Willett Family Estate Small Batch Rye 4 Year

Nose: Green apple, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla Palate: Caramel, vanilla, black pepper, Finish: Vanilla, caramel, black pepper

I'm a devoted rye head and have been since before rye was on the upswing. I love that fruity-spicy combination that it can provide. The depth and breadth of flavors available in rye is only matched by the enormity of variation in barley malt whiskey... and even then... This isn't my first bottle of this whiskey. I was gifted a bottle of this expression several years back. I recall liking it, but not enough to re-up. A few cases sitting at my local Costco was too much of a temptation. Tasted here neat from a grappa copita as an adjunct to a black coffee. This is a favorite pairing of mine. On the nose its all classic rye notes. It's sweet with caramel, wood notes, hard candy (butterscotch and toffee), noughat, and black pepper. On the palate this is rich and creamy. I get Juicy Fruit gum, black pepper, wood tannins, creamy caramel, dill, grass and sweet cream. This is really easy to sip and is nicely complex. There's very little ethanol although this still has a punch. It's a rock in a velvet glove. It hides it 107+ proof extremely well without getting "in your face" like WTRBrye or KCSBrye is wont to do. Very good and a wonderful sipper, this makes a killer Manhattan when paired with a worthy vermouth. Vya sweet wasn't a good match, but my trusty Cocchi di Torino clicked into place easily. Carpano was a bit too over-the-top and the nature of this rye was lost. A Perfect Manhattan with a 50/50 of Dolin Dry and M&R sweet 2:1 with a couple dashes of Angostura was near perfect (see what I did there?) served up. All in all this is more a sipper than a cocktail rye. Nice in any application, it finds some very tough competition from the likes of Elijah Craig and Wild Turkey at substantially lower price points. I'm glad I bought the bottle, but i'm not sure I'll re-up with the plethora of aged ryes now coming on the market. At $55 this isn't a deal, but its a good bottle.

Oilly texture on with a large spicy, herbal, slightly minty note with shades of vanilla, oak, and minimal caramel. This is a nice rye whisky if you are trying rye for the second or third time. I would not try this as an intro to Rye by any means. If you have more experience with high rye bourbon, this whiskey to me turns down the bourbon and cranks up the heat and the spice. Cheers!

Sweet and spicy