Castle & Key Restoration Rye 2020 (Batch 1)

Strong spice warmth, I taste raisins

This was brought over by a friend along with its sister bottle. Both were purchased directly from the distillery and picked up at the sinking castle itself despite the winding and icy roads. Batch 1 initially excited me with its higher proof. I believe this was bottle 3000-something. Labeled as 3 years I will say it’s youth is present from start to finish. The color is light golden. The nose is sparse and a bit undecided as to what it wants to get across. There’s a dose of green apple and caraway. No true vanilla, not much wood to speak of and honestly not much rye grain either. The palate is thin with... well, not much. Something like lemongrass leads to caraway and then a surge of candy cigarette sweetness and then... just gone. I don’t know what was paid for this but I’d be hard pressed to go over $18 if I had no idea that this was a flagship bottling from an upstart distillery down the road. Punch line - buy batch 2.

A lot of grain on the nose. Like freshly baked bread. Little sweetness too. Palate is bready too. Exactly what you’d expect from a rye, but it does those classic flavors well. Finish is shorter than you’d expect for the proof, but I wouldn’t call it short.

Very unique from the nose to the finish. Hints of grain, oats, toffee, chocolate, and earthiness come together nicely with a smooth but peppery finish.

Floral honey sweet.

👀 light gold 🤥brown cinnamon sugar, 🍊 orange peel. 👅pepper cinnamon bomb! A couple swirls and a chew gets you a sweet citrus coating. Nice silky coating! 🧠 It finished nice... not too long but not too short 😐. Leaves a sort of dry mouth feel like the one you get after eating a mouthful of almonds. 🏅This is Batch 1 and I really like it. For $50 (what I paid for it) it’s something I can really enjoy on a cold evening right before hitting the higher proofers. I am really excited to see this place age and find the sweet spot in the Rick house. For a 2-3 year product... I am impressed

Definitely a rye. Spice punch out of the gate and then a brief hint of leather and butterscotch before the spice returns for a peppery finish. Aged 3 years, but comes across as a bit younger. Not a lot of depth on the nose, in the coloring or on the palette. Decent, but not great. A good start for Castle & Key, but expect better going forward. (I do like the bottle.)