Tastes

Definitely more rye-forward compared to your standard bourbon, but overall pretty mild on the non-spicy flavor. Classic bourbon taste with vanilla, honey syrup, and a bit of barrel/barbecue smokiness. Pretty spicy, if short, finish, and very rye-forward on the nose. Not bad at all but for $45 its not a great value at its abv considering Eagle Rare, Knob Creek, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams SB, and Four Roses SB are cheaper than this.

Get dark fruit like raisins along with toffee and a bit of smoke. A little astringent, but pleasantly so. Not bad at all for the price.

Fantastic peated whiskey and one of my absolute favorites. Bonfires on the nose, with a nice undercurrent of malty sweetness beneath the iodine, peat, and smoky taste.

This is the second rye I've ever had, so I don't have much to compare this to, but I like it! On the nose I get the smell of rye bread, along with some star anise, vanilla, and wood. Tastewise, I get more rye, cereal, mint, pine, anise, and some vanilla sweetness. Finish is pretty cool with the mint notes. Nice change of pace when you're not in the mood for a sweet whiskey like bourbon or a speyside scotch, but I'm not sure how good a value this is compared to other ryes on the market. Update: My second glass of this a few days after my first had more muted flavors than it did the first time. Depending on how the flavor changes as I go through the bottle the score may go down a bit.

Fine as a mixer, not my favorite neat at all.

Really liked a glass of 10 year old I had at a bar once, and picked up a bottle of this since its so much cheaper in my area ($45 vs. $65 for the 10). Honestly, it's just as good, maybe even better than what I remember? The nose is sugar sweet and smokey. I get more smoke, salt, iodine, honey sweetness, pepper, and a slight vanilla flavor as well. The finish brings some chili pepper to the party, not too spicy but its definitely reminiscent of that flavor. The salt and smoke stick with you for a while. It's going to be very difficult to not keep drinking this.

Had a glass of this at a bar last night (ABC stores around here just don't carry it. :/) Nose is classic bourbon, vanilla and oak. Taste starts with vanilla and butterscotch before turning into apple juice and barrel spice. I get some mint or menthol kind of cooling feel on the back end. Felt kind of thin but tasty and not too sweet. My only real complaint is when ABC stores do carry it here, it's priced at only $5 less than Eagle Rare, and I'd rather pay that extra money for the ER.