Rating: 14/23 Back to tasting this weird rye that reminds me (and others) of an Islay scotch. N: There's a prominent smoky, maritime (salty, briny) quality. Some richness from the malt mixes with the young rye tartness and spice to sort of create the illusion of a young Islay scotch that went a bit light on the peat. The rye's herbal character does make the smoke seem a bit more like peat, furthering the illusion. I do get a hint of apple as well, but it's faint. There's a fair amount going on in this herbal layer and it blends into vegetal, but it's honestly difficult to describe. There's some mineral, but not too much of it. P: It's smoky with some seaspray, apple, saltiness, sweet creek water, herbaceousness, light vegetal character, and some spice. It's not bad, but it does taste young, kind of like a young Island (Islay?) scotch. I think my description of Islay in the past suggested a bunch of peat that wasn't really there, though the herbal quality mixed with the rye tartness and smoke can reasonably be misinterpreted as peat. I think what this has is more of smoke with a natural herbal flavor and light aging (so little chance for the smoke to dissipate). It's shocking how sweet it is behind all of the smoke and herbal flavors, sort of like how sour candy manages to disguise how much sugar it has. This quality reminds me a tad of Los Vecinos Easpadin. It actually hurts my teeth sometimes to drink this because of the sweetness. The barley's richness really holds the whole thing together, but the barley is pretty young. This helps to sell the young, rugged, maritime quality, but I can't help but think that the barley could use some more complexity and the whole thing could benefit from just a bit more cohesion. Still, there's no excessive alcohol presence here. It took me ages to identify this weird flavor hanging out here, but I finally worked it out: dill pickles. I'm not sure how I feel about it being in here, but I do like dill pickles. This simultaneously gives this more credibility as a rye and accentuates its maritime ruggedness. F: That smoke and herbal character sticks around for ages, along with some apple. A bit of mineral flits in and out, along with a bit of barley that is simultaneously rich, sweet, and youthful I was baffled by this for a while, but I think I finally understand it. It has a lot of barley and is also smoked twice - once with apple wood - and is aged in two separate bourbon barrels. Considering all of this, the brash scotch influence makes a lot more sense, particularly when considering the rye's own herbal flavor. This is essentially a blended scotch with the illusion of peat. The balance is certainly off-kilter, but in a rugged scottish sailing way (like a young Islay scotch), so it works. It's not bad, but now that I realize that the distillery has essentially layered some makeup on very young juice, I can't decide if I'm impressed by the illusion or disappointed by the fraud. So, weirdly, this is best compared with malts rather than rye. This is a big improvement over Kings County Peated Single Malt, but it certainly isn't as good as Corsair Wildfire. I'm now thinking that this is more in the 13 range, closer to George Dickel Rye. The Dickel somehow actually has a fuller flavor, though this has a lot more going on. This "rye" is well worth trying, but I can't say that I'd recommend buying a bottle at $40. I wouldn't regret it, but I probably won't be buying another one myself. This also reminds me of Los Vecinos Espadin with its herbal, slightly vegetal smoky funkiness and youth. Los Vecinos has a brasher, more assertive character with more smoke and less sweetness, but it's also less rich and rounded. Which, frankly, it should be. Because it's joven mezcal. To be even comparing this with mezcal is wild. I think I prefer the Los Vecinos, but not by a tremendous margin - 2 points at most. Unfortunately, this just clearly has a light, immature profile. Put up against the likes of Los Vecinos Espadin or Corsair Wildfire, this tastes weak. There's a lot of potential here, but that 20 month aging is just not enough for this to hold its own. I'm fairly confident that a 12 would be unfairly harsh, but am pretty skeptical of a 15. A 14 does seem entirely possible though. This reminds me a fair amount of Smokey Joe, so I wish I had some of that around for comparison. Unlike George Dickel Rye (the closest rye I have to this in terms of general profile), this does a pretty good job of masking its youth. You know, I am increasingly appreciating this and I think it's pretty similar in quality to Smokey Joe, which I gave a 15, so I'm going up to a 14 on this and I think that a 15 is just as likely as a 13 now.