BeppeCovfefe
Bulleit 12 Year Rye (2019 Release)
Rye — Indiana, USA
Reviewed
April 15, 2020 (edited September 15, 2020)
It's 12 year old Bulleit Rye, (or MGP), it's the 95-5 bill, you would think this is the ultimate contender in the MGP 95 style rye, and you'ed probably be right. For me this is something of a deciding moment, I've been on the edge of the "pure rye" vs the high corn rye debate for some time, and it's a toughy. I like both for different reasons.
First off, 12 year Bulleit rye is VERY good rye. The nose has a wonderful sweet rich purity to it, dill, caraway, pumpernickel whatever the "rye spice" is, it is certainly present in rich warm quantity. On the palate you get that hot spice bite that is trademark rye and while it's clearly strong it stays clean and pure. The extra barrel time yields an evident sweet wood note that is hardly or not at all noticeable in standard 3-6 year 95 ryes. Not quite a vanilla or caramel, it's more of a general sweetness. While it lacks some of the character and sweetness of the 3 grain ryes, that doesn't detract from the fact this is just some damn good and tasty rye. Being one of the priciest offerings in the line it at least lives up to some of that high expectation. What you won't get is an overly complex profile or any really unexpected notes, my assumption being that a 95-5 rye is simply incapable of undertaking some of the more serious barreling factors that create some of the more esoteric and elaborate notes in well aged bourbons.
For all the extra aging this still tastes like 95-5 mgp rye. Thus the conundrum, is it really worth it to seek out and pay extra for a fairly acceptable and easy to find rye taste that's only marginally upgraded? That's for you to decide.
Cheers!
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@Ctrexman it isn't a matter of "likning it" its the other dozens of OPEN bottles I already have :D
Open that puppy up BC you will most likely enjoy it
@Ctrexman yea I have the Piggyback bottle staring me in the face, just don't want to open it.
Check out piggyback 100% but with actual caramel notes