Tastes

The past few weekshave been tougher than usual and I’ve been thinking a lot about the elders from my younger years. When I was a kid I’d watch the old-timers gathering together, playing cards, and just all around partying. As the evening would progress the drinks would become scarcer, the music would get louder, and suddenly that guy that didn’t drink white had no problem taking sips out of Uncle Paul’s bottle of Burnett’s gin. At some point that hour were the state store would close, but the after-hours spot hadn’t open yet would hit and I’d watch them taking the church windows out of each bottle and filling up an empty pint of E&J. The old-timers called this drinking Harry Buffalo. Of course having tried many of the “components” that made up this special potion individually and hating them, I would often say to my cousin “These jokers have to be crazy mixing all that nasty liqour. I want a beer!” Little did my all-of-nine-year-old-self know that nearly forty years later I’d be mixing the bottoms of my favorite pours into empty OF 1920 bottles and sharing them with my friends. At least “Infinity Bottle” sounds better though, right? Anyways, I know you’re here for the juice review and not the history lesson, but it comes full circle I promise. See todays thoughts are on Remus Repeal Reserve V, a medley of five batches of Rye from 2005, 2006, and 2008. My guy MH stopped by to bird watch so I decided to bring out the RRRV for a FCF. With the first breath of aroma from the g-glass, the oak tells tales of years of feasting on cherries, vanilla, and toffee before being toasted to a char that I would guess is somewhere just south of a level 3. The oak is strong but not over powering. More telling is the familiar hint of cordials that I often get off rye. Similar to the Seagrass pour, I’d be happy just breathing this one in for a night. On the palate the oak repeats those same feast tales, this time including flavors of over ripened pears that have just begun to ferment. It’s remarkably smooth on the tongue and at 100p doesn’t error out your mouths thermistors like that of a Nulu Rye….but that’s up top. By the time the sip has passed your epiglottis the oak is screaming through a bullhorn “I am a Rye! Damon. I am a Rye!”. The burn is short lived and you’re left with a thick residual taste reminiscent of a Sangiovese or Malbec. Subsequent sips are rinse and repeat. Each time rewarding the pleasant palate dump with an incipient burn that fades quickly but leaves slowly. I hit the golf range after MH left and an hour later the flavor profiles were still alive and kicking. The RRRV juice is nothing short of amazing to me. The stock has been masterfully blended in a manner that I’m confident this pour would win some blind tastings. I’d dare say if this juice sported a fancier distillery name or got more exposure, it would easily fetch two or three times the suggested retail. But the whole it’s from Kansas and not Kentucky thing might have some folks missing out. For me, the MGP take on some Harry Buff….errr an Infinity Bottle, is pretty damn tasty. Full of flavor, swimming in character, and retailing for less than a Benji, this one is a stocker. If only I could share a pour with those old-timers 😔. MH thanks for stopping through. Cheers to Life & the weekend 🥃. -That Rye Guy. ✌🏾

Summer is coming and I’ve been waiting to perform my annual ritual of a banana split in a cup from the Apple Cart. If we base it off first time tried, cherry dipped cones originated at the AC, but Summer has not started until I get that chocolate syrup, peanut, vanilla, pineapple, banana, strawberry, and cherry goodness that I’ve celebrated every year since the 80’s. ….oh Sunday can’t come soon enough! They haven’t updated their marketing or menu at least since ‘96, and new flavors just get added as a post-it note. I guess it’s true that good product doesn’t need to be fancy or change and that’s what this Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof is (we’ll just call it One-Eyed Jack)……great product in a not-so fancy package. I’ve selfishly been sipping this one in silence for months. Not for fear it will disappear once people realize how good the juice is, but because I really am amazed at what Jack has done with this pour…..and at a price well below a Benji. This is barrel #21-00190 Freshly poured OEJ doesn’t try to hide its high proof of 127.8p. The nose truly gives all the aforementioned characteristics of a banana split sans the pineapple. I let the g-glass sit for 15 minutes to breathe and was pleasantly greeted again by those profiles but this time they brought a friend. I can’t quite describe it but it’s a profile that falls somewhere between that of Disaronno and almond extract oil. Not overly bearing but definitely noticeable. On the tongue the first sip co-signs on all of the pleasant BS profiles picked up on the sniff…that lasts for about 3 seconds, before it feels like you’ve been put into a guillotine by Khabib….all you can do is think to yourself “…I…need…wa..ta.” But we’re whiskey sippers right?…F’ that water let’s take another sip!!….I’m confident I’m not the only one that’s done that with some brown water and been punished handedly for our foolishness…OEJ rewards us immensely. I was at a vineyard one time and the owner said it’s best to rinse your mouth with wine instead of water during tastings, so you don’t kill your taste. Thought it was odd but it worked that day and I’m finding it works with some bourbons. Subsequent sips of the OEJ replenishes the full Apple Cart experience of summer…albeit with a warm amaretto finish in the chest. This bourbon is an open secret that will always have a place in my cabinet. It sells at retail, doesn’t come with any fervor or lawn chairs, and is a damn fine summer starter. I sip this one in a highball over a football on hot days to stay cool, and prefer it neat in the g-man on chilly nights. Cheers to the weekend✌🏾.

