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An ultra-high rye whiskey from the production wizards at Bardstown Bourbon Company, Origin Rye rounds out the standard four-bottle lineup of Origin Bourbon, Wheated Bottled-in-Bond, and High Wheat. The rye starts in American white oak barrels for 6 years before being rebarreled into a second cherry wood barrels for up to 6 months. The Cherry barrels have a distinctive alternating "zebra" pattern with half of the staves being specially toasted oak and the other half being toasted cherry wood. Looks beautiful in the rickhouse. Working with the West Virginia Great Barrel Company, precise infrared heat is used for the toast rather than open flame, allowing for a deeper and more uniform toast (around 400 degrees Fahrenheit) which can enhance specific vanillins and fruit esters without the bitterness of a heavy char.
🛒Sourced: $47.99 from Tower Beer, Wine, and Spirits (The GOATs) - 750ml. Purchased it at the same time I picked up my first BTAC, a Thomas H. Handy. SRP is $49.99 though you can find it significantly higher in some places.
🧪Proof: 96 proof, 48% ABV. If you're usually a proof hound, don't be overly concerned; finished whiskey holds up much better at lower proof due to the extract crack at extraction from the second barreling.
🎨Color: R3 - Very orange much wow, slightly red, more leg than expected.
🥔Mash Bill & Production: Rye 95% / Malted Barley 5%. This is the classic "Indiana Style" (read: MGP) rye recipe and about as high as you can go with rye while still getting decent fermentation.
- Age - Stated as 6 years, this bottle has barrels from both 2018 and 2019 distillations
- Distillation Proof - 130
- Barrel Entry Proof - 120
- Char - Char #4 (Alligator Char), Toast is non-char IR
- Chill Filtered: No
👃Nose: Great nose, approachable with a bit of black tea, grassy rye, clove, and tarragon. It is a combination of herbs and spices that the colonel would envy.
😜Palate: A bit prickly but nicely herbaceous, there is definitely plenty of rye influence. It's more peppery from flavor than from alcohol. Dill and vanilla predominate with a healthy amount of black pepper, anise, and cardamom providing the backing. There is a slight citrus tinge that weaves in and out from sip to sip. More substantial body that I would have thought.
💦Finish: Peppery heat subsides into a nice throat warmth, mostly sweet vanilla and marshmallow. Length is somewhat short but satisfying.
🏆 Overall: 7.25/10 - Great - For an everyday rye with no corn, Bardstown Origin Rye gives you pretty much everything you could ask for in a bottle for less than $50. Plenty of grassy notes, balanced sweetness, rye character pep, and tangerine acidity. The toast definitely adds a vanilla bomb element that is somewhat unique in a rye, being customarily overwhelmed by the grain character.
💵Would buy again? Yes. let's go zebra!
⚖️Rating Scale:
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume it by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws | Struggle to get through the bottle
4 | Serviceable | Mixing or ice recommended.
5 | Good | Drinkable Neat | An agreeable dram indeed.
6 | Very Good | Any flaws offset by interesting flavors | A cut above.
7 | Great | You find yourself reaching for this one often | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Serve to Impress Guests | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite | You guard this bottle jealously