It’s a new day and that means there are new whiskeys on the shelf. Rye whiskey is bourbon’s funky cousin with notes that dip into florals, herbs, and sharp spices while still holding onto that American new-oak aging vibe with plenty of vanilla, cherry, and caramel notes (amongst hundreds of others). Today, I’m taking eight new rye whiskeys — some are brand-new releases, some are 2022 batches of classics — and tasting them blind to find the best rye whiskey for you to buy this November.
This is a really straightforward blind tasting. I’m looking for quality above all else (even price). What tastes the best? What has the most depth? What do I actually want to drink after this tasting? Sometimes it doesn’t need to be any harder than answering those questions.
Our lineup today is:
- Nashville Barrel Company Hand Selected Straight Rye Whiskey Cask Strength Batch One “Dads Drinking Bourbon”
- Kiamichi A Willett & Followill Family Collaboration Aged 8 Years
- Sazerac 18 Years Old (BTAC 2022)
- Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
- Bespoken Spirits Rye Whiskey
- Oak & Eden Charred Oak Rye & Spire
- 291 M Colorado Rye Whiskey Finished with Aspen Wood Staves and Maple Syrup Barrels
- Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey Cask Strength
Okay, let’s dive in and find you a great rye whiskey to sip this November!
Also Read: The Top Five Rye Whiskey from the Last Six Months on UPROXX
- The Single Best Bottle Of Whiskey From Each Of The 50 States
- The Winning Scotch And Bourbon Whiskeys From This Year’s Ascot Awards
- The Best Whiskeys In The World, According To The John Barleycorn Awards
- The Best Bourbons And Ryes From The 2022 American Whiskey Masters Awards
- The Absolute Best Whiskeys We Tasted At This Year’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1
Tasting Notes:
There’s a soft, cherry-froward nose with hints of old boot leather, apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks, and black tea leaves with a hint of star anise and clove soaked in a hot toddy. The palate is thick and juicy with cherry vanilla spiced holiday cake — heavy on the dark cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg — with a hint of orange creamsicle that fades towards a singed herbaceous note almost like burnt caraway or coriander seeds. The end packs on the warmth with a spicy tobacco buzz full of dark cherry and woody winter spices.
This is a great place to start. I really liked the depth of this one, especially with the shift from spicy to almost botanical on the mid-palate.
Taste 2
Tasting Notes:
Subtle notes of old glove leather kissed with years of menthol cigarette smoke mingle with a spicy cherry-cinnamon cake frosted with creamed walnuts and vanilla with a brandy butter with a whisper of tannic old oak staves that has a twinge of waxy cacao nib. The palate soaks some dried figs in spiced honey with an Earl Grey vibe accentuating a bitter salted dark chocolate, rummy minced meat pies, and wet brown sugar cut with dried ancho chili flakes. The end leans into the spice with a Hot Tamales cinnamon candy sweet/spicy sensation next to a lush mouthfeel.
This is delicious. I want to call the tasting right here, pack in the rest of the Glencairns, and just call it a day.
Taste 3
Tasting Notes:
There’s a bitter burnt orange aura on the nose with lemon-poppy seed muffins, new leather, dark molasses sweetness, and plenty of orchard tree bark with a hint of singed sensations next to old tobacco leaves braided with old wicker canes. The palate leans into that dark molasses with layers of dusty cumin, hot red chili pepper flakes, and coriander-encrusted rye bread with a hint of woody maple syrup over cinnamon-apple fritters. The end goes slightly savory with fresh bay leaf next to wild sage and a hint of dry sweetgrass followed by a plush cherry/vanilla woodiness.
This is another winner. It didn’t quite hit the same heights as the last sip in grandeur, but it’s damn close.
