What Rye Are You Drinking? Summer 2013

[michaelturtle1]

The rye forum is blowing up these days! People are posting some great photos with what is, in my opinion, some of the best American whiskey ever bottled. I especially love that these bottles are shown open and half empty.

[ChainWhip]

Not sure how anyone can look at a bottle of extra aged rye and not crack it open... Needed to open a Hirsch 22 as how can you taste the 21 and 25 without it? And after tasting the Ritt 25 and Hirsch 25 how can you not compare them to a Willett 25?

Makes perfect sense to me

[jtgraves]

Not sure how anyone can look at a bottle of extra aged rye and not crack it open... Needed to open a Hirsch 22 as how can you taste the 21 and 25 without it? And after tasting the Ritt 25 and Hirsch 25 how can you not compare them to a Willett 25?

This kind of logic makes me wish I had an excuse to be in DE/PA more often!

Thanks again for the generous sharing, Mike!

[squire]

Not sure how anyone can look at a bottle of extra aged rye and not crack it open... Needed to open a Hirsch 22 as how can you taste the 21 and 25 without it? And after tasting the Ritt 25 and Hirsch 25 how can you not compare them to a Willett 25?

Easy if you don't give a damn about any of them.

[ChainWhip]

Easy if you don't give a damn about any of them.

Send 'em my way Squire ;-)

Ancient Chinese saying say one man garbage another man treasure

I jest but man am I enamored with these old ryes!

[squire]

Will comply my man. I realize if things were limited to my narrow taste preferences the Bourbon World would be a duller place.

[GaryT]

Finished last night with a run-of-the-mill Willett 4 yr, and am not ashamed to admit it Really looking forward to Willett's own ryes in the next few years to see how they compare!

[Old Dusty]

Top 5 of what I have tasted:

1) Willett Velvet Glove

2) Black Maple Hill 23

3) Willett Neal and Doug

4) Bowman Barrel Proof

5) Willett Doug Philips

Top 5 of what is actually obtainable:

1) Black Maple Hill 23

2) Vintage 21

3) Hirsch 22

4) Sazerac 18

5) Van Winkle Rye

[ChainWhip]

First rye tonight is a Willett 24yr / 47% bottle - smells & tastes similar to my Hirsch22.

That was followed by a Willett 24yr / 55% bottle that is pretty good as well

Edited August 18, 2013 by ChainWhip

[GaryT]

Nice pour of THH. Needed bold after that ECBP, and this is fitting the bill nicely

[whiskeyagonzo]

Had a nice pour of Ritt BiB earlier this evening. Tasty rye for sure.

[tigerlam92]

A nice pour of Vintage 23 rye, neat.

[ChainWhip]

First rye tonight is a Willett 24yr / 47% bottle - smells & tastes similar to my Hirsch22.

That was followed by a Willett 24yr / 55% bottle that is pretty good as well

Lather, rinse, repeat...

TheNovaMan: cheers to tomorrow, eh?

Me: cheers!

Me: this is the unicorn's piss it's so good

Me: hooowheee!

Me: yowza!

TheNovaMan: tears, it's unicorn tears

Me: lol... ok - i'm an ESL student man... i'm still learning

Me: LMAO that's funny

TheNovaMan: no prob, glad to help

Picture of TheNovaMan: #FACEPALM

Edited August 19, 2013 by ChainWhip

[Dolph Lundgren]

Picked up a few bottles of Jeff 10 yr and poured a glass. For the price, it's tough to beat. Too bad they're transitioning to the 95%. Frowney face.

[KySalesRep]

Enjoying some WTR101 after work.

[GaryT]

Had to crack one of these BMH 18yrs and give it a test drive. Absolutely positively without-a-doubt glad I drove back to get them! :yum:

[WAINWRIGHT]

Had to crack one of these BMH 18yrs and give it a test drive. Absolutely positively without-a-doubt glad I drove back to get them! :yum:

Glad to see you went back and grabbed all three,what a hell of a find!:grin:

[MyOldKyDram]

Yeah, ya done good kid. Mighty nice!

[ChainWhip]

Killer find! Glad to hear they're still out in the wild.

[theglobalguy]

Some SA 7yr Rye.

[Wryguy]

That's too funny, I picked up 2 BMH18 today, as well as a Classic Cask 13 and my first VOB BiB all in the same store in DC. That makes 12 bottles of BMH18 bought by SB members in the last week. It is definitely still out there in the wild.

*edit - I'm drinking some HW16, working toward polishing off this bottle.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Wryguy

[ChainWhip]

Finally did side-by-side tonight of the two Willett 24's and the Hirsch 22:

The two Willett24's definitely share traits that are closer to each other versus the Hirsch22.

All three open up on the palate with the characteristic well-aged rye notes of spice & wood... The Willetts are fruitier & sweeter (the 55%'er being the biggest fruit bomb of the three) while the Hirsch22 is oakier/tannic/leathery in comparison - there's a family resemblance between all three but based on taste alone, I'd have guessed the Hirsch22 is the oldest of the three.

Adding two drops of water each (from a coffee stirrer straw), the nose opens up and amplifies existing aromas. The Willett24/47% gets a little watered down, the Hirsch22 is about the same and the Willett24/55% gets even sweeter.

They're all stunning ryes and I count myself lucky to have been able to try these.

Edited August 20, 2013 by ChainWhip

[LCWoody]

Looks like a great afternoon of Rye's.

[ChainWhip]

Looks like a great afternoon of Rye's.

For me, it was a taste of history that I am fortunate to treasure.

Edited August 20, 2013 by ChainWhip

[Tucker]

Enjoying some Handy with a little splash of water.

Pow! Love this stuff.