Tastes

One of the darker colored bourbons Ive seen, maybe because of the double oak process . Nose is licorice, leather ash and floral front, with hint of herbs. On the mouth , there's more herbs and spice than other bourbons, not unlike ryes, but with wood notes joining the choir. A bit harsh for just 43 proof, but complexity makes up for the roughness.

Perhaps the most "offensive" alcohol nose i have experienced. But the actual taste is surprisingly full of quality peat and smoke. It's still burny. But over quite pleasant and long lasting palate. The color of the liquid is surprisingly light though. Edit: after adding a few drops of water, this dram evolved. The oiliness started to show through, and the hotbess subsided a bit, allowing a pleasant sweet hint to manifest amongst the peat. Nice!

My second bottle of Rye after Knob Creek. They have similar nose of rye spice, caramel and dried fruits. The mouth of Rittenhouse has less spice, and come with hints of nuttiness and pickled citrus peel. Not the smoothest 50 abv I've tried because of the burn, but the overall flavour profile makes up for it, as does a few drops of water. Finish is surprisingly long and the citrus peel and pecan combination is decent.

The classic black I got is 43 abv. And definitely not bad for the price. It has everything a blended is expect to have, which means it is flat and nothing stands out, and can feel it's watered down. The finish although is simplistic, last quite long . For 14 dollars ? I'll definitely grab a bottle when I run out of daily sippers .

Take your favourite daily sipper like buffalo trace or Evan Williams. And water it down 30 percent and you get this. It has all the traits of a fine bourbon like vanilla, floral scent and caramel, but came out really thin.

Pleasantly surprised at the nutty chocolate nose, and decent palate resembling a typical blended whiskey at this price. The biggest problem with this bottle is its aftertaste which contains a noticeable unpleasant bitterness. But for the price I got this 1 litre bottle (15 USD), it's passable.

Flavour and nose wise, rare breed actually isn't too different from your standard bourbons like buffalo trace. But it brought the whole flavour profile a level above, and managed to prevent any of the flavour to feel over prominent. The proof is still a tad too high an burny for me though. Edit: give it a splash or two of water and it opens up even nicer. The floral and caramel essence burst is satisfying!