Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye Review

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye is an annual release from the distillery that comes out in July. It doesn’t say on the bottle which season it encompasses, but being a regular summer release I would imagine this is distilled in the fall after the grain harvest and bottled in the spring four+ years later. […]

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Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye Review

Seeing so many distilleries return to the tradition of Bonded Whiskey makes me happy. I love seeing this unified standard of 4+ years, 100 Proof, only water added, etc. being adopted and adhered to by distilleries big and small. It’s even more fun and educational to compare and contrast whiskeys when you can get some side-by-side that followed the same rules.

But bonded never means tasty, and that’s always the big question, so let’s get to drinkin’ and get some answers.

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye – Details and Tasting Notes

Whiskey Details

Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color

Style: Rye (Straight)
Region: Iowa
Distiller: Cedar Ridge

Mash Bill: 85% Rye, 12% Corn, 3% Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Oak
Age: 4+ Years
ABV: 50%

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye Price: $50*

White background tasting shot with the Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye sample bottle and a glass of whiskey next to it. — “This special release commemorates the 1897 Bottled-In-Bond Act. At 85%, this rye whiskey reflects the hard work of our harvester and their farm.” – Cedar Ridge

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye Tasting Notes

EYE
Copperish amber

NOSE
Oak, orchard fruit, caramel, spice, breadiness, citrus and touches of dill and minerality with a lightly biscuity note.

A fairly standard rye aroma, nothing groundbreaking, but nothing wrong with it either.

PALATE
Cinnamon heavy baking spice, herbal, toffee, oak, green fruit, metallic taffy and a slight minerality and some chocolate Necco.

Woah, this is weird. It’s like if there was an olde style candy made of rye mixed with a baked good.

FINISH
Medium -> Cinnamon, oak, vanilla, minerality fades to chocolate Necco.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Decent balance, medium body and a warm oily feel.

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye – Overall Thoughts and Score

The aroma is enjoyable but very typical and unsurprising. The palate and finish on the other hand, are unique. The first sip I couldn’t equate it to any other rye on the market and now that the sample is finished… I still can’t. Closest would be the Frey Ranch Rye, but even that’s not a great comparison. The Frey is decidedly richer and also has less of a “baked goods” quality.

The longer it opens the more a cinnamon candy note appears, cinnamon bears, not red hots. It ends up being quite the spicy warm rye with a slight crafty rustic essence but without any of the crafty crap. I wish I had a larger sample of the Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye because I think it would make a great cocktail rye and I’d love to try it in something like a Basin Street.

SCORE: 3.5/5 (tasty, worth checking out ~ B | 83-86)

*Disclosure: The sample for this Rye Whiskey review was graciously sent to me by the company without obligation. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye Label

Cedar Ridge Bottled In Bond Rye Review $50

Overall

3.6

Nose

(3.5)
Palate

(3.5)
Finish

(4)
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(3.5)

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George Dickel x Leopold Bros Collaboration Blend Rye

I sp…

I spent the entire day today getting a new batch of items ready for the online store. Looks like I should have them up sometime tomorrow if you are in the market for relatively inexpensive bourbon-themed tchotchkes. In addition to the posters and tasting journals, I’ve been getting sticker packs, lapel pins, and keychains photographed and ready to be posted for sale. Now all I need to do is get them listed.

I’ve been sitting on most of these items for over a year now, running three businesses keeps a guy busy, but I finally found a couple of days in a row where my other businesses were slow enough to allow me to get off my ass and do it. It’s a nice problem to have, I guess.

What I love about the various things I put up on the merch site is that it gives me an opportunity to flex my creative muscles a little bit. One of my day jobs is creating items, mostly junk mail, for plumbers and electricians. It pays the bills but isn’t very creatively fulfilling. With these items though, even though I hope others will like it, I’m mostly just doing things that I want to have and then ordering enough to help recoup the cost. Any extra goes to help keep BourbonGuy.com up and running.

Whoa. I just wanted to talk about creativity and it turned into an ad (BourbonGuyGifts.com if the ad worked…). Ah well. In any case, it was serendipitous that I was working on creative items today as tonight’s whiskey is a creative collaboration between two well-respected distillers. Nicole Austin of George Dickel has done an absolutely bang-up job over the last few years, introducing products such as Dickel Bourbon and the delicious George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond whiskeys. Todd Leopold is, to quote the bottle, “one of the most respected and acclaimed pioneers of American Whiskey” and a 2020 James Beard Award Nominee. I know him as the guy who’s been making the absinthe that I use in my Sazeracs since I first fell in love with Sazeracs many years ago.