Long week already and it’s only Monday. On the nose it smells like a fresh band-aid that’s been sitting in a cedar chest. On the tongue I initially think of black licorice or jelly beans that quickly fades to wtf!!...Who put pepper on my toast? At first sip I was ready to pour it in the toilet. I added four drops and let it sit for about 20 minutes......Oh baby!! For four years old this juice has personality. I get a finish of black berries and caramel. The water really opened it up. Rye whiskey isn’t my go to but this would def be one of my first grabs if found for under $50. Cheers to a prosperous week to you all.

Alright man. Right out the gate I want to apologize to the brethren of anything rye. I’ve heard the talk of if you find the right rye, you’ll want to explore beyond majority corn mashes. That Willet 4 year didn’t convince me of that at all, although I will try it again soon. I took it on faith to try WTRB rye and surprisingly I’m probably down a third of a bottle due to pretty much what I said in my thoughts on it, that shits good! So then my guy Mark Pringle says AE Rye is worth the ticket....and here we are. Me apologizing to the BOARs for doubting that there are some damn nice ryes to be had. At first whiff I damn near shed a tear. The scent took me back to the days when my Granny would pull those toffees in the green, blue, pink, and brown foil wrappers out of her purse. The rum flavored ones were my bag. I’d trade my Charlie Chan’s for those joints😩. Anyways. I’d like to say that I let it sit for like 20 minutes but reality is I just kept picking up my glass and taking in the nostalgia. The first sip made me forget all about that damn toffee. Initial thought was this is not 100 proof!! The WTRB didn’t hit like this at 112....AE may have tricked the scales but her ring size tonight is surely bantamweight. That was the first sip.....Stay with me here....it does this weird like original listerine in your mouth for 60 seconds things....to where it’s like 3am and you just took another bite out of your pecan stack dripped in extra syrup. This right here.....this is what I image as that “$300 a glass shit ” Roger was drinking in Training Day when Jake first realized curbs are for those that don’t belong in the streets. Oh I’m sorry BOARs, you were right... I could do this as an every day all day sipper, if it could be found as easily as 1920... Hints and scents of rum toffee, maple syrup, coriander, and maybe not listerene but definitely juice that starts off hotter than 100p but mellows out really well. Mark said it’s worth the ticket....I 💯 concur...regardless of what that ticket is... If you like pancakes & syrup you’ll like this. I bought some new ryes today to try out. I apologize for doubting. Who y’all got in this Usman - Masvidal fight? ✌🏾

