Winchester Small Batch Rye Whiskey

Rating: 10/23 N: Sweet in a sort of caramel and malty way, with a layer of spices that land on the herbal side. There is unfortunately a distinct layer of ethanol as well. It's not bad, but it isn't a good nose. P: Not as bold as I'd expected. Spicy and sweet with caramel that comes out a bit on the light side. Perhaps faint malt. Yeah, there's some malt coming in there with a hint of green banana as well. I get some ethanol and a hint of burning. Oh, that ethanol and burn are growing. This is not a good palate at all, though there are hints of good flavors in here. Barrel spices are the bigger flavor, but there are herbal spices too. F: The spice profile moves more toward herbal and hints of vanilla get added to the sweetness. Touches of clean water. A hint of that industrial ethanol flavor remains, but it's not too bad. Faint burning too. - Conclusion - This is bad. The flavor isn't as messy as that of The Sexton (9/23) though. The ethanol is worse though and there's a bit more of something industrial in it here. I don't see this being a 7 and I'm leaning away from an 8, but I think a 10 is the high end of what I'd give it. I'm leaning toward a 10 right now. Coming back to this, I briefly thought that this could be a 14, but the more I've been sipping it, I'm agreeing with my prior 10 and can even imagine lower. Sadly, this is the best of the Winchester whiskeys I've tried.

Leather and grass on the nose. Neat=Green apple skin and tabacco, dry grasses. Very different from their normal rye but not better, just different for my taste. A little ice and it's smooths out and tempers some of the bite. Better on the rocks or in a cocktail.