The source of this rye makes for an interesting story, but in the case of
Barrel Rye Batch Three, it’s a footnote rather than a defining
characteristic. One might hear that this batch is a blend of ryes from
Tennessee, Indiana, Poland, and Canada and think it’ll taste otherworldly
or weird or funky. It does none of those things. It tastes like a terrific
American cask strength rye, with a floral (almost Lot 40 rye-like) nose to
it. It’s a beautiful blend.
The source of this rye makes for an interesting story, but in the case of Barrel Rye Batch Three, it’s a footnote rather than a defining characteristic. One might hear that this batch is a blend of ryes from Tennessee, Indiana, Poland, and Canada and think it’ll taste otherworldly or weird or funky. It does none of those things. It tastes like a terrific American cask strength rye, with a floral (almost Lot 40 rye-like) nose to it. It’s a beautiful blend.
That this product contains ryes from ages four to fourteen isn’t a surprise either. Ryes do really well with low age statements, and this blend of young and old has been proven successful in its many iterations across the US market. Barrell is about taking the best kind of barrels of whisky that come together in harmony, and this is another great example.
Barrell Rye Batch 003 116.9 Category: NDP blend from Tennessee, Indiana, Poland, and Canada ryes Score: Become a Patron
Nose: Minty creamy ice cream nose. Mint can be a common nosing note in ryes, but this is particularly fresh and creamy. It has that nicely intense perfume floral note consistent with a good rye. Lingering dark chocolate, a vague herbal note are a nice complex layer to this otherwise quiet nose.
Palate: Floral, minty, cinnamon, and back tea herbal. Really fun on the palate. It’s dry, intense, and paprika-level spicy. The creaminess really settles in nicely toward the finish, but the paprika spice burn never departs. It has all the elements of a great rye. It is a little thin on the palate (compared to others high-proof oaky monsters), and sometimes that’s a bad thing, but here it just leaves room for the awesome flavours coming through.
Conclusion: The herbal minty note is such a pleasure, when combined with a floral rye. It’s gentle on complex flavour, and heavy on spice, with a creamy clean wait on the palate. Nicely done!
Disclaimer: I received a sample of this whisky. It had no influence on my review.
Company: Sagamore SpiritVol: 48.3%Age: 4-5 yearsClassification: Maryland Rye WhiskeyBreakdown: Unknown (blend of 2 rye mash bills) Price: c. £70.00PreambleNormally we only roll out these ‘preamble’ segments when we do look backs at our previous reviews…
Company: Sagamore Spirit Vol: 48.3% Age: 4-5 years Classification: Maryland Rye Whiskey Breakdown: Unknown (blend of 2 rye mash bills) Price: c. £70.00
Preamble
Normally we only roll out these ‘preamble’ segments when we do look backs at our previous reviews. This time however, we have decided to put one upfront here so that we can state at the start that we were provided this bottle of Sagamore Rye completely free.
We won’t be offering any justification for it, or words around the fact that this hasn’t compromised our review or affected the way we judged the drink, we just wanted you to know that we didn’t pay for it.
Right with that out of the way, on to the review…
History
Sagamore Spirits goal is to inspire a global passion for Maryland Rye Whiskey. The folks in Baltimore, Maryland have only been distilling there since 2017 and if everything thing goes to plan their very own rye whiskey will be available sometime in 2021. In the meantime all their whiskey is sourced from somewhere in Indiana (Give us an M…). The brand is very transparent on where their liquid is sourced from and seems to be pretty passionate about recreating that slightly sweeter and versatile Maryland rye whiskey profile which is a million miles away from the frequently used high 95% rye mash bill. Two of MGP’s rye mash bills, one high and one low rye, are being used and have been blended together to nail this somewhat unique rye profile.
The versatility angle of their whiskey is keenly promoted on their website Sagamore Spirit with an entire page of over 30 cocktail recipes. The signature rye whiskey is aged between 4-5 years of age and bottled at 41.5% ABV. For those who lean favour towards a higher ABV, there is a cask strength offering bottled at a whopping 56.1% ABV. The third standard rye is what we are reviewing below, the Double Oak.
The distilling team at Sagamore Spirit really are a bunch of curious cats and have a number of limited release finished rye whiskies. Cognac, Rye Ale, Calvados, Port, Moscatel and finally but certainly not least there is Vintners which is finished in Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Port Barrels!
So did this Maryland Rye Whiskey inspire the Gents, read on to find out.
The Review:
For this review we drank it neat in a Glencairn glass.
Nose
What we got – Fruity orange peel, cinnamon, quite a refined nose despite the reasonably high alcohol by volume. Menthol and minty clean wet grass
What they say we should get – Sweet spicy grain, with brown sugar, cinnamon butter and oily orange peel
Palate
What we got – Cinnamon, apple pie, honeyed fruits with a creamy nuttiness. A strong dark chocolate profile. A very lively palate compared to the quitter and distinguished nose.
What they say we should get – Apple crumble with a good helping of cinnamon, with dark chocolate praline, a crack of black pepper and creamy ground almond
Finish
What we got – Lingers briefly with spiciness and sweetness combined. Long enough to enjoy but short enough for you to revisit the glass quickly
What they say we should get – Lingering rich sweetness of pecan pie
Summary
Sagamore Spirit Rye Double Oak – aged in a barrel for four short years and then finished for a further 6 months in wave stave barrels (we’d never heard of those before either). So what are they? The barrel is defined by a gently waving curvature on the inside surface of the barrel. The staves are milled before the barrel is raised increasing the surface area. These newly toasted staves apparently reenergise the aging process and create flavours of caramel and dark vanilla.
This is the first time either of the Gents have sampled anything from Sagamore Spirit and, without any doubt and somewhat unusually, we were both aligned in our enjoyment of this rye whiskey. The stand out for this dram is undoubtedly the palate, if you like dark chocolate you are going to fall in love with this. Didn’t quite identify the nutty flavour on the first visit, but after sampling once more whilst writing this review it is a combination of hazelnut and pecan.
Finish was shorter than expected but drew you back in wanting more. We’ve spoken before about short finishes not necessarily being a negative comment. If you are after a longer finish, then go and find one, there are plenty out there. For us it is about your mood at the time and what satisfies you one night may fall short on another.
Blending whiskey is clearly a skill which the Sagamore Spirit team have in our opinion have achieved top marks. Next year we will hopefully see and taste how successful distilling their own whiskey will have been. The Bourbon Gents are predicting top marks. Watch this space!
