Tastes

Not much to go by on this one for comparative reviews, so I took a chance at BevMo here in San Diego and bought one. Apparently BevMo purchased a Barrell, put their name on it along with Catoctin, that was a mistake, sorry, at $80 I'll be nice and empathetically say, NO!

Was at Costco and found a few bottles of this on the shelf, nothing else there peaked my interest so went into this with a why not? That said, absolutely a wonderful product, couldn't have been more taken back by the quality of this 19yr, very smooth with a low ethanol hit that had excellent mid to upper mid tasting notes of carmel/ toffee and vanilla just as described on the box , I felt more of a dried fruit in taste as well as the nose, at $49.95 I have to go back and get more, that's a steal at that price in todays market, for what this offered.

Not really sure what to say here about this one, I have a fairly decent sized collection of what I feel is some of the better Whiskey's you can get. What really sets this one apart from the rest is the fact that when I want something different from what I have, this is a solid "never disappoints", maybe it's the Rum cask finish, not sure, but if you do happen across this at a decent $$ (Costco for me) you will in no way be left with a buyers remorse purchase here, you'll find yourself dipping into this Bottle more than you thought.

"Great for Whiskey Sour's", but as a sipper in the evening on it's own, nope, not going to happen. On a personal note, this bottle is not alone when it comes to over saturating the market right now in the bottling of Rye/Bourbon's in the market place, over production with mediocre product just to turn a buck. Sorry, but this stuff to is much $$, for a market loaded with Rye's that are far better.

As a Bourbon/Rye guy that sometimes finds his way into neighborhoods he isn't familiar with (Scotch) but knows just enough to get around, I can honestly say, this stuff delivers. From nose to palate, your blasted with a fantastic taste that is impressive clear to the finish, if available, get it, absolutely nothing here that can disappoint anybody with this one.

This caught me off guard, great nose as well as palate, right up there with the best of them. The heat on this was intense, really intense, but here is the problem, the finish was sublime, mediocre at best, very little complexity to it, I really really wanted it to slap me in the face at the end, but it didn't.

Solid stuff! Was taken back by it's ability to hold it's own against other formidable Ryes out there. Found 4 on shelf and proceeded to buy 2 here in San Diego at a local Beverage chain, took a chance, knew if I went back for another they would be gone regardless if it was good or not. No buyer remorse here whatsoever, hits fairly strong at first on all notes with palate as well as finish, but tapers real fast to zero, not chewy at all, but thats ok, bang for the buck this stuff delivers!

The reason for 5 stars is because of the low budget potential this offers. Bigtime wake up with a touch of water, you will be hard pressed to find this type of flavor with the other high dollar players in the whiskey market, pour-it water-it rest-it, your palate will thank you.