Amazing rye hit then alcohol takes over. Like most whistle pigs but the rye hit is harder.

It’s December 18, and I’m going to try a new rye whiskey every day this month. And while my rye game is not as weak as my Scotch game was this time last year, I’m always up for suggestions on good rye whiskies. And now that I have goals (it’s good to have goals), there are some key players I could use your help finding. Send me your most intense contender. Goals (abridged): 5 ryes. 4.5 stars. Readily available. (3/5: WT101, Whistlepig 10, Whistlepig 12) I want to recognize the difference between any bourbon and any rye. First try. One of these must be an Empire Rye. I want a rye that makes you cuss. I want the one that tastes like spilling your first 2 ounce pour all over the carpet. I wish I were making this up. I could do the math on the exact dollar amount that is now a carpet stain. I will not. >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<< Huh. For starters, I had to treat my mouth to be able to taste anything. Seriously. I had to eat something salty, rinse with water, then do a “Kentucky chew” with WT 101. Only then was my palate ready for the absurdly muted flavors in this rye. That said: Nose is lemon, flowers. Orange maybe. Body is watermelon. Lemon returns. It’s juicy. There’s vanilla. Cake batter. I can get apple. I could see cherry. Strawberry? It’s kind of all over the place depending where you hold it and how long you let it sit, but fruity and juicy seem to be the themes. Not overly sweet. Not oily. Extremely well balanced on the mouth feel. Finish is the gentlest finish I’ve tasted this month. It almost tastes nonalcoholic. The vanilla and strawberry stay with you, very briefly. Huh. When I was a high school teacher, whenever I made an exploitable classroom policy (no matter how well-intentioned) one of my students would exploit it by the end of the year. It was usually a ninth grader. That is what this whiskey is doing to me right now. I make it a point to very minimally factor in price when it comes to rating, but that doesn’t work here. This whiskey broke my rating scale. It’s too good and well crafted to be a 3.5 whiskey by my rubric. It’s really tasty. Genuinely enjoyable. I keep trying to say things like that out loud to make me feel justified in buying this, and it’s not working. Don’t buy this. Ever. But… you should try it. Because it’s really good. So find a friend that made the same mistake I did and mooch. That’s my recommendation. You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll get to watch your friend be disappointed. Win-win.

Wetter with a drop but still just ok