Taste 4
Tasting Notes:
This has a lighter nose but it’s still full of dark orchard fruits, soft vanilla pods, old oak staves with a hint of old barrel house funk, and a mix of spicy orange rind next to freshly cracked black pepper and sharp cinnamon powder. The palate leans into the cinnamon and layers it into chewy and buzzy tobacco with hints of vanilla sweetness, cherry bark woodiness, and sharp fancy root beer vibes. The end pings on that old musty rickhouse one more time as a humidor full of vanilla, cherry, and cinnamon-spiced tobacco fades towards a rich and buttery toffee with a hint of rye fennel on the very backend.
This was the most accessible sip so far. This was quintessential Kentucky rye (cherry, toffee, vanilla heavy) that was truly easy to drink from top to bottom.
Taste 5
Tasting Notes:
Drip coffee and caramel come through on a tannic nose with a touch of brown spice and vanilla. The palate has a touch of celery salt that leads to caraway and rye bread vibes next to plenty of dark citrus and stone fruit with a hint of soft creamy honey. The end has a soft and very fruity finish with a hint of black pepper and cinnamon sticks.
This was fine.
Taste 6
Tasting Notes:
The nose is leathery and full of old vanilla, tannic bitter coffee notes, and general spiciness. The palate offers lush vanilla with more of that tannic nature followed by black pepper and chili pepper next to green dill and maybe some fresh mint. The end has a mild medicinal tone that leads back to the pepperiness and vanilla underbelly.
Eh, this wasn’t for me. It’s very all over the place and somehow light and listless.
Taste 7
Tasting Notes:
There’s a good sense of maple syrup on the nose with blueberry pancakes, fig jam, and toffee candies next to cinnamon sugar and a hint of burnt orange layered into caramel sauce. The palate has a French toast vibe with plenty of custardy lusciousness and nutmeg leading to dark chocolate and powdered sugar with a slight woody winter spice warmth. The end turns into a cinnamon bomb that’s kind of like taking a whole box of Hot Tamales to the face and chasing it with maple-syrup-soaked French toast and spiced apple cider.
I can’t decide if I love this or not. It’s very sweet and feels way more like a bourbon than a rye. Still, there’s nothing at fault here. I just might not have enough of a sweet tooth today to fully enjoy it.
Taste 8
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a soft leatheriness that’s embued with dry chamomile tea, burnt orange, dark cherry bark, and old cinnamon sticks that spent too much time in mulled wine with a hint of sour cherry and tart apple. The palate amps up the tea leaf vibe with lush Earl Grey next to dark chocolate-covered espresso beans flaked with salt and maybe some dried nasturtiums that build out the spices toward a spiced winter cake. Those baked winter spices lead back to a soft creamy espresso dusted with nutmeg and dark chocolate powder and layered into a spiced tobacco leaf rolled with cedar bark.
This is another damn nice whiskey.
Part 2: The Ranking
8. Oak & Eden Charred Oak Rye & Spire — Taste 6
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $50
The Whiskey:
This is Indiana rye sent down to Texas where it’s bottled with a charred American oak spire to add a little something extra. The whiskey is MGP’s classic 95/5 (rye/malted barley) four-ish-year-old juice that ends up in a lot of bottles like this.
Bottom Line:
This was the lightest and most forgettable bottle on the panel today. It’s a pretty easy skip for me.
7. Bespoken Spirits Rye Whiskey — Taste 5
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $54
The Whiskey:
Yet again, we’re dealing with MGP’s 95/5 rye (like above). In this case, the whiskey is bottled in California.
Bottom Line:
This wasn’t bad by any stretch. There was a nice fruitiness. That said, this was the lightest whiskey of the bunch and one I’d be more inclined to mix with than sip.
6. 291 M Colorado Rye Whiskey Finished with Aspen Wood Staves and Maple Syrup Barrels — Taste 7
ABV: 63.5%
Average Price: $108
The Whiskey:
291 out in Colorado is an award darling distillery and a crowd-pleaser as well. This whiskey is made with shorter aging in new American white oak with treated Aspen staves in that barrel to accelerate the maturation process. That whiskey is then transferred to old 291 barrels that were used to age maple syrup in Wisconsin for Lincoln County Reserve Maple Syrup. Finally, those barrels were batched and bottled at cask strength as-is.
