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Monday, January 25, 2021

Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Whiskey (2018)


VITALS:
- $70
- 100 Proof
- NAS
- Kentucky

I’m not going to lie, Rock Hill Farms is one of my all-time favorite whiskeys. In fact, I make it a point to always have one in reserve before I open a new bottle of it. So, if you're here looking for an unbiased, objective review of this whiskey, let me tell you up front that that is not what this is--not that any whiskey reviews are unbiased or objective.

That said, given that these are single barrels, and given their ever increasingly limited availability, I figured since I finished this bottle off, I might as well go ahead and give it another review and jot down my notes as to what I smelled and tasted this time around. Who knows, maybe I noticed something different or better, or even worse this time around. But, just as expected, I sure did enjoy this bottle and now I will once again be on the hunt for my back-up bottle before I can open the next.

The nose was full of traditional aromas of caramel and brown sugar, with a nice, warming cinnamon spice to it. I also got some candied orange, with that caramelized citrus note that would really lend itself to a delicious Old Fashioned. In fact, I even got a bit of a Luxardo cherry note to sort of round things out. IT really smelled delicious!

The flavor really followed suit, and those Old Fashioned notes seemed to be sort of a running theme with this bottle. I found those same candied orange and dark cherry notes to be fairly prominent. But, keeping it from becoming too sweet, it also had that cinnamon spice to provide some nice balance.

While there's no age statement, it certainly spent a decent amount of time in the barrel, as the oak notes were noticeable, though far from overtaking all the other delicious flavors. Rather, it provided the right amount of tannic bitterness to, again, provide balance with all the other flavors.

The finish, however, seemed to lean more to the sweeter side. I got a nice, long finish with lingering notes of toffee and dark chocolate. A bit of the drying wood notes also made their way through on the finish and may have been the reason I just kept going right back in for that next sip. There was also just a bit of cinnamon spice on the finish as well, noticeably on the tip of my tongue.

As I said, I've always been a big fan of this whiskey, and the 2018 bottling certainly did nothing to change that. The profile on this whiskey is right in my wheelhouse, and I only wish it were more readily available, though I see no reason to believe that's going to change any time soon. Luckily I've got a 2020 version bunkered away, just in case the mood hits me.

Grade: A

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