Dad’s Hat uses a farm to bottle approach that is crafted using local ingredients and rye grain grown in Pennsylvania. I’d never heard of this one until @ctbeck11 gave me a bottle of their single barrel that was picked out by Total Wine with a minimum age of 3 years and bottled at 61.9%. The nose starts with a rye flavored Coke then fresh baked pumpernickel bread slathered with honey butter followed by fruits of peach cobbler, sour apple candy and tangerine orange that transition to toasted caraway seeds, pine needles and forest floors with high ethanol burn. The taste is a rich and creamy mouthfeel starting with a rye flavored Coke then fresh baked pumpernickel bread slathered with honey butter followed by a high drying spice that slowly fades to dark chocolate and fruits of caramelized brown sugar coated peach, apple pie with vanilla ice cream on top and candied orange peel that transition to toasted caraway seeds, spearmint, leather and polished oak with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with orange flavored dark chocolate, moderate ashy rye spices, leather and polished oak that lingers for minutes. This is a rich and creamy rye that really packs the flavors in with the main flaw of the high spice on the mid-palate that throws it off for me. If you’re a fan of spicy high proof ryes, this would be incredible and I’m really impressed with how great this one is for such a young whiskey. I decided to do a side by side with a Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel and they were really close to each other but the Russell’s was the winner for me due to the lower spice. The Russell’s also had an advantage of an additional 5 years of aging, so it’d be really interesting when Dad’s Hat comes out with some older stock to compare them then. For $60, this is an incredible VFM and one to look out for.