Here is what the Dickel website has to say about it:

George Dickel has teamed up with the Leopold Bros to produce an innovative rye whisky offering.The release blends George Dickel’s column still rye produced at Cascade Hallow Distillery with Leopold Bros’ Three Chamber Rye to recreate a historic style. This union between column distilled rye and Three Chamber distilled rye turns back the hands of time, returning to an era that saw heavy-bodied rye whisky served at bars and saloons throughout America. The Cascade Hollow component of this blend is a never-before released traditional column still rye.

So on top of it being an interesting blend, this also contains our first taste of Dickel-distilled rye. The rye they sell now is sourced from MGP. So let’s see how it tastes.

George Dickel x Leopold Bros Collaboration Blend Rye

Purchase Info: $139.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Chanhassen, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $9.33

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Cedar, mint, floral cherry, and baking spices.

Mouth: Floral and herbal with notes of mint, cedar, cinnamon, and caramel.

Finish: Nice and warm. Medium to long. Notes of cherry, cedar, cinnamon, and spearmint.

IMAGE: a heart because I love this whiskey.

Thoughts: I was unsupervised at the liquor store for this one. After reading about it last week, I was so excited that I ignored the price when I saw it on the shelf. Luckily, this is so good that my wife/accountant has forgiven me for the splurge. It is one of those whiskies where you could just nose it all night long. And, bonus, you also get to drink it too! This is complex in all three phases, nose, mouth, and finish. And delicious to boot. I do not regret this purchase at all.

It will, however, be placed on the special shelf so it has a better chance of lasting a while.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Old Overholt 114 Proof Review

Do you enjoy high proof rye whiskey ? Last year Jim Beam released Old Overholt 114 proof. While we have had several high proof rye whiskies we were excited to see this one. It showed Jim Beam commitment to their old line. This is the longest continually maintained brand of whiskey in America operating

The post Old Overholt 114 Proof Review appeared first on The Bourbon Road.

Do you enjoy high proof rye whiskey ?

Last year Jim Beam released Old Overholt 114 proof. While we have had several high proof rye whiskies we were excited to see this one. It showed Jim Beam commitment to their old line. This is the longest continually maintained brand of whiskey in America operating since 1810. Abraham Overholt took over management of his father’s distillery in 1810 and made it into a successful business producing 12 to 15 gallons of rye whiskey every day by 1820.

By 1900 Old Overholt had become a national brand. The brand was granted a permit for selling medicinal whiskey during prohibition allowing them to continue operating, In 1932 the brand was sold to National Distillers and by the 1960s Old Overholt was the only nationally distributed rye whiskey. In 1987, Old Overholt was sold to the James B. Beam Distilling Company and since 2015 along with Old Grand Dad has been marketed as “The Olds”

To hear more, be sure check out the podcast episode on your favorite platform. We hope you enjoy Jim and Mike’s review. Cheers!

Tasting Notes: Old Overholt 114 proof

Vital Stats: his rye whiskey is aged 4 years and has an undisclosed mash bill of 95%. It has a $35 MSRP that is perfect for the 114 proof. Its non-chill filtered.

Appearance: The bottle is the only thing we can complain about. Brown with a screw top hiding the beautiful golden honey whiskey inside.

Nose: Mint, caramel, nutmeg and Christmas fruit cake. The sweetness lets you know it’s a rye.

Palate: Buttery with some sweetness and drying on the back end. It presents itself as a lower proof whiskey. A tad bit of nuttiness shows up on the mid. A slight hint of oak and leather along with that fruit cake. Little to no spice.

Finish: Medium with a light Kentucky Hug.

Overall: This is certainly a buy for both of us and is perfect for almost any cocktail. We would suggest you add both “The Olds” to your bar. Cheers

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Sagamore Spirit 6 Year Rye Review

Sagamore Spirit has the goal of reviving rye production in Maryland. Yes, I did say Maryland. At one point, Maryland was a significant producer of whiskey in the US, with the majority of that whiskey being rye. However, rye in general began its demise in the mid 20th century and Maryland Rye soon all but ceased to exist. Until now.

The post Sagamore Spirit 6 Year Rye Review appeared first on Bourbon Obsessed℠ .

Sagamore Spirit Rye
Barrel Select
Aged 6 Years
110 Proof
$68.99

Please enjoy my Sagamore Spirit 6 Year Rye Review!

