Bulleit 12 Year Rye (2019 Release)

Wonderful. A little thin, but certainly better than normal Bulleit Rye

Very smooth, not as spicy as I expected.

Excellent Rye. Nice flavor profile and finish

On the nose getting ginger, nutmeg, fresh cut lime, spun sugar, fennel, spearmint, and toffee. An unusual combination to say the least. On the palate, it opens with a generic kind of sugar cane sweetness followed by rye spice, nutmeg, ginger, a bit of vanilla, and prominent anise. White pepper, more anise, and lots of bitter oak on the finish which has has some pop to it and is medium in length. Mouthfeel is light and grainy. Despite being a little bit disjointed and chaotic, the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. Enjoyable, but not a top choice at this price point. Glad I tried it, but at $54 it falls a little short of rebuy status for me.

Nutmeg, a bit of clover, after a while even mint, and that's just the nose! Spicy, but not hot, herbal, but not medicinal. Simply superb.

It's 12 year old Bulleit Rye, (or MGP), it's the 95-5 bill, you would think this is the ultimate contender in the MGP 95 style rye, and you'ed probably be right. For me this is something of a deciding moment, I've been on the edge of the "pure rye" vs the high corn rye debate for some time, and it's a toughy. I like both for different reasons. First off, 12 year Bulleit rye is VERY good rye. The nose has a wonderful sweet rich purity to it, dill, caraway, pumpernickel whatever the "rye spice" is, it is certainly present in rich warm quantity. On the palate you get that hot spice bite that is trademark rye and while it's clearly strong it stays clean and pure. The extra barrel time yields an evident sweet wood note that is hardly or not at all noticeable in standard 3-6 year 95 ryes. Not quite a vanilla or caramel, it's more of a general sweetness. While it lacks some of the character and sweetness of the 3 grain ryes, that doesn't detract from the fact this is just some damn good and tasty rye. Being one of the priciest offerings in the line it at least lives up to some of that high expectation. What you won't get is an overly complex profile or any really unexpected notes, my assumption being that a 95-5 rye is simply incapable of undertaking some of the more serious barreling factors that create some of the more esoteric and elaborate notes in well aged bourbons. For all the extra aging this still tastes like 95-5 mgp rye. Thus the conundrum, is it really worth it to seek out and pay extra for a fairly acceptable and easy to find rye taste that's only marginally upgraded? That's for you to decide. Cheers!