge Rye and Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskeys

This week, we’re offering two reviews for the price of one as we examine a couple of rye whiskeys from Cedar Ridge Distillery in Iowa. Since tomorrow is a holiday, and yesterday was crazy with work, I thought I’d combine both posts into one, as it seemed thematically appropriate.

So first, my bias. I am not a native Minnesotan, but I have lived here for almost twenty years. The reason I live here has more than a little to do with my time in college at the University of Minnesota. It wasn’t the main reason I moved here, but it didn’t hurt that I’d spent a particularly enjoyable part of my youth in the state. And as a Gopher, I am duty-bound to hate all things Hawkeye, which includes the state they live in and all things associated with it. I mean, the Hawkeyes can get fucked. (If you know how college football rivalries work, you’ll understand that last bit. Don’t worry, I feel the same way about my birthplace of Wisconsin due to my hatred of the Badgers, too.)

So now that I’ve disclosed that my bias is a mild dislike of all things Iowa based on the fact that I hate their Big Ten college football team, let’s move on to the whiskeys.

While I did the tastings for these, I was under the impression that they were the same whiskey with different ages and proofs. But I was excited to learn that these are completely different mashbills. The Straight Rye that we will be looking at first is 12% corn, 51% malted rye, 34% rye, and 3% malted barley. The Bottled-in-Bond leaves out the unmalted rye and uses 85% malted rye instead. That’s very cool. For a long time, it was hard to get rye whiskey from a big distillery. Jimmy Russell used to say that Wild Turkey spent one day per year distilling all of the rye they put out. But these guys have at least two mashbills of rye that they produce. As a rye whiskey lover, this is a good time to be a fan.

Let’s start with the Cedar Ridge Straight Rye Whiskey, part of their core lineup.

Cedar Ridge Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $37.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.53

Details: 3- years-old. 43% ABV. Mashbill: 12% corn, 51% malted rye, 34% rye, 3% malted barley

Nose: Cinnamon, cedar, mint, and stone fruit.

Mouth: Cedar, cinnamon candies, and stone fruit.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of dried grains, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: I'm not a fan of this one. It tastes a bit too much like dried grains for my tastes. I know that there are very good rye whiskeys on the market that are even younger than this, so it isn't an age thing per se. I'm guessing it's a combination of age and climate. The average high in this part of Iowa is over 10°F lower than it is in Kentucky for most of the winter, which could lead to aging taking longer unless they use climate-controlled aging spaces. I don't know for sure how they age their product, so that's only a guess. All that said, this isn't a bad whiskey. It just doesn't align with my palate, mostly due to the very grain-forward nature of the finish.

Now let’s do the Limited Edition Bottled-in-Bond Rye.

Cedar Ridge Bottled-in-Bond Rye

Purchase Info: $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 50% ABV. 4-years-old. Mashbill: 12% corn, 85% malted rye, 3% malted barley. DSP-IA-15001

Nose: Cedar, cinnamon, dried grains, and biscuits.

Mouth: Caramel, stone fruit, cinnamon, cedar, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of cinnamon, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: It's amazing what another year, a bit more proof, and the elimination of non-malted rye will do for a whiskey. This has a nicer mouth feeel, is sweeter, and shows more barrel influence than the 86 proof. And even though I don’t usually care for malted rye in a whiskey, I like this one. This particular Iowa whiskey is better than any of the Minnesota ryes I’ve tried.

See I can say something nice about Iowa.

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Jack Daniel’s Single-Barrel Barrel-Proof Rye Whiskey

I’m a big fan of serendipity. Most of my most interesting experiences in life have been completely unplanned. Take tonight’s whiskey. I’d been sitting on a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Bonded Rye for months before it finally came up in the editorial calendar. Later that week, I was wandering through the liquor store to see if anything caught my fancy when I saw its barrel-proof big Brother, for the first time. My closest Total Wine is set up very similarly to many others across the country. They have the extra-wide whiskey aisle with bourbon up one side, things they are trying to push down the center and Canadian, Flavored, “American” whiskey, and then Rye down the other as you make your way toward the front of the store.

I went up the bourbon section without seeing anything. There were a bunch of boxes of Spirits Direct crap down the center. I turned the corner to go down the other side. Glaced at the Canadian and didn’t see anything that interested me. I walked past the flavored section without stopping. I looked at most of the American Whiskey and Rye without seeing anything when, on the second-to-last shelf on the final facing, I saw this bottle of Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye. It was the only one there. And knowing that I hadn’t covered it prior, it was in my cart before I even looked at the price.

Of course, then I looked at the price and was relieved that it was well under a hundred dollars. So, what is this newish release from the Tennessee Behemoth of American Whiskey? Well, it’s something that we’ve kinda looked at before. Back in 2020, Jack Daniel’s released a limited edition Single-Barrel Barrel-Proof Rye. About a year ago, they announced that it would become a permanent ongoing addition to the Single-Barrel lineup—a very welcome addition, in my opinion.

Like the other Jack Daniel’s Rye Whiskeys, this uses their standard rye mash bill of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley. Bottles will range between 125° proof and 145° proof. The suggested retail price is $59.99, though it was quite a bit more than that here in Minnesota at $75.

So let’s see how it tastes.

Jack Daniel’s Single-Barrel Barrel-Proof Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $74.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 65.25% ABV. Barrel House: 1-09. Barrel Number: 24-02588. Bottling Date: March 12, 2024

Nose: Spearmint, caramel, cedar, and circus peanuts (candy).

Mouth: Sweet and as hot as you'd expect 130° proof to be. Notes of Cinnamon, spearmint, caramel, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and hot. Notes of cinnamon, oak, banana, and caramel.

Thoughts: It is very sweet and very hot when neat. Luckily, a touch of water tames the heat without eliminating the sweetness or spice notes. This is delicious—absolutely delicious. Is it worth almost twice the price of the Bonded Rye? Well, that's up to you. All I’ll say is that I’m reaching to pour this one even though both are on my shelf next to one another. And honestly, I'd buy it again if I saw it at the store. Tasting them side-by-side, they taste pretty similar. As you might expect. But the added proof is quite tasty. When it comes to Jack Daniel’s, the less water they add, the more I like it.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.