Bone Snapper Rye Whiskey Single Barrel

Single barrel Store pick from Pitch restaurant, Scottsdale AZ. 100.6% ABV, aged 9 yrs 11 months. As a fan of Bonesnapper X-ray, I’m intrigued. Nose brings everything I’m looking for in a rye; poppyseed muffin, lemongrass, caraway seed, snickerdoodle cookie, mint, thyme, and dusty oak. Ethanol is pleasantly low. Palate matches the nose precisely. Simply refer to the above. Flavors are well rounded and integrated, with no one element overpowering. Delicious. Finish is tasty but oddly short with lemon zest, white pepper, and peppermint. Some residual sweetness from the palate keeps it from becoming jarring. Mouthfeel is full bodied and oily as hell, which really elevates this to the next level. I’m going to be honest; I normally like my ryes 110+ proof and I want them to punch me in the face. This is more of a soft caress. But for a mid proof rye, there’s a lot to like here. Not only does it not have any major flaws, it borders on superior. I paid $90 for this and given the age statement that seems pretty fair. There’s only one small problem: I can get the bolder, higher proof X-Ray for $54 and frankly that’s exactly what I will do in the future. That said, this far from sucks.

Nice watch photo, genius. Barrel pick from The Party Source Barreled date: SEP2014 Bottled date: NOV2021 Age in months: 86 Bottle number: 133 out of 147 Proof: 119.8 ABV: 59.9% Okay, wow, this really sounds like a unicorn right up front. This little ghost distillery has been popping up a lot (for me) lately, and although I've only had a barrel pick of their Backbone bourbon, I was still a very large fan of that to begin with, so this rye excites me even more. An absolutely fantastic start of 7+ years of age here, which is a really healthy amount for a rye whiskey versus what would normally be around the bare minimum desire for a bourbon. It makes me wonder when the distillery would normally offer up barrels of Bone Snapper for barrel picks, and/or if The Party Source had this barrel in mind for a long time, or if they chose this one for other reasons, where there may have been even longer aged barrels to choose from. Either way, with proof, age, and a delicious 95% rye mash bill checked off, let's waste no time. Truly a lovely color that almost imparts a copper-scarlet hue throughout, much of which coming from a good time in the barrel, but also is a good prediction that heavy char levels were picked for those barrels, and here's hoping. Classic cinnamon, mint, grass, and freshly cracked rye scents join together with a fairly prominent sweet vanilla, spiced oak, and, from somewhere, citrus peels. There's nothing on the nose that's out of the ordinary, although not to say that these classic notes aren't outstanding, especially with the ethanol present but not burning out the nostrils. The first taste is actually not that impressive, truly being used as an acclimation. Before tasting any specific flavors, I notice the whiskey tastes "warm," despite it being slightly below room temperature, where this is normally a felt observation for rye whiskey involving the gums. It takes a good beat, but light cinnamon does become the first tasted note. This is underwhelming at first, until an explosion of spicy, minty grass transforms the mouth, spicing up tongue, gums, and even teeth like a fuel air bomb. This obviously creates a very hot, sticky finish (my favorite kind of finish), but it really seems like this is all from a good batch of fresh rye rather than the proof. I would definitely recommend this never be used in cocktails; the base flavors are too weak to make a noticeable statement, and the finish would either overpower or underpower other ingredients in said cocktail. However, this is only moderately enjoyable neat, and really only due to the finish. I know for a fact that adding a few drops of quality water would transform this in all the right ways, and although I do not officially rate modified spirits, I'm very much excited to pour another glass like this. I will do my best to keep an eye on this distillery for future products, since their flagship bourbon and rye whiskey hit and improve upon classic flavor profiles and expectations.