Pappy van Winkle 15, Family Reserve Rye 13 & Sazerac 18 Bot.2000 [Road to #1000, Reviews #985-#987]

Hi everyone,

Today I have more generosity from the guys at JVS and ImpEx, this time some American whiskies.

Near the start of my whisky journey, I was given 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die and I’ve been desperately trying to complete it. One of the more difficult ones to get a hold of was the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye and when I mentioned it to Chris Uhde, he said that he had a bottle open.

Anyway, many thanks go to him for the last two as he also let me taste some of his Sazerac 18 collection (he seemed to have them all!) but I only made notes on the oldest, bottled back in the year 2000.

Just to complete my line up of notes on the Pappy range (still haven’t had the 12), I also tasted the 15 at the Whisky Exchange Show this year.

Pappy van Winkle 15 53.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Great nose. Fruity, red apple and orange, a slightly woody smoke, quite fresh though actually, brandy soaked raisins, buttery with popcorn coming out. Chocolate orange and cherry.

Taste: Dry and fruity, raisin and red apple, orange, a flat-ish spice note of ginger and pepper, quite flat in the mid-palate.

Finish: Long length. Dry wood, light tingling spice.

Love the nose, taste lets it down more and more. I’d heard that this was some people’s favourite from the Winkle line up but I prefer the 20.

75/100

 

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 47.8%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Nicely leathery, coffee and chocolate in addition to the usual caramel, toffee and vanilla that I find in American whiskies.

Taste: Quite dry, nice leather and chocolate but flatter in other parts. Not much spice for a rye either.

Finish: Medium length. Not too spicy but not too impressive here IMO.

Lovely nose on this but again it gets quite flat and there’s plenty of average notes in here too. Still, it’s nice but you wouldn’t catch me paying $2000 for a bottle.

78/100

Sazerac 18 1981, Bottled 2000 45%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Complex and great richness, real sense of the grains, the rye is very clear but there’s a more earthy malt note here too which is as fascinating as it is delicious. Great nose.

Taste: So soft and supple. There’s something really restrained about this that I love, it isn’t super in your face but enough power and interesting spices to carry it through.

Finish: Medium length. Again soft but rich oak, complex with a darker chocolateyness. Not over oaked at all.

One of my favourite American whiskies I’ve had the pleasure to try and definitely the best rye I’ve tried.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

American Reviews #64-#66

Whisky Network Reviews #985-#987

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Lot 40 12 Cask Strength & Canadian Club 41 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Do I know a lot about Canadian whisky?

No, I absolutely don’t and I’ve tasted very little. I just know that you’re allowed to add 9.09% of other alcohol to your whisky and still call it whisky, something that no one else is allowed to do… Like, in the world.

These are two pretty impressive releases, one is a well respected younger bottling and the other a seriously old Canadian whisky.

Lot 40 Cask Strength 12yo 55%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: A really nice woodiness, resin and wood glue, the rye is clear with some black pepper, oak too with liquorice and clove, lovely fruit coming out now with fruit gums and powdered sugar, some vanilla custard.

Taste: Soft arrival, really balanced, fruit gums then oak with really good liquorice, some clove, some green peppercorns, more resin and wood glue as it develops.

Finish: Long length. More oak here, quite dry with clove and pepper, liquorice.

2017 release. Canadian Rye Whiskey. Many thanks to Roy from Aquavitae for this sample, remember it isn’t whisky until its shared!! Lovely nose and taste on this one but a bit of a let down on the finish.

75/100

 

Canadian Club 41 45%

Colour: Gold

Body: Light

Nose: An old grain whisky, oak and ethereal acetone, old paint stripper, old paint tins.

Taste: Sweet start, red apple, grain, cheap leather and then oak oak oak and eventually a sweet hit of orange.

Finish: Long length. An old grain here too, oak, orange and a light floral note. Quite a nice long finish.

Distilled 1977. Compared to a 1970's Canadian Club (which was rubbish). Apparently this has been blended with a small amount of Cognac, Rye and Sherry (would those also have to be 41 years old to keep the age statement?) The age is super obvious on this and the whole thing very much reminds me of 40+ year old Scotch grain whisky.

