Angel's Envy Rye Finished in Caribbean Rum Casks

Spicy rye with a sweet, funky finish. Recommended for Manhattan fans like me.

Lots of spice- rum and rye - on the nose. Smells sweet, with a maple buttery syrup note. A hint medicinal deep in the glass - in a good way. The palette is similar. Sweet and creamy and like dessert compared to the others in this lineup (more traditional pours). Very nice.

Lincoln Henderson, whose signature is at the top of every Angel's Envy bottle, was the Master Distiller at Brown-Forman for almost 40 years and is credited with creating Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack, and Jack Daniel's Single Barrel brands. He created Angel's Envy in 2006 and released the port barrel finished bourbon. Since then, the company has become a family run business. After Lincoln Henderson's passing, his son Wes has taken over the reins and in turn his sons, Kyle and Andrew, have also joined the company. Bacardi officially owns Angel's Envy now but chooses to let it operate independently. This bottle is labeled as batch "9I" and bottle 1483. There's very little information to be found that's current. Info from prior batches indicate that it is from MGP, 95% rye and 5% malted barley mashbill, aged 6 and 7 years. It's blended in batches of 8 to 12 barrels before being rebarreled in Caribbean rum casks and aged for up to 18 more months. Supposedly only 48,000 bottles are released annually and given how hard it was to find a bottle in Arizona, I would certainly believe that. Lots of sugar and cotton candy on the nose, along with vanilla, sugar cookies and a hint of grassy note. On the palate it's super sweet with maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses, and spun sugar. There's recognizable rye flavor of dill and cut grass towards the end but it's very faint. Finish is extremely long and sweet with the same flavors that are found on the nose and palate. Having had the chance to taste a few excellent aged rums, this whiskey actually reminds me more of those rums than rye whiskey. Perhaps that is due to the extended finishing time in those barrels (most finished whiskey spends only 6 weeks to maybe 6 months in the finishing barrels), but I for one am not complaining!