Good day fine folks. Hope that your week is progressing nicely and that this message finds you in good spirit and health. The draft kicks off tomorrow right here in the home of the 2022 Super Bowl Champions. What better way to kick off the festivities than with some juice straight out of Heaven.....cause that’s exactly where I’ll be if the squad does at least as good as last season. Today we try Heavens Door rye. On the nose this one doesn’t give many clues on what to expect from the sip. I catch a few notes that are reminiscent of the apple juice that comes in the glass jar with the white top, and alcohol. Other than that she goes full on Marshawn Lynch.....Any spices in there?, “Apple juice.” Any char, any fruit?, “Apple juice.” Any hint of vanilla?, “You know why I’m here....apple juice.” And that’s about it for the nose. I seriously had to go sniff a bottle of Howler Head to make sure my schnoz wasn’t broken. Unlike the AE rye, the Seagrass, or even the bandaid bandit, that I got hate mail for, this one just doesn’t bring the aroma. While the nose pretends as though the big game isn’t important, the sip goes full on Beast Mode. It starts out on the 1-yard line with a bit of an ash or charcoal taste that I’m assuming is from the rye. A quick stiff-arm and the taste of peanut butter dipped apples rushes into the secondary for a first down. Will the result change on the second or third play? Nope. There it is again. Stiff-arm, head down and more peanut butter apples that truck over your taste buds with an excellent block from Mr Rye, first and goal. Whatcha gonna do now HD? Bring on the spice? Bring in some sweetness? Burn em with a flea flicker like Carroll in 49? Nope....Same play, same result.....well at least for the Heavens Door rye, not the Seahawks. Absolutely nothing changed for me in either aroma or taste, despite letting it sit in the G-glass for 30 minutes, or drinking half the bottle. Just that same clean charcoal to PB&A boringness that at 92p gives no burn and makes this one a decent sipper and probably a better mixer. If your looking for no burn, modest sweetness in the form of thinned out apple juice, peanut butter, a bit of char, and IMO no real character, this one is for you. I got this one in a trilogy pack alongside their Double Barrel and Straight Bourbon offerings for $60. Making my little bottle of rye $20. Would I spend a Jackson on this in the future....no....not when I can grab a fifth of OF rye or EC rye for the same or not much more. IMO Carroll should have stuck to the script against the Goat. The folks over at HD should have drawn in an extra play or at least some additional character to get my bucks (no pun). 🥃 Happy Humpday. ✌🏾Go Dawgs.

After trying the Willet Rye earlier in the week I wanted to give another rye a go. Picked up Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye from the LLS and dropped two fingers into a Glencairn. As a bee keeper the very first note I pickup on the nose is that of freshly drawn wax comb. A nice buttery sweet scent that fades to a hint of vanilla followed by that tell tell smell of rye. I’ve said before that rye isn’t my go to but this could easily change my mind. On the tongue immediate spice. I can’t describe what happens next but it’s like a farmers market blend of apple, citrus, and pepper rushes in to put out the fire. This shit is good!! It’s at 112.2 proof but I think it drinks well below that....at least after the first few sips. I’ve yet to try the other two RB’s I have, and neither of those are rye, but if they come even close to this pour I’ll be a happy camper. Not a rye guy but damn if WTRB won’t be a staple in the cabinet. I really enjoy this first pour. Look forward to what she does over the next few weeks. Cheers to Friday-eve