72/100

Thanks for reading!

Canadian Reviews #2-#3

Whisky Network reviews #890-#891

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ragtime Rye & Sonoma County Bourbon No.1 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Well I finally got to 50 American whiskey reviews! But at what cost I ask? What cost?!

Various low scores but also some great finds, and I have to say I am getting into this Bourbon/American whiskey thing and I’ll be hunting more down in the future.

While visiting San Diego recently I also bought my first bottle of Bourbon since Jim Beam White back when I was first starting out and went for Knob Creek 9 Single Barrel, being a pretty reasonable price.

Anyway,

I don’t know what part of the process this ‘burnt plastic’ note comes into some American whiskies but I rarely find it in Scotches. Particularly craft American whiskies seem to be affected.

Now, this could just be my palate finding some note that others get but aren’t put off by, but for me the smell of burnt plastic can really ruin a whisky.

Exhibit A:

Ragtime Rye 45.2%

Colour: Light Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Wine gums, clove and plastic, coriander, ginger and pepper. Quite spicy.

Taste: Spicy, nice arrival but then rubber and plastic, acrid burnt plastic.

Finish: Medium length. Black pepper and plastic.

3 years old, New York distillery. Hate these plastic-y whiskies, it just overwhelms everything else.

57/100

Sonoma County Bourbon 47.8%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Even more acrid than the rye. Burnt plastic and clove, liquorice, coriander. Hard to get past the burnt plastic though.

Taste: Dry, clove, cardamom, coriander, spice box, rubbery oak and plastic. Then burnt plastic.

Finish: Medium length. Burnt plastic and some oak.

Not sure I agree with this Sonoma County stuff, the Rye was better IMO.

52/100

Thanks for reading!

Also, happy Christmas Eve everyone!

American Reviews #50-#51

Whisky Network Reviews #618-#619

American Average: 69.0

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Rye Review

Hi everyone,

Why did I choose to review something from Jack Daniels?

Well, I thought that this one could be different. It’s a slightly higher proof and it’s using a majority of rye in the mashbill. Also, we recently bought from JD Rye barrels at work to mature the whisky in and I was curious what effect it might have on our whisky. So there’s a professional angle here too. I’m not just torturing myself for the fun of it…

Alright, maybe a little.

I have had the standard JD before, but it remains one of the 30ish whiskies I haven’t written notes on.

 

Jack Daniels Single Barrel Rye 45%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Wine gums, chewy orange sweets, corn, very soft spice, a slight off note... Putty? Slight rotting trash bag?

Taste: Soft, sweet orange, wine gums, rye bread, pepper and clove. Dry. Slight off note again, that trash bag is back.

Finish: Medium/Long length. The off note intensifies with rubber too. Not nice.

70% rye, the other 30% is presumably trash bags fed into the grist mill… Can’t say I can recommend this one. More to come on the low scoring American whisky front my friends!

56/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #49

Whisky Network Review #612

American Average: 69.6

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Michter's x4 Reviews: Sour Mash, Unblended, Rye & Bourbon

Hi everyone,

American brands and distilleries are always super confusing to me. Who the hell produces what? There’s a tonne of brands on the market but not that many distilleries. But the source of the whiskey for the brand isn’t always disclosed, which sometimes makes it difficult to track down where the whiskey was actually produced.

Michter’s is another one of these, being an old distillery that never started producing again. They do now have their own distillery I think but a lot of the whiskey has been sourced from Brown-Forman I’ve heard (through minimal internet research), although officially it is unknown… See, confusing.

How do they taste though? I got to have a few of these at a tasting in Milan recently.

Michter's Sour Mash 43%

Colour: Dark Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Very honeyed, lots of caramel and toffee, vanilla, a little mint. Classic Bourbon flavours really. Lots of clove here too.

Taste: Quite a lot going on, honey, spice, oak, caramel, toffee, lots of clove, some vanilla and black pepper.

Finish: Very short length. Almost non-existent!

Shame about the finish. I liked this the least of these four.

62/100

Michter's Unblended Whiskey 41.7%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Different. More fruit, apple, more restrained but vanilla/caramel still there, liquorice.

