On the palate, it’s definitely a rye whiskey. Gentle spice and herbal characters separate it immediately from the sweetness of Old Forester Bourbon. Expectedly, there’s caramel and white chocolate in the mix, but those notes are offset pleasantly with a little mint, some eucalyptus and white pepper.
This one definitely won’t be for everybody, so I highly recommend you test drive it at a well-stocked watering hole first.
Tingling with spices like white pepper and coriander, it practically vibrates on the palate. Darkly toasted bread, French roast coffee, charred lemon, dried cherry, spearmint and some campfire mingle nicely alongside cocoa nibs. The finish is simple: long and warming.
This liquid is its own animal, a whiskey that, tasted blind, might fool a few folks into thinking it’s a low-rye bourbon. Get a bottle and let the fun begin.
The palate leads with cedar, bitter chocolate, new oak, clove and black pepper. It leaves the tongue tingling more than burning, but either way, it’s spicy beyond what you normally encounter with 96 proof.
According to Middle West, this is the first dark pumpernickel rye whiskey made in North America, and its mash bill contains 80 percent of that grain. Want a rye that’s not a dill Katz’s Deli pickle? Try this.
This also is a delight on the palate: tingly, tropical-fruity (ripe pineapple/cooked pineapple and under-ripe banana), cherry and orange hard candy, light caramel, white chocolate with a subtle hints of dill and toasted oak.
The nose finds soft aromas of fresh plums and peaches before brighter aromatics such as citrus and cedar move in. The expected rye guys–dill and spearmint–arrive later.
But that’s not as fun as pointing to that classic nose of bubble gum, dried flowers and fruit pastries. The barrel has a say, of course, introducing spice and tannin sotto voce, while letting tropical fruit and bruleed sugar speak a bit louder.
Just look at that bottle. Leaning nonchalantly up against the wall of what appears to be a very nice Las Vegas bathroom. I can almost imagine it taking a long drag off a cigarette and telling me to lighten up. If an inanimate object could exude cool, it would be this one.
