Interesting changes to Old Potrero Rye

[jinenjo]

A friend is coming to town so I searched picked up the straight rye for us to share, this was essay: 10-SRW-ARM-K. I believe L is on shelves as well. Some interesting things I noticed is that it jumped up in proof from 90 to 97--how often do we see this happen these days??? After some research I deducted that the change was between versions I and H.

Also, there was usually an age statement on the back label's notes--I've seen 3+ years, and an earlier version had vattings of young and old. Not sure if they permanently went NAS, but this is 4 yrs or older then. The last I had was version G, and I can't remember if that had an age. Anyone with better notes out there?

Still one of my favorites (the straight rye, especially). It has its flaws, but the experience is so unique among all that's out there, I never seem to tire of it.

[brettckeen]

A friend is coming to town so I searched picked up the straight rye for us to share, this was essay: 10-SRW-ARM-K. I believe L is on shelves as well. Some interesting things I noticed is that it jumped up in proof from 90 to 97--how often do we see this happen these days??? After some research I deducted that the change was between versions I and H.

Also, there was usually an age statement on the back label's notes--I've seen 3+ years, and an earlier version had vattings of young and old. Not sure if they permanently went NAS, but this is 4 yrs or older then. The last I had was version G, and I can't remember if that had an age. Anyone with better notes out there?

Still one of my favorites (the straight rye, especially). It has its flaws, but the experience is so unique among all that's out there, I never seem to tire of it.

[jinenjo]

I'm not going to start another OP thread, so I'll just add to this one even though it's not directly related to the original post.

I decided to open up my bunkered bottle of Hotalings 15 y.o. A few weeks prior I finished off the last sample (held in a 50ml) of an earlier OP straight rye (essay F,G?). Anyway, wanted to post some brief thoughts.

I think I've said it here before, if not elsewhere, but that early straight rye expression is by far my favorite of all OPs I've tasted. This, IMO, is due to the charred barrel and that it's a vatting of 3 to 11 y.o. juice. When compared to the 15yo Hotalings, while still malty and pleasantly characteristic of that OP profile, I find it lacking some body and depth despite its age. In thinking about it this lack of allure may be due to the fact that its aged indoors, and in used barrels. Perhaps Anchor even uses environmental control (not that I've ever heard of them doing so), but the relatively mild and unvarying climate of SF, together with the indoor aging has to lead to the absence of a more pronounced oak influence on the finished product that is Hotalings.

This is moderate speculation on my part and I could be wrong about many components I mentioned. I would love to see them release an aged stated (i.e. 7-8+ yrs) straight rye at some point. I've picked up a more recent straight rye and it is young enough in that it compares to some of these other micro-distilled underaged whiskeys.