Taste: Sweeter, fresher, apple, oak, vanilla, very little spice, some clove.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Honey and apple. Some oak.

Using a combo of new, recharred and 2nd fill barrels. Which is different and cool, would like to see more of this kind of thing. Like Scotch distilleries using virgin oak. Saying that, I don’t think this has worked really well.

64/100

Michter's Rye 42.4%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Quite light but the spices are there, clove, cardamom, a little coriander, liquorice. All quite light. Vanilla ice cream.

Taste: Spicy and intense, ginger, pepper, coriander, some cardamom, then lots of clove, a little harsh though.

Finish: Short/Medium length. The clove goes on.

I’ve tried the barrel strength version previously and I much prefer that. This seems a little weak, especially on the finish.

66/100

Michter's Bourbon 45.7%

Colour: Dark Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Darker, deeper caramel, dark chocolate, cold black coffee, smells like an old Bourbon, green peppercorns.

Taste: Dark, deep caramel, coffee, spice, lots of clove, then 90% dark chocolate.

Finish: Short/Medium length. More oak and dark chocolate.

You could tell me this was double the age it is and I'd believe you. I was told it was 5-8yo. As I said before, I quite like this style of Bourbon. Lots of really dark flavours here. Would love to try this at cask strength.

75/100

Thanks for reading!

American Reviews #45-#48

Whisky Network Reviews #602-#605

American Average: 69.9

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Dat's Hat Rye Port Finish Review

 Hi everyone,

Another day on holiday, another day of feeling like I don’t have to write intros. Also another day of random whiskey I’ve never heard of.

This is a rye whiskey from Pennsylvania, 80% Rye, 15% Malted Barley and 5% Malted Rye. They age it in virgin oak quarter casks I’ve heard, before a 3 month finishing in port. Unfortunately that only makes it 9 months old in total and I don’t really understand how they think that’s long enough to actually do much of anything…

 

Dad's Hat Rye Port Finish 47%

Colour: Dark Bronze, purple tint

Body: Full

Nose: Weird, synthetic rubber, plum jam, acrylic paint, melting plastic. Not a good mix.

Taste: Weird, very weird. Melting plastic, burnt rubber, synthetic.

Finish: Short/medium length. Weird, more of the same.

One of the weirdest whiskies I've tried. On par with the Balcones Brimstone in terms of weirdness. But actually, this is worse.

I had an interesting discussion recently with a whisky blogger from Germany about scoring. I mentioned about people being afraid to score things very low or ‘bad.’ She gave the classic reply, questioning whether there is such thing as a ‘bad’ whisky.

Yes, yes there is.

43/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #44

Whisky Network Review #601

American Average: 70.1

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Wild Turkey Rare Breed & Rye 101 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Wasn’t sure I’d get a review out today. Got stranded in Germany when my flight was cancelled, but managed to shlep across into France and now England.

I’m not the biggest fan of the turkey. I’m not going to make a joke about it being too dry, actually I just find it’s a little too herbal for my liking. But of course, I have to keep challenging myself and trying new ones, particularly if I want to get to 50 American Whiskey’s. So I got stuck in and tried these two.

The Rare Breed I’ve always wanted to try anyway because it’s in Ian Buxton’s 101 whiskies to try before you die, something I’ve been doing my best to complete (I’m getting there).

Wild Turkey Rare Breed 56.4%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Quite light but classic WT from what I remember. Ethereal, waxy, like sealing wax, slight oak, herbal, natural honey.

Taste: Intense here, spice, herbal, ginger and clove, a little chilli, dry oak.

Finish: Medium length. Oaky, dry, some herbal notes. Mint.

A perfectly nice Bourbon, but nothing standout from the usual 101.

73/100

Wild Turkey 101 Rye 50.5%

Colour: Light Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Again herbal and sealing wax, but added spice here. Lots of cardamom, vanilla pod, tyme and rosemary, some clove.

Taste: Intense, some fruit at first, then spice and herbs, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, then lots of dry oak.

Finish: Medium length. Caramel and some orange. Spices left over.

I slightly prefer this to the Rare Breed, it’s just a little bit more complex.

74/100

Thanks for reading!

American Reviews #41-#42

Whisky Network Reviews #598-#599

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?