Old Forester Rye

Still a go-to rye. Never disappoints.

Taste like rye whiskey

Rating: 15/23 N: I get the rye tartness, minerality, and some cherry. It actually reminds me faintly of an island scotch. Based on the nose alone, I expect that the rye is more than 51% and that the barley might also be a bit on the high side. I do get a waft of corn as well though. P: I am more confident that this is Old Forester than I am that it is rye (though I'm also pretty sure that it's rye). Like how I'm sure that the Knob Creek rye is Knob Creek (or at least Beam) when I taste it, I know that this is Old Forester. But more so. There's a lot of that same cherry from the Old Forester bourbon coming through. I get plenty of spices, with ginger being the biggest, along with pepper (white and black), then cloves and cinnamon coming in. It's a bit harsh, but not too bad. There's a bit of vanilla, but not too much. I do get that classic rye dill flavor though. The wood makes itself known without being overwhelming. Without being told, I'd guess that this is 4 to 6 years old. This is rich, full. and enjoyable with a decent complexity. I do get a bit of ethanol, but it blends into some menthol, so it kind of works. Also, this is 50% ABV, so some alcohol flavor is OK. F: The menthol, ethanol, spice, cherry, anise, and so forth remain. The harshness is more apparent here, but it isn't overwhelming. It's a decent, but unexciting finish. How did I get this for $21? It seems too good to be true for 50% ABV rye of this quality. This isn't amazing and it's a little rough around the edges for sipping, but I can enjoy it. It doesn't really have the usual rye qualities, but there is a substantial rye tartness and I enjoy it. It's sort of like a cleaner version of Old Forester Signature. There's less complexity, but less to complain about as well. I like that nice rye presence, but I wish that there was more of it. I think I might like this a little bit better than Old Forester Signature because it cleans up the odd funk on the palate with a clean rye flavor. I like the richness here better than the complexity in Jeam Beam Pre-Prohibition, but I like Russell's Reserve 6 better than this. Knob Creek Single Barrel Rye isn't quite as good because it's less complex and has less rye flavor. I get the clean, rye dill flavor (albeit reduced) that I want from George Dickel Rye (well, kind of just any MGP rye), but this doesn't taste as immature. I really enjoy this. It's definitely a quirky rye, but it's a good one. 14 is the lowest I could possibly go and I can imagine a 16. A 17 seems like a stretch, but a 15 seems believable. The more time that I spend contemplating this, the more convinced I am that it merits a 15, but I have spent a while waffling between a 15 and a 16. I just don't think it's as good as Russell's Reserve 6 though because it isn't as complex and you really need to like that Old Forester high barley (I sure hope I'm right about Old Forester using a high proportion of barley or I'm going to feel silly) profile. So I'm going with 15.