Willett Family Estate Small Batch Rye 4 Year
Rye
Willett // Kentucky, USA
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jseigler
Reviewed October 23, 2020 (edited September 30, 2021)When i feed this to friends, they light up and immediately ask “what IS this?!” One of my all time faves at any price. Autumnal smokey cinnamon, pepper, currants, sometimes bursts of black cherry. -
Sonic8222
Reviewed October 23, 2020 (edited February 17, 2021)Was able to locate this today for a decent price. I've seen it around here and there, inflated to hell, but have been wanting another good rye lately, so it seemed fair. I remember trying this at the distillery (although I don't know if it was the 4 year or otherwise) and it being a good rye representation. For the life of me, I don't understand why it's regarded as such a rarity (other than the fact that people cream over any whiskey that begins with the letter "W"), but maybe I'll get to find out a sliver of why in the next few minutes. I'm loving the color on this one, but disappointed that the cask proof is only 105. (Has cask strength simply been getting nerfed over the years? A shame that that's blindly accepted.) Bright grain spice, good mint and cinnamon, and a bit of something sour as a surprise guest. The scent easily showcases a young spirit, although I've found 4+ year old rye whiskeys to start hitting sweet spots, whereas bourbon takes much longer. This has such a strong malt character, more so than any other rye whiskey I've ever had. In fact, the beginning of the taste is barrel (vanilla, caramel) flavor, but as soon as air is introduced, Scotch levels of malt shine through, along with the expected rye spice and burn. The finish is long in both of the above regards, which is not fun, because the longer the malt lasts, the more out of place it seems. I think I have an idea on why this is rare and highly regarded now. With the label, bottle shape, and malty character, this is a whiskey that is trying to appeal to all markets; something a Scotch lover could easily show off the same as a bourbon or rye goer. For me, this is not a good example of what I think a good rye whiskey is. Distiller thinks this tastes and drinks like a whiskey 3 times the cost; I think the price is too high even for MSRP, and the hype convinces others that a high price means good whiskey, which has never, ever been the case. Rare ≠ good. -
pnewsie324
Reviewed October 21, 2020 (edited November 18, 2020)Cinnamon and spiceMedford Wine & Spirits
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