Rating: 19/23 N: Loads of rich, sweet corn, but also lots of herbal rye with mint and spiciness. It smells interestingly nuanced, despite its boldness. P: Rich and fairly full, with bold corn sweetness mixed with a restraining sour mash flavor that I really like here. Quite hot and spicy. There's a nice, big amount of vanilla and a lot of subtle nuance. F: Lingering spices and burn along with sweet vanilla. The vanilla decadence grows slowly, but the sweetness and other characteristics diminish. - Conclusion - This reminds me of Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Rye (17/23), which sounds obvious and dumb, but I find that the Rare Breed bourbon doesn't taste all that much like Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon. This is quite nice. Putting the two ryes side by side, this is clearly not as rich or full, which seems like what I'd expect when comparing a Rare Breed with a Russell's Single Barrel. This rating is easily a 16, but I don't think it's a 19 and I'm wary about going with such a high rating. Right now, I'm liking this better than Rare breed bourbon. It's way better than Redwood Empire Lost Monarch (15/23), so definitely not below a 17 and probably at least an 18. I'm thinking 18 or 19. Probably a 19. Coming back to this, I think that vanilla brings this across the line to a 19.