Johnnie Walker Select Casks Rye Cask Finish

N: The rye influence is surprising. Doesn't smell like JW - certainly wouldn't guess it blind. Toffee, caramel, green grain, ethanol, mint, herbal tea, medicine notes, some sweet corn. P: Does taste a bit like JW. Slightly fruity with toffee, caramel, buttered popcorn(?), vanilla, earth, pine, mint, green tea, oak, barrel spice, and a good biting heat. F: Hot cinnamon, chili pepper, rye grain, dried herbs, mint, some of that smooth JW profile wanders in, earth, tree bark, dried leaves, dash of stone fruit. Picked this up on a whim (with some helpful advice on the Discord from @Benji-Robert) while traveling and hitting up random stores. Scored a couple nice, old dusties on that trip. This was one of them. 10 Year JW (same age as Black, right?) aged in first fill American oak, then finished in ex-rye casks. This is what the new High Rye JW wishes it were. It's spicy, grainy, herbal, earthy - a lot of the things you get from a good rye whiskey. It's a lot less of a JW whisky, but the profile is there. It's interesting. I would buy it again if I came across it. My understanding is that these were released once, in 2016. Not 100% certain that's true, but the box the bottle was in sure looked like it had been on that shelf for 7 years. Quick searching online shows this is still fairly widely available, but I had never seen it or heard of it before. Well, if you like JW and you like rye (or maybe flip those around), and you happen across a bottle of this, it's a no-brainer. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord: https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will provide a new one.)

Nothing like a scotch at all but possibly a good entry into scotch for the bourbon drinker.