Rating: 14/23 I've been curious about Sagamore Spirit for a while and this manhattan finish has my curiosity piqued even more. Since I'm in a rye reviewing groove, now seems to be the time to give it a try. N: Fruit and bold wood hit me immediately. It's a bit of red fruit with fragrant orange, a crisp rye spiciness, and a faint bit of a funkiness like vermouth. What immediately strikes me is that this seems like a more successful version of Whistlepig 15 because they both make me think of vermouth, but this is less aggressive in that direction. I really like that rich, full, new oak smell too. This comes across as complex, balanced, and reasonably mature. P: Quite sweet with a lot of red fruit (cherry) mixed with orange peel, that vermouth funky spiciness, and rye spice. There's a lot less of a rye flavor in here than I'd expected though. The complexity and balance are good, but it's sweeter and fruiter than I was expecting or would like. The underlying wine flavor of the vermouth comes out more toward the end of the palate. Although it is quite sweet, there is some dryness balancing it out. F: Syrupy cherry, sweet vermouth (with a bit of its spice remaining), bits of new oak here and there, and something resembling rye at points. On the long finish, the cherry syrup acquires a bit of a floral quality that I find somewhat cloying. - Conclusion - This is a fantastic cocktail. It turns out I was wrong in thinking that this would be less like a cocktail than Whistlepig 15 was, but it's at least more fun and is expressly marketing itself as having cocktail character. As a whiskey, how do I rate this though? Well, it's better than Whistlepig 15 (a 16, but barely). Although this is a bit more youthful in character, there is more balance and complexity going on outside of the vermouth here than there is in the Whistlepig, which is otherwise fairly flat and light. Beyond that, it gets difficult to judge. As a cocktail, this is excellent. How does it compare with something like Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Rye (17) though? That's a harder question. But side by side, I would absolutely take the Russell's Reserve. As best as I can judge, this is beaten by Pikesville (just shy of a 17), but fairly competitive with Whistlepig PiggyBack (a high 16), though probably not quite as good. It's also in the range of Michter's Rye (a high 15) and a bit better than Elijah Craig Rye (15). I think I have it pretty well narrowed down to a 16 here. As I finish my sample though, my opinion shifts. I'm now putting this well below Pikesville, more on the level of Elijah Craig Rye (a moderate 15)...up until this finish. By this point, the novelty has worn away. I could definitely believe that this was a cocktail - and specifically a manhattan based on the flavors I experienced. I had a vague idea that a manhattan had rye and vermouth, but I had to look up an actual recipe to know what all goes in one. The answer? The core is roughly 3:1 rye:sweet vermouth. For garnish, there is orange peel and a brandied cherry. The only ingredient I didn't pick up was the Angostura bitters. So in that regard, this is a great success. But with the novelty waning and that unpleasant long finish nagging at me, I find myself going from a 16 to a 15 to a 14. In the end, this is a good pseudo-cocktail, but it's weird as a whiskey. I wouldn't feel bad if I bought a bottle, but it wouldn't be at the top of my list. I haven't checked the price on this, but my guess is that it costs more than it would to buy a bottle of Pikesville and the other Manhattan ingredients, which is a much more appealing purchase. Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine for sharing this bizarre spirit with me!