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2014 Release Michter's 10 Year Rye?


whiskeyobsessive
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This stuff seems to be slowly popping up. Whatever one thinks about the company, the last release was really stellar, likely CoK rye. Anyone have experience with the new stuff or any idea of the provenance? I think I just ordered 2 online and will happily share my thoughts when they arrive, but if it is like the previous, I may have to lay in some more.

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Just had my first taste this weekend. Did not have the earlier release so I can't compare but this one is a real rye. I much prefer it compared to WP or Jeff.

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OK. Just opened one. This is nice, but I'm guessing 10 years and 0 days old. Has a bit of the nose of the old Medley and Cream of Kentucky ryes but more subdued. Palate is hotter, sweeter and less sour/woody than the prior Michter's 10. I'm going to guess, as predicted that this is DSP354 rye and is close to the 10/100 Rittenhouse I've been asking for. Just wish it were cheaper. At this point it is in the category of the CEHT rye of unusually decent/good ryes in a tough market that I can actually get but are too expensive.

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Agreed. I do like this one and the CETH but doubt I will buy another of either at these prices. To me High West Rendezvous and Baby Zaz taste as good and at a much better price point.

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I have it and like it, but it tastes like Indiana to me. Very big mint.

Interesting notes. Typically Indiana would taste like big corn. Or big pork tenderloin.

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I have it and like it, but it tastes like Indiana to me. Very big mint.
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No, that's strictly based on taste. For all we know it's Barton, i.e., Fleischmann's, in which case we have nothing to compare it to, as the Fleischmann's itself is so young. I know some of the High West rye is Barton's. A lot of mint suggests a lot of rye, more than the minimum of 51 percent.

I still have mixed feelings about Michter's. They've been very gracious to me. I respect their seriousness about what they're doing and they have an excellent product. They've gotten more responsible about how they represent their 'history,' but I still have the issues I have with any NDP. I do accept that contract distilling is qualitatively different from bulk, but I don't buy their 'cooking in someone else's kitchen' analogy.

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Have to agree with you re Michter's. When their stuff is good, like the original 10 y rye, it was very good, but their marketing has pissed me off as well. If they are indeed contract distilling it would be nice if they told us more about their specifications or mashbill, or in what other way it is different from bulk.

Had not thought about Barton, and never got my hands on the HW16, which is the only unalloyed straight Barton they put out. Either way, I hope the original distiller releases something similar and cheaper. It's getting hard out here for an aged rye fan.

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  • 2 months later...

Frankly, the marketing noise doesn't bother me. I think it's all rather interesting to watch.

What I don't like about Michter's is they watered it down under 85 proof. Why!?

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Frankly, the marketing noise doesn't bother me. I think it's all rather interesting to watch.

What I don't like about Michter's is they watered it down under 85 proof. Why!?

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I seem to remember the std rye being 85 but I thought both it and the 10 yr were just meh and when you factor in the price way south of meh. Just my $0.02.

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85 proof seems a bit low, mine is 92.8 and other bottles I've seen with different barrel numbers have been the same.

The 10yo Michter's rye that I have is also 92.8 (the 10yo Bourbon is 94.4). Decent but could be better. At around $75 or so the first one I bought was quite nice. Then again it was one that was rumored to be an older whiskey in the bottle. Not that I know for sure one way or the other! As it gets up to and beyond $100/bottle and the source of the whiskey remains a mystery I tend to be less interested.

I also got one bottle of the 10yo bourbon out of curiosity and one seems to be more than enough for me at present!

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I seem to remember the std rye being 85 but I thought both it and the 10 yr were just meh and when you factor in the price way south of meh. Just my $0.02.
The 10yo Michter's rye that I have is also 92.8 (the 10yo Bourbon is 94.4). Decent but could be better. At around $75 or so the first one I bought was quite nice. Then again it was one that was rumored to be an older whiskey in the bottle. Not that I know for sure one way or the other! As it gets up to and beyond $100/bottle and the source of the whiskey remains a mystery I tend to be less interested.

I also got one bottle of the 10yo bourbon out of curiosity and one seems to be more than enough for me at present!

