It’s December 27, and I’m going to try a new rye whiskey every day this month. And while my rye game is not as weak as my Scotch game was this time last year, I’m always up for suggestions on good rye whiskies. And now that I have goals (it’s good to have goals), there are some key players I could use your help finding. Send me your favorite, readily-available rye. Goals (abridged): 5 ryes. 4.5 stars. Readily available. (5/5, WT101, Whistlepig 10, Whistlepig 12, Old Riff, VOSN Summer Rye) I want to recognize the difference between any bourbon and any rye. First try. One of these must be an Empire Rye. (1/1, Hudson) I want a siren rye. I want the one that tastes like a liar and a thief and a damned old fish. >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<< Big thanks to @ScotchingHard for recommending this. Apparently I tried this about 2 and a half years ago, but as I have literally no memory of that happening, I’m going to count it as “new”. What I love about all of this is that in my review from years ago, I had trouble detecting flavor notes because of its intensity. I specifically said: “I can tell that I have some room to grow on what I can detect on ryes.” Let’s find out if the past month helped me out at all. Nose is maple syrup, sugar, watermelon. Red apple. So good. Body is watermelon, honey, strawberry, orange. There’s praline and caramel on the end of the body. I could see cherry, but the other fruits are better descriptors I think. Finish is sweet and spicy. The watermelon comes back, and a mild cinnamon. Bit of walnut as well. Milk chocolate. Cream. This is a juice bomb. Phenomenal flavor, and I absolutely love it. I hope this qualifies as the “intense rye” I’ve been looking for, because if so, I have come to a place where I can enjoy ryes to the same extent that I do bourbons. This is going to be a whiskey I try to keep in stock at all times.