Kentucky Owl 10 Year Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey - Batch No. 03

VITALS:

- $140 (MSRP - $180)

- 114 Proof

- 10 Years

- Batch No. 03

- Kentucky

When Kentucky Owl their first batch of their rye, an 11 year cask strength expression, I was thrilled to get my hands on one. At that time Kentucky Owl was at the peak of its hype, with people fighting to get their hands on those $300 bottles of bourbon. The release of a rye, not to mention a well-aged, cask strength rye, certainly benefitted from that hype. That said, the whiskey inside was quite good, and I found I really enjoyed what they had done.

But, after just a few releases, it quickly lost its luster. The market for high-end, high-priced ryes just didn't support $140+ bottles, even with the age statement. And so, subsequent releases, including this Batch No. 03, seemed to sit on shelves or in the locked cabinets just waiting for someone to come along. It didn't help that the price kept climbing as well.  I was able to pick this one up on sale at $140, which was still very steep. But at $180, the original price for this release, I could never convince myself to pull the trigger.

That said, I got it at a discount, and I got it to drink. So, eventually I got around to popping the cork just this past New Year's Eve, when my brother-in-law and I had a handful of high-end ryes to sip on for the night. Right away I could tell that, much like the earlier release I had, this was on the sweeter end for a rye. I got brown sugar and peanut, along with something light and fruity, kind of like melon.  But, there was a touch of rich cherry mixed in as well.  Notably, it had a very strong malty backbone.

Luckily for me, it had much more spice on the palate than on the nose (I tend to lean towards the spicier ryes).  Right up front I got a healthy dose of cinnamon, and the cherry note was also more prominent in the flavor than it was on the nose. It was still sweet, with notes of caramel accompanied by unsweetened vanilla.

But, it maintained a lot of the rye characteristics. In addition to the cinnamon notes I got right up front, I got a bit of mint. It wasn't a lot, but it was there. However, the malt notes made their way forward, and it developed a distinct cereal note, kind of like Cheerios.

On the finish, the cinnamon came across more like cloves, and that spice note lingered for quite a while. The mint, which had not been strong at all, was much more prominent on the finish, leaving almost a cooling sensation in my mouth.  That mint was accompanied by a very welcome vanilla notes as well.  This combination of flavors really made for a great finish!

This is a very good rye, don't get me wrong. But, I'm glad I didn't pay full price, as that's just a lot to ask. Well-aged whiskeys are somewhat hard to come by, but even today they don't seem to be commanding quite the price that this one was asking, and that's why it sat as long as it did.

Grade: B+

Kentucky Owl 11 Year Kentucky Straight Rye Batch No. 1

VITALS:
- $140
- 110.6 Proof
- 11 Years
- Kentucky

The release of Kentucky Owl Rye was much anticipated by most in the bourbon community. After all, Kentucky Owl has long had a cult following and been known for releasing highly allocated but absolutely delicious bourbon. When their release of Kentucky Owl Rye was announced, I had resigned myself to the fact that, much like their bourbon releases, I wasn't going to stumble across any bottles of the rye.

However, and I don't know if this is attributable to the purchase of the brand by Stoli or not, this release seems to have been plentiful. Though the price is high, it is, at least, pretty readily available, relatively speaking. I know that I can run to the store right now and grab a bottle if I so desired, and that, to me, means a lot. After all, if the whiskey is good, why not get it in the hands of as many people as possible!

And luckily for me, this whiskey is very good! The nose had more alcohol than what I had expected. While it's somewhat high proof, I've had much higher proofed whiskeys that didn't burn quite as much. Behind that alcohol, though, was a lot of cinnamon. It smelled like a stick of Big Red gum and immediately had my mouth watering. Interestingly, I got a distinct malt note. Although the mashbill is undisclosed, there appears to be a significant amount of Barley used as a secondary or tertiary ingredient.

Incredibly, on the palate that alcohol burn from the nose did not carry over. There was almost no burn at all to this whiskey, which allowed all the other flavors to shine, and the overall flavor of this whiskey is delicious!

There is definitely a maltiness to it, providing an interesting mix of the spicy rye and unpeated Scotch notes. I've had other barley-influenced ryes in the past that didn't do much for me, but in this one it worked. There were a couple times that I took a sip and the barley seemed to dominate, but for the most part it stayed in the background, providing a soft blanket for the otherwise up front and spicy rye flavors.

This whiskey is full of brown sugar and cinnamon. It tasted the way Christmas cookies smell when they're being baked. I realize that's kind of obtuse, but if I could capture that smell as a flavor, this was it. It also had a slight piney/minty flavor that seemed to just barely make its way into the flavor profile, just enough to add a little more character.

This whiskey was lauded by some as the whiskey of the year for 2017. I certainly don't begrudge them that. Interestingly, this one seemed to fluctuate from a very good whiskey to an amazing whiskey. Some pours I simply enjoyed, and other pours blew me away. I don't know what to make of that, but overall this is an excellent whiskey and one worth trying for sure.

Grade: A-