Sagamore Spirit Rye Is Maryland Rye

Sagamore Spirit has the goal of reviving rye production in Maryland. Yes, I did say Maryland. At one point, Maryland was a significant producer of whiskey in the US, with the majority of that whiskey being rye. However, rye whiskey began its demise in the mid 20th century and Maryland Rye soon essentially ceased to exist. That is, until now.

Sagamore Spirit’s Unique Method

The folks at Sagamore Spirit use a unique method for making their rye. While they are currently distilling rye whiskey using Maryland grains, their earlier ryes are of a different origin. MGP, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, originally distilled Sagamore’s two different rye mash bills; one consisting almost entirely of rye, and the other with a much lower rye percentage, down near the legal limit of 51%. For the latter, corn makes up the remainder of the mash bill. Both mash bills also contain a small amount of malted barley. Sagmore then blends the ryes made from these two mash bills together to achieve the desired flavor profile. The ryes are then proofed down using water from a spring fed by a limestone aquifer on Sagamore Farm, which is located about 26 miles from the distillery. This spring water is transported to the distillery in tankers and stored on-site.

This particular Sagamore Spirit 6 Year Rye is aged 6 years and was selected by the folks at Total Wine in Knoxville, TN. It was distilled at MGP.

Tasting Notes

Let’s taste it:

Rested for 15 minutes in a Glencairn

Nose: Cherry, apple, orange peel, rye seeds, cloves, cedar, brown sugar; relatively mild alcohol for the proof
Taste: Citrus, simple syrup sweetness, oak, caramel
Finish: Citrus and oak continue, with oak rising to the top where it is joined by black pepper spice and some char. Long finish with a moderate burn.

Summary

This Sagamore Spirit 6 Year Rye took me a bit by surprise. I don’t expect as much spice and “bite” in a Maryland style rye as I would in a typical MGP 95/5 rye, so no surprises there. What I wasn’t expecting was all the fruit in the nose. However, it blended together quite well with the other flavors. The level of citrus also made me take note. It too goes perfectly with the other flavors. It was just a bit more than I was expecting given the combined mash bills. I have been a fan of Sagamore Spirit Ryes ever since we first visited them back in 2019, and this one is quite enjoyable as well.

I hope you enjoyed my Sagamore Spirit 6 Year Rye Review! If you would like to learn about a few more Sagamore Spirit Ryes, check out our Sagamore Spirit Tequila Finish Rye Review, our Sagamore Spirit Calvados Finish Rye Review and our Sagamore Spirit Manhattan Finish Rye Review!

Would you like to learn more about distilleries and bourbon? Are you planning a trip to Kentucky Distilleries? Maybe you would like to live the bourbon life vicariously through us? If any of these are true, then check out BourbonObsessed.com today!

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LAWS Whiskey House 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience

Seve…

Three Bottles of whiskey from LAWS Whiskey House

Seven months ago, I reviewed two bottles of Bourbon created by LAWS Whiskey House out of Denver, CO. One was a store pick of their bourbon and the other was a two-year-old version of their standard release bourbon that was included in the LAWS 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience. I said in that post “I’m going to just focus on the two Bourbons tonight and leave the rest for another day.” Well after seven months, that day has come. And while I encourage you to go back and read that post, I’m just going to post the tasting notes of the Bourbon below so that they are all in the same place.

LAWS Whiskey House uses local ingredients in its whiskeys. This package looks to have been created to show off that fact. It contains a Straight Malt Whiskey, a Straight Rye, and a Straight Wheat Whiskey along with a Bourbon that uses all three. According to the side of the box, the distillery is in Denver and all of their grains and water come from within four hours drive of the distillery. The corn is Homestead Corn sourced from Whiskey Sisters Supply near Burlington, CO. The other grains (San Luis Valley™ Rye, Centennial™ Wheat, and Henry Road™ Barley Malt) are sourced from Cody Family Farms near Alamosa, CO. How’s that for transparency?

One thing to keep in mind is that this tasting set has all the whiskeys age stated as “aged at least 2 years.” It looks as if the current releases of these products are currently three years old so there will probably be differences in tasting notes between the two releases. With that said, let’s jump right in.

LAWS Whiskey House 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience

Purchase Info: $34.98 for a multi-pack of four 100mL bottles of their core whiskey line at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.37

Details: 47.5% ABV. "Aged At Least 2 Years."

LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Straight Bourbon (Originally published 7/13/21)

Nose: Dried Grain and maple.

Mouth: Cinnamon spice, dried grain, mint, applesauce, and black tea.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Notes of dried grain and wintergreen.

IMAGE: A Neutral face because I don't hate this, but I don't like it either.