The price really does push the bottle into a whole different category with expectations. Is it 3X better than my other favorite rye, WT101? No way. That being said, I did enjoy the previous release more than the current bottling from memory but the new one really has grown on me. The nose and taste has changed for me over time. There was a period I really felt "meh" about it but the few couple weeks after I revisited it, a nice viscosity with subtle layers of dark caramel, mint, evergreen forrest grassy flavors and a bit of chocolate on the palate makes me want another pour. I figure the mashbill can't be more than 60-62% rye due to the "bourbon-like" taste. My initial response was to not buy another bottle due to price, but after thinking it through, I like it enough to justify the cost especially since it's not easy to more bottles.

I haven't tried the 10 year bourbon yet, but also have a bottle from 2014 stashed away.

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I feel the same way: at first "meh, ok" and then a few weeks later it starts to go deeper. Which is exactly the opposite I have with many whiskies; at first too tight and "yuk" only to "open up" and broaden with time and air.

But I'm not getting the mint you guys are. Drinks more like a bourbon at this point.

My guess is Michter's is buying barrels of whatever they can get their hands on from MGP, Barton, KBD, etc then vatting until they have something they like, then dumping a batch of barrels into SINGLE BARREL(s) (used), letting them sit overnight, then knocking it down with water and the bottling it.

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But I'm not getting the mint you guys are. Drinks more like a bourbon at this point.

My guess is Michter's is buying barrels of whatever they can get their hands on from MGP, Barton, KBD, etc then vatting until they have something they like, then dumping a batch of barrels into SINGLE BARREL(s) (used), letting them sit overnight, then knocking it down with water and the bottling it.

Definitely drinks more like bourbon, the mint is very subtle close to to the finish before it gets to the oak char. At least that's where I always pick it up. I also think there's a good chance it's a vatting. Occasionally I get a tiny bit of LDI in it, however lately I'm not noticing it. That flavor was more noticeable the first week I opened it, and it was slightly off putting. That's when I put it in the back shelf so I wouldn't be reminded how much it cost me, and now it's move up to the middle slots.

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85 proof seems a bit low, mine is 92.8 and other bottles I've seen with different barrel numbers have been the same.

My bad. My Michter's Rye isn't the 10 year.

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Michter's is not "buying barrels of whatever they can get their hands on" for the 10-year-old and NAS bottlings. That whiskey is the result of their contract distilling program, which is just a little more than ten years old. Everything age-stated that's above 10 years is still "whatever they can get their hands on."

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Ok, Colonel. :)

I do remember something that someone said or heard about that...maybe...at some point....about that. But that, in a nut shell, is Michter's for ya isn't it? I just assumed they were bidding on the spot market as that seemed the most logical. If they're not sourcing the actual booze but rather handing their 'recipe' over to someone to have it made for them, at the end of the day - to me at least - they're just a label (or just another rebadged faker).

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I think making a distinction between contracted and spot market is fair. At least with contract you have consistency. I do not, however, accept the analogy Michter's uses of 'cooking in someone else's kitchen.' Having someone else make your product under contract is not the same as making it yourself.

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Fair enough, considering the relatively high regard many have for those wheaters that are contract distilled at BT. Michters seems to be aiming to be Brown Formans Van Winkle.

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Michters seems to be aiming to be Brown Formans Van Winkle.

Never had the Van Winkle but if this Michters is a knock off I haven't missed anything. Of course just my $0.02.

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The michters 10 and VW ryes are now nothing alike. The older michters 10 rye is amazing, was bought on the spot market and is in many ways similar to the VW.

What I meant was that the branding approach (prestige label contracting with a major distilled) was is becoming similar.

The new rye is fine, but is worth no where near $100 IMO. The old one was, this stuff tastes like older, but lower proof rittenhouse.

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I'm probably the lone person who is enjoying the current bottle but the other day I walked into a store I've never been to and saw they had a lone bottle on their shelf. Took a look at the price, $189.99... As much as I do like it, that's absurd.

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The michters 10 and VW ryes are now nothing alike. The older michters 10 rye is amazing, was bought on the spot market and is in many ways similar to the VW.

What I meant was that the branding approach (prestige label contracting with a major distilled) was is becoming similar.

The new rye is fine, but is worth no where near $100 IMO. The old one was, this stuff tastes like older, but lower proof rittenhouse.

I recall some speculation about whether B-F would do a rye on their own when Ritt production shifted back to HH. Sounds like they have some older stock but maybe not enough to support a new brand. A 10yo Rittenhouse style rye, whether it comes from B-F, HH or is contract distilled for Michter's would certainly be interesting but at more like $40 or maybe $50 a bottle, certainly not $100.

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