Sagamore Spirit Straight Rye

Another bonus sample from the distillery tour team, this one coming by way of Telex. Sagamore Spirit Rye is a Maryland style rye composed of two different rye recipes, both of which are MGP distillates. It’s a NAS American whiskey but available info puts it at 2 years old. Bottled at 41.5% ABV. No word as to whether it is chill filtered or has colorant added, but I would suspect both are at play. The color is a medium amber. The nose is fairly restrained with vanilla and dill as the predominant notes. Rye spice, sweet corn, bubblegum and cotton candy. Wood stain/varnish, which I actually liked. Some dark cherries, caramel and butterscotch. A light but pleasant oak with a little barrel char. A little maple comes through after some time. Not too powerful due to the lower ABV and it comes off as youthful, but not overly so. The palate has a real lack of complexity. Rye spice and lots of dill, perhaps too much dill (at least for my tastes). Corn, vanilla, a little oak, and some herbal and earthy notes. Not much else really. It’s all quite subdued, again owing to the relatively low strength. A light bodied mouthfeel, somewhat thin and fairly dry. A short finish with corn, vanilla and oak. It’s an easy drinking whiskey, but probably best left for mixing in cocktails as it doesn’t have much power to it and the flavors are somewhat muted. At $50 I suppose the cost is par for the craft distillery course. Not bad for only being two years old though. I would be interested in revising this after a few more years in the barrel. A solid 3. Thanks again Telex for the sample Cheers

On the nose this has that inviting sweetness of many of the MGP whiskey's. On the palate the lack of an alcohol burn really lets you enjoy the flavors. You get that rye spice with the dill pickle note that is followed by a good sweetness. The Finish is not too long but it is enjoyable. I tasted this neat, but I could certainly see how it would be enjoyed in a Manhattan.