Happy Sunday folks. Hope that you all are having a relaxing and invigorating day. I wanted to wrap up rye week tasting with some EHT rye. Harder to find at times than a holographic Charizard, and nearly as expensive once you do find it, I wanted to try this one last. Frankly I didn’t want to open it in the event the other ryes didn’t work well with my palate. Figured worse case I’d trade for something I do like if the earlier tastings went sideways or one just stood out so amazingly that I wouldn’t even want any other ryes. Once my glucose levels returned to normal from the AE rye I figured it was finally time to chop it up with the Colonel. The sniff is that of an apple pie fresh out of the fryer at the yellow arches. Hints of cinnamon, caramel, apples, and that puff pastry scent you find at the greasy-spoon spots that fry donuts along side the wings.....except somebody unwittingly sent Uncle June to grab the food. Now your friend or relative may be named differently but we all have that one person that you absolutely don’t send for food or drink because they always mess up the order. “Nephew, I know you gave me a Benji for that fancy water you drink, but man I got us two bottles of Old Crow and 60 cans of Hamms for the same price.” Yeah that one 😏. Well apparently Unc asked for black pepper on the pies, but I’m not mad at all. The pepper blends very well with the fruit and spice, and while it’s not as fragrant as the AE rye, I can already tell that this one is going to pack some character. First sip gives a generous burn on the tongue that transitions into the aforementioned apple, caramel, cinnamon, and pepper flavors with just a pinch of cloves. Much like eating a too hot pie, the burn ends but there’s this tingle that lingers on the tongue as a reminder that you should have let that pie cool or in this case that you’re drinking a rye. That’s when the citrus that Unc ordered finally presents itself. A faint but noticeable lemon kicker that reminds me of sorrel in a salad. Subsequent sips brought on additional flavors of rye, more cinnamon, a lighter caramel rather than the richer caramel flavor of the initial sip, and a subtle sweetness that falls just short of spring honey....all the while sending that reminder that you burned your tongue on that first bite....but damn is it worth. The AE rye is straight up syrup in a bottle and I can understand why it’s too sweet for some. Those that like the flavor profile but not all the sweetness will appreciate the EHT rye IMO. I didn’t run any water in this first tasting, and to be fair it’s fantastic neat, but I’ll probably add a couple of drops in the future to tame that initial bite just a bit. Plenty of flavor, not overly sweet, and a nose that I find pleasing. The Colonel rye retails for about $70 and roughly $50 more on the secondary....I’d gladly pay $100-120 again to keep this one around. May your glasses be filled with warmth and happiness. Enjoy the remainder of you day. ✌🏾

Today’s tasting is Barrell Seagrass rye. A cask strength rye aged in brandy & rum barrels. This one was late to the rye auditions, but was still allowed to show off her talent. From the first until the very last sniff this one is proud to have grown up on a fruit farm and takes every opportunity to let you know that she’s light and gentle, but much like the Wu, ain’t nuthing ta F’ wit. At 118.4p, jamming your nostrils into the G-glass will undoubtedly bring on phantosmia of rubbing alcohol poured over nectarines, pears, cling peaches, and apricot. It’s not unpleasant, it’s just strong, and IMO requires rim on the lip rather than nose in the glass to truly appreciate the aromatic blend. The first sip brings on the pepper right out the gate and is to be expected of a juice at this proof. The pepper seems to slowly ease its way from the throat and into the chest, where it does a cursory check of the respiratory system before taking up residency in the belly. Subsequent sips don’t even bother with the tongue-throat-chest exploration, Dr. Pep just rideshares to the front door of the gut and screams “honey I’m home!” It’s almost magical how you continue to get the pear, apple, peach, and apricot flavors without the burn up top, only to have 118p of lump coal do the beatbox challenge in your stomach. The beautiful thing is, the burn subsides after 20-30 seconds and your left with the most notable character, apricot. Age-yourself time Larry. Do you all remember the semi-dehydrated apricots Woolworth used to sell on the aisle across from the perky parakeets? Well that’s what drinking Seagrass reminds me of. Not only is the flavor there, but also that thick waxy chew that seems to coat the palate. I finished my glass and was still tasting apricots an hour later. The BS is not lacking in character one bit. Call me what you want but this one is a little too hot for me in a Glencairn. I added a couple of drops that did well to tame the burn somewhat, but kept the flavor intact. I think at 100p-105p this would be an excellent summer sipper. At 118p I’ll most likely run 3oz over an ice ball next time to balance out the heavier proof to that of the sweet, delectable fruit profiles that embodies the blend. I haven’t tried any of the other Barrell offerings but this rye blend has me curious to try some of their other juice. I had this one shipped in for under $100. Would I walk into the LLS and drop a Benji on this one......Yes!....but I’d do so knowing that I could step on it with half a cup of water to get to the 100p that I think this blend deserves, plus an extra 5 shots out of a fifth is never a bad thing. Barrell Seagrass rye cask strength...I’m eager to hear the BOARs thoughts on this one. Two thumbs up from me for tons of flavor, a color profile that perfectly fits those of the flavor profile, fruit salad galore.....did I say Apricots?... Oh and a jack hammer gut finish that leaves no doubt about its rye heritage. “Not a rye guy!!”.... I’m looking forward to what this does as the bottle get lower ☺️. Cheers 🥃 to all my fellow April babies. Enjoy your week everyone. ✌🏾

Peanuts and spice.