Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Straight Rye

My first rye was a great one!

A great rye.

Vanilla... egg nog spices on nose. Peppery finish. This is amazing rye. Definitely better on 2nd tasting.

For my 100th review milestone I've decided... ...to do nothing out of the ordinary. I simply picked the least full open bottle in my collection which happened to be this Col. EH Taylor Rye. It's priced on par with the Single Barrel bourbon, as opposed to the Small Batch, despite it being a (presumably) small batch rye. Considering it's roughly double the price of ryes I've previously owned, I'm hoping for a bit of extra oomph on this one. I love the EH Taylor bourbons, so here's to hoping the rye follows that trend. Nose: Baking spices, baking spices, baking spices. Clove, nutmeg, and black pepper. Woody, not just oak but also plywood. Big-time sawdust note. Some orange and some leather, with a tinge of caramel and vanilla. Relatively light at 100 proof, but still enjoyable. Palate: Spicy and oaky. Rye bread, and more of the clove, nutmeg, and black pepper, now accompanied by cinnamon. The vanilla and orange are now much more prominent, along with some nutty notes. Leather and caramel are an afterthought. More of a pine note than the classic rye note of dill. Interesting. It's complex and succeeds in diverging from the traditional rye profile, possibly due to an absence of corn in the mash bill. Finish: Best part of the whiskey. Immediately I get the classic BT black cherry. It's instantly replaced with black tea and dill. This is followed by a burst of oak, and then a flurry of baking spice notes. The nutmeg, clove, black pepper, cinnamon continue to roll in as waves of flavor. Somewhere a between moderate and long finish. And right before it's all over, I get just a hint of pistachio and vanilla. I'm left with the sensation of having had a cup of black tea. Great finish. And there you have, folks. At $80, I'll admit this is not the greatest bang for your buck. But it's also worth the price of admission. It's balanced, complex, and deviates from every other rye I've had to date--in a good way. It's completely different from its Buffalo Trace rye counterpart in Sazerac. Off of memory, it's the better of the two. Good from nose to palate and concludes with a kick-ass finish. Respectable proof, interesting mash-bill (I forget the percentages but it's only rye and malted barley). I'd say its worthy of its place in the lauded E.H. Taylor line. A high mark and a solid recommendation from me. Special thanks to everyone who has taken the time to check out these reviews! I appreciate the positivity and insight of the community here on Distiller. Here's to 100 and counting! Cheers!