Without a way to thread posts on Distiller I will point out that this is part of a series of posts regarding Bulleit, Wilderness Trail and James E. Pepper distillery tours. Back home in Lexington, we end our day along the river in the Distillery District of Lexington, KY that is so named thanks to James E. Pepper. The district is a wonderful string of patios along a river with overgrown trees and aromas of Goodfellas pizza fill the air. Parking sucks but welcome to Lexington. The tour, and their offerings are a bit slim. Long story short James E. Pepper inherited the initial distillery (that I believe might have become the grounds for Woodford Reserve) at age 15 and then failed as a business man. He later started over in Lexington using his family and financial status as a platform. Spoiler alert, he failed again. His ridiculously rich wife was able to help bail him out and together they built what, at the time, was one of the largest distilleries in KY. He would die an early death and she would continue to use her high-profile connections to sell their product as a premium, unadulterated product. If nothing else their claim to fame should be successfully suing the state of KY to allow a distillery to bottle its own product, something that by law had to be done my an independent (and a times shady) second party. Like the bottled in bond act, this move likely helped save the reputation of bourbon. As for this product... well, it really isn't. Don't get me wrong, I tasted their white dog and it is full of sharp alcohol and cereal notes with almost a peppermint candy sweetness. That likely reflects their use of malted rye, which is also used by MGP - from which their actual product comes. I purchased their barrel strength rye and quite liked it for it's chocolate, coffee and cinnamon notes. That is what they led with at the distillery tour - a move that I believe is backward. Never have I gone from hight to low proof and felt satisfied. Neither was I satisfied with the remainder of this tasting. Their straight rye has a bit of peppermint, camomile, cacao nibs and a smidge of dish soap. It's not what I would call bad. In comparison to Bulleit's 95/5 MGP rye there are similarities but the biggest difference I believe comes from the fact that Pepper sources malted 95/5 rye from MGP. That malting process is what I suspect yields the cacao and darker notes. That said, this is less of a mixer because of the dark notes and still not a great sipper. It is affordable and is different, but not something I can recommend. Pick up their barrel strength offering if you want the full experience or just avoid altogether.