Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Rye

Nose is fruitcake, spruce and mint. The longer it sits, the sweeter it noses and smells like Christmas! The palate is spicy pepper, Wild Turkey Dust/Must, sour apple and mint. Finish is pretty good with more Turkey Dust, tobacco, pine and mint. Darn good rye for the money!

Nose is sweet, with honey and spice doing the heavy lifting. On the palate, that sweetness quickly gives way to spice from the rye and an interesting sour note I can’t quite place my finger on. It doesn’t stick around with you long, with a short but pleasant finish.

This is my first ever rye - at least since I've been paying attention enough to rate something. It's different that anything I've had before. Assuming this rye is like others, I finally get why the bottle is green. There is so much pine and spearmint in this rye that it is incredible. And this is only a barely legal rye from what I understand. The nose is subdued, fresh and clean. It is almost exclusively spearmint and pine as previously noted. The palate is similar at first, but if you let it sit in your mouth, it just builds and builds. All of a sudden, in addition to the spearmint and pine, you start to get white sugar. Then spice. Then strong pepper. And it just goes on and on, tingly and wonderful. After it's all said and done I can get mint tea. This is unlike anything I've tasted before, but again I have hardly had any ryes. But I love this because it is so different than the scotches and bourbons I've tried, and it's even different from what I thought rye was - super spicy. I mean, there is spice, but the green notes and the gentle nature of this just take me by surprise. Maybe others with more experience with rye won't be as shocked as I am, but it really is unique to me - at least until I get my hands on a Pikesville which I hear is as good or better than this. Wonderful stuff, recommended.

Advent calendar blind, day 3. Fruity notes of cherry, oak and Wild Turkey funk. Sweeter than expected for rye.