Bottom Line:
The remaining six whiskeys are all stellar. This was a little lower on the rankings today due to its audacious sweetness and breakfast diner vibes. I think I’m going to break this one out for brunch cocktails.
5. Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey Cask Strength — Taste 8
ABV: 58.2%
Average Price: $70
The Whiskey:
This brand-new whiskey from cult-favorite Redwood Empire out in Sonoma, California, takes their tried and true method of blending California, Indiana, and Kentucky whiskeys to the next level. The blend ended up being a lightly wheated rye with a mash bill of 94% rye, five percent malted barley, and a mere one percent wheat. The barrels were all a minimum of four years old (with some reaching past six years) when batched and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This felt classic through and through. I really want to make a killer Manhattan with this whiskey.
4. Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey — Taste 4
ABV: 52%
Average Price: $70
The Whiskey:
This hand-selected single-barrel expression hits on some pretty big classic rye notes with Kentucky bourbon vibes underneath it all. The juice is selected from the center cuts of the third through fifth floors of the Wild Turkey rickhouses. There’s no chill filtering and the expression is only slightly touched by water before bottling.
Bottom Line:
This had a light and fruity nature that just worked. It was also familiar and really easygoing. This is definitely what I’m going to reach for when making Sazeracs or rye sours this fall, but it also works wonders as a simple sipper.
3. Sazerac 18 Years Old (BTAC 2022) — Taste 3
ABV: 45%
MSRP: $99
The Whiskey:
This whiskey started its journey back in 2003 and 2004 when the original juice was distilled with Minnesota rye, Kentucky corn, and North Dakota barley. The hot juice was loaded into new white oak from Independent Stave from Missouri with a #4 char level (55 seconds) and left to rest in warehouses K, M, and P on the second, third, and fourth floors. Overly nearly two decades, an average of 74% of the juice was lost to the angels before proofing and bottling.
Bottom Line:
Now, we’re into the pure delicious part of the ranking. This was a little on the woody side, but that’s just me grasping for anything to rank these amazing whiskeys.
2. Nashville Barrel Company Hand Selected Straight Rye Whiskey Cask Strength Batch One “Dads Drinking Bourbon” — Taste 1
ABV: 57.25%
Average Price: $98
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is made from an extremely small batch of Indiana rye with a mash of 95/5 (rye/malted barley). The handful of barrels in the mix was around six years old when blended by the team at Nashville Barrel Company. Beyond that, this was bottled as-is with zero fussing.
Bottom Line:
This is luxurious and enticing rye. It’s just delicious.
1. Kiamichi A Willett & Followill Family Collaboration Aged 8 Years — Taste 2
ABV: 55%
Average Price: $249
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is the second in a series of collaborations between Kings of Leon and Willett Distillery. The whiskey is a six-barrel small-batch blend of Willett’s low-rye mash bill. The hot juice was loaded into ISC oak barrels that were cured for nine months before getting a semi-high char. The band hand-selected the barrels themselves and the team at Willett made sure the rest was done exactly right.
Bottom Line:
Goddamn, this is f*cking good whiskey. It’s so well-balanced and nuanced while still maintaining a completely accessible and even welcoming flavor profile. This is the stuff to chase down.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
The rub on rankings like this is “access.” Some of these are going to be pretty hard to find if you’re not in certain markets. That’s just the way things are. To that end, I’d highly recommend the Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye if you can’t find the others. You should be able to find that pretty much coast to coast and all stops in between. It’s affordable — while still feeling special — and truly a great drinking whiskey.
The rest of the top six are all worth the hunt and I wish you luck in seeking them out, trying them, and falling in love with their fantastic flavor notes.