Thoughts: This doesn't really do it for me. I'm getting better with well-constructed grain-forward bourbons, but this takes grain-forward to an extreme. I've eaten dried cereal grains before, and while it isn't an unpleasant experience, it isn't something I am looking to do for fun. This tastes like that did. Nice, clean grain flavors, but not something I am looking to have more of. Now, from what I understand, they are trying to showcase their locally sourced heirloom grains with this product. They did that very well, it just isn’t for me. But it might be something to check out if that idea appeals to you.

LAWS Whiskey House Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey

Nose: Spearmint, cinnamon candies, a hint of dried grain.

Mouth: Nice spicy cinnamon notes along with almond and honey.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of dried grain, cinnamon, and candied fruit.

Thoughts: I like this one. Probably not enough to buy a full bottle, but I certainly don't regret letting it into my house. It tastes more mature than the bourbons did. As such I like it better than I did the bourbon. The dried grain notes are clean and not overpowering when they are present. Yep. Pretty darn tasty.

LAWS Whiskey House San Luis Valley Straight Rye whiskey

Nose: Cedar, cinnamon, ginger, sandlewood.

Mouth: Follows the nose. Spicy with ginger, cinnamon, mint and cedar.

Finish: Medium length. Notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, and dried grain.

IMAGE: A smile because this is really tasty.

Thoughts: This is really good. Kinda wish I'd have bought a full bottle of this when I had the opportunity. I might have to remedy that if next time I travel through a state that distributes it. The only hint that this whiskey is only two years old is on the finish. It shows some dried grain notes at that point, but not before. Overall it's a good, if young, rye whiskey.

LAWS Whiskey House Henry Road Straight Malt Whiskey

Nose: Cooked cereal grains.

Mouth: Dried hay, butterscotch, and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length. Strong notes of butterscotch and cinnamon.

IMAGE: A frown because I did not like this.

Thoughts: This one is quite a bit too grain-forward for me. I don't like it at all, but I also have a known bias against malt whiskeys so take that how you will. On top of that, I’m not a huge butterscotch fan. So I guess it just hit all the wrong notes for me. Overall, I am just not a fan of this. Doesn’t mean you won’t be though if those are notes that appeal to you.

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye (2019)

It’s been well over two years since I last reviewed Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye. If you’re finding that hard to believe, I’m right there with you. There was no conscious decision; I haven’t intentionally avoided it. I suppose the introduction o…

The post Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye (2019) appeared first on Rare Bird 101.

Happy Hour Live with the “Off Track with Hinch & Rossi” Gang (Episode 924: February 10, 2022)

Time for our annual visit with the guys from “Off Track with Hinch & Rossi” podcast for a virtual whiskey tasting session. IndyCar veterans Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe joined us for the #HappyHourLive webcast, along with producer Tim Durham and their special guest, Marco Andretti. We tasted the Heaven’s Door Redbreast Edition Bourbon, the Dickel/Leopold Bros. Rye collaboration, Redwood Empire’s Lost Monarch, and the Crown Royal Noble Collection Winter Wheat edition. Join us for our live webcasts every Friday night at 5:00pm New York time on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch. Links: Heaven’s Door | George Read More »

Time for our annual visit with the guys from “Off Track with Hinch & Rossi” podcast for a virtual whiskey tasting session. IndyCar veterans Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe joined us for the #HappyHourLive webcast, along with producer Tim Durham and their special guest, Marco Andretti. We tasted the Heaven’s Door Redbreast Edition Bourbon, the Dickel/Leopold Bros. Rye collaboration, Redwood Empire’s Lost Monarch, and the Crown Royal Noble Collection Winter Wheat edition. Join us for our live webcasts every Friday night at 5:00pm New York time on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch.

Download

Links: Heaven’s Door | George Dickel | Leopold Bros. Distilling | Redwood Empire | Crown Royal

Redwood Empire Rocket Top California Rye Whiskey Review

Named after a 2,000-year-0ld, 365 foot tall, redwood, the Redwood Empire Rocket Top California Rye Whiskey is the distillery’s bottled-in-bond rye offering. This bonded rye is made from an 87% rye mash making it a super-high rye while also making it a more unique mash than the all-too-familiar 95/5 we see so many distilleries copying. […]

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Redwood Empire Rocket Top California Rye Whiskey Review

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good MGP 95/5. The warm, spicy, dilly profile is awesome and it’s absurdly versatile as an excellent cocktail ingredient and a sipper. But I don’t want to try everyone’s attempt at it. I want originality and personality and at least in the specs, this one has both.

Let’s get to drinkin’!