Best value. These two words ring out loud and clear to me when I’m tasting this whisky. This is a new bottle I’m reviewing, but there’s history here. Pre-pandemic, I’m commuting to the office. I just got one kid out of daycare and into public elementary school so things aren’t quite as tight, but I’ve still got a second kid in daycare. Monthly I’m paying $175 for a train pass into the city and the daycare thing, well, if you have kids you know how tight it can get with a kid in there. Budget was the word when it came to whisky. I spent a lot of time cross referencing scores on sites with prices online and when I came across this, it seemed a no brainer. Everything I read about it sounded up my alley, and it was going for $35 a bottle. Thing was, there wasn’t much of it left. I guess the first run of this stuff was limited, because I managed to nab one of the last bottles in my sector before it disappeared for another 2 years. I cracked that first bottle while watching the 49er play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl in 2020, right before the caca hit the windmill. I’d invited my dad over and he’d brought a bottle of Aberlour A’Bunadh my mom had gifted him for Christmas. We’re talking here the difference between an 86 proof Irish Rye and a 120-proof sherry matured scotch. There should have been a clear winner hands down. And I’m not going to lie, the Aberlour was superior. Things was, this Kilbeggan Small Batch Rye held its own. It wasn’t like we tasted the rye and then tasted the scotch and thought, oh my god, that scotch is SO MUCH BETTER. Nope. It was degrees. It was like Rocky fighting Apollo Creed to a draw and then losing by split decision. Or maybe it wasn’t quite THAT close, but it was close enough that when the Kilbeggan reappeared early in 2022, right before St. Patty’s Day, I picked up a bottle for myself and a bottle for my dad because, why not? It was on sale at that point for $30 a bottle, and any Irish that could hold its own against a scotch is a winner in my book, because frankly, I’m not that into Irish whisky anymore. Which is a funny thing. I feel like a lot of us who enjoy whisky cut our teeth on Irish and then go on to realize that other styles are superior. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve enjoyed Redbreast 21 and Cask Strength. I’ve enjoyed Green Spot Montalena and Yellow Spot. I like me some Teeling Blackpitts and the Dark Silkie wasn’t too bad either. It’s just when it comes to dropping the cash, I tend to prefer equivalently priced scotches or ryes. I don’t particularly like the Kilbeggan Single Pot Still nor has Writer’s Tears impressed me much. But this Small Batch Rye is a different beast entirely. It’s got the apple/pear sweetness on the nose that you’d expect from Tully or Jameson with just a touch of pie spice that gives it an edge over those. The spice is a mixture of cinnamon and rye giving it a candied quality, and there’s no metallic tincture as there is with Tully. Honestly, you could confuse the nose here with a younger Speyside scotch. The palate continues the journey with the fruit more prominent and the spiced edge on the finish. Look, this isn’t going to change your life or rock your world, but what it is going to do is give you probably your best option in the Irish category if you’ve only got a Jackson and a Hamilton in your wallet, and with whisky prices rising every day, I went out just yesterday and picked up another bottle figuring why not stock up. After all, sometimes, when you have people over and you’re doing a tasting where you’re trying to build to a crescendo, you need a place to start and this is a great starting point, great first dram of the evening. Last week, it went this, and then the Bruichladdich Islay 2013 and then the Highland Park Cask Strength No. 2 and then a diversion to the Templeton 10 Year Single Barrel Rye and finishing off with Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength. And I think when you look at that list, it’s evident that this was the weakest of that bunch, but it was a lovely gateway to the Bruichladdich, just as the Bruichladdich was a lovely gateway to the Highland Park Cask Strength (notes on that coming soon: spoiler: it was probably my favorite of the bunch). And while we did the tasting, we got to watch a great football game (if by great you mean your defense knocked their starting quarterback out in the first quarter and they rolled to victory without stressing the shit out of me and my dad and my brother-in-law). A lot has changed since that 2020 Super Bowl. My kids are no longer in daycare. I now work from home and don’t have to drop almost $200 a month of transportation costs nor am I paying for daycare, which means I get to spend a little more on whisky and buy better bottles. One of the main things is, while I was rooting for the Chiefs that year because of my love for Andy Reid, this year, that love is gone and he’s a sworn enemy. At least for the next week (I can’t hate on him forever; he was probably the most consistently best coach the Eagles ever had). But I’m an Eagles fan, and next Sunday I want my team to win. As you’d want yours to win if they were in the big game (and I’d be behind you and sympathetic when your team is there because IT’S A GAME AND IT’S NOT REAL LIFE!...I'm kind of tired of the toxicity online that goes way beyond gentle ribbing and trash talking. Our fans have a reputation for it, but look around, it's not just us). And I have a bottle waiting to crack for the game, a big tall green bottle with the words LAPHROAIG and LORE on the outside. And I’m excited about that. But for tonight, I’m pre-partying for a concert I’m going to (Big Thief…if you haven’t listened to them and you like folk rock Americana/alt-country check ‘em out). Anyway, until the next round, cheers! P.S. I just saw that Powers is releasing their own Irish rye at $32 a bottle. This could have some competition soon. Here’s to hoping!