Tastes

Nose: sweet, subtle oak. The char sort of started coming through 20-30 mins in. The first 10-12 mins of rest the nose was almost all sweet. Palate: buttery, warm apple — nothing crazy complex Finish: hint of cinnamon/clove, subdued heat Rating: 8.25/10. Easy to see where WTRB gets its brethren flare. It’s a very sippable as-is neat bourbon from WT (which I haven’t seen in the wild in VA for almost 2 years now, as it’s become allocated).

Nose: rye and oak forward Palate: soft/smooth, honey/sweet with some notes of mint (maybe anise) Finish: lingering leather, grassy / rye I’d like to try it in a blind versus some other ryes and see how it compares.

Neat. Very fruity! First neck pour. Finish has lingering earthiness / anise. Also just getting over a cold so my palate is way off. Really enjoying this so far. I’ll give it an official review once I let it breathe a bit but so far this is an excellent rye and I’m loving the cask finishes.

Neat in a glen, rested for 10 mins because this came in really hot last time. Nose: fruity (maybe cherries), with mild oak and ethanol Palate: soft, buttery, semi-sweet, with a good bit of cinnamon-allspice Finish: faint heat, smoky The bottle’s profile has changed quite a bit since I last had it (for the better). Last time the smoke and heat dominated everything and I couldn’t pick any flavors out — and I think it was because of tastes with water/ice. Literally 2-3 drops changed it from pretty good to an indiscernible smoke show. No more water… and even then, I still genuinely prefer OF 1897 BiB over this.

Tasted neat in a glen, sat for 10. Nose: mostly oak/heat, bit of some sort of cereal grain (I can’t pick out) Palate: super smooth and subdued, velvety/oily texture; hint of cinnamon spice; it’s fairly sweet Finish: maple/brown sugar — stays sweet and very smooth for 114 pf for 4 yr. rye I’ll try next time with a drop of water and see if anything else opens up

This weekend is a celebration so figured, “what the hell?” Been trying got find OF (any year) in the wild in VA and no luck. Nose: very sweet — vanilla, frosting, caramel, honey Palate: smooth, sweet, bit of caramel apples Finish: has a touch of spice/kick (though that was after consuming a bit of smoked BBQ brisket / burnt ends, which may have brought out some spicer flavors) Wouldn’t seek it out again for other than MSRP, but still a very good bourbon 👍

Nose: smells semi-sweet, hint of spice there Palate is very smooth, sweet and clean (hardly any spice). Tasting some apples and caramel. Finish continues the sweetness, with virtually no heat. Ended up sipping this with a ribeye and it was awesome. Side note: bar tender let me sip their entire Whistlepig lineup for comparison which was awesome. Would gladly come back to this rye again.

Very thick and full viscosity — probably one the single most I’ve had so far to date. Fairly spicy throughout the palate into the finish. Nose: something lingering and sweet, with some oak Palate: front lip starts off very sweet almost like maple syrup, and with some rolling, leads into some strong notes of an alcohol infused banana, which I’ve never really come across. Finish is honestly pretty hot. But at 127.7 pf, I’m not really expecting a cool finish.

Nose: not picking up much aside some oak and ethanol Palate: Sweet, buttery, molasses/brown sugar (the end of the dram was a bit salty — which I really enjoyed) Finish: Faint burn, but never would have guessed the rye content or ABV Really high quality bourbon, would happily purchase again. Batch 138b (bottled 03/12/2022); 57.28 ABV

Tasted neat. Wow, what a super sweet palate (not a ton of complexity to that sweetness, or I just can’t make heads or tails of what it is). Wasn’t expecting its profile from a barrel proof / predominantly rye mash. Mouthfeel is fairly thin. Finish is really pleasant, with super mild heat (this batch is 106.9 ABV). My first taste from New Riff — I really enjoyed this as a sipper.