SBOmarc Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Liquorama in Upland Ca. has the juice, retailing at $45. For those close by.At this time I am pondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Troyce and I fired up a bottle of the Rye 1 tonight at Bourbon Tasting 49. Or, is that 53, no...46...56...Oh crap, I don't remember. Anyways, first impressions were: Decent nose. Light, but florally and pleasant, nonetheless. Very thin and underwhelming upon first taste. My first thoughts were, "Damn, disappointed by a new rye, again." But disappointment soon turned to great hope. The high point for this whiskey is at mid-palate, and is quite enjoyable. The rye, though not brawny, does show through here. A little nutmeg, also. Nice. But, that is only a tease, as the finish is short and uninspiring. I really expected a more robust finish after such a nice middle. If you were to chart this on a graph, the results would resemble a Bell Curve, but with more of a pointy spike on top, rather than a curve. Now, I must admit that I like a smash mouth rye, all the way through. So, I may be a little too critical of any rye that doesn't hit me in the nose, and make my eyes water. But...That's the way...uh-huh, uh-huh...I like it...uh-huh, uh-huh...(Whoa! KC&TSB alert!!!) Maybe, Beam did this by design. Smooth (flavorless) up front. A nice taste in the middle (gotta have something to go with the mixer). Unobtrusive on the end. Maybe, it hits the "target market", as we've discussed in this thread? A couple of asides: The bottle/package is much less impressive than the promotional pictures showed. The labels look cheap...very cheap. White background, with black print. And the orange on the side? The main label almost looks like a temporary sticker. Very plain, if you consider what Beams target was. I think a label printed directly on the bottle like Stagg, Baby Saz, etc. would have been better, IMO. In the end, I would have a hard time spending another $49 on this bottle. I would rate it above the Wild Turkey RRR, but well below the Baby Saz. And, both of these are much cheaper. You can get two bottles of either of these, for the price of one bottle of Rye 1. BTW, we followed up our tasting of the Rye 1 with a hit of the Baby Saz. No contest. Baby Saz dominated in all areas. As always, I appreciate new products and efforts, from the distilleries. This one didn't do it for me, but it's just my opinion. Please...please keep on trying ya'll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OscarV Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Joe, thanks for review.You saved me some money and time. I agree with what you said about the label, I have not seen it but it does sound like Beam should have "dressed" it up more for their target consumers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLfarmboy Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Chuck, is Beam just cherry picking barrels that come out milder or is this one of those instances where the proof off the still is chosen with the expression in mind?I can see a disturbing trend in "trendy ryes" where the proof off the still and barreling proof are upped to appeal to this demographic. The downside would be that since that demographic is larger than real whiskey enthusiasts, the amount of aging stocks with comparatively lower distillation proofs/ barreling proofs, will drop from their current level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BourbonJoe Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Thanks Joe & Jimmie. You saved be a few bucks. Nice review.Joe :usflag: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasH Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I saw this bottle in the store and it is definitely aimed at the Grey Goose crowd. Between the bottle and the other fancy accessories around the neck, it probably added at least 10.00 to the cost to fancy it up. From the sounds of the above reviews, a lot of what makes rye appealing has been evidently stripped from this offering. I won't say that I would never try it. Eventually some will show up somewhere on a sale rack and then I'll try it!Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Chuck, is Beam just cherry picking barrels that come out milder or is this one of those instances where the proof off the still is chosen with the expression in mind?I don't think they made this from scratch. If they had, I probably would have heard that. From talking to Fred about it, it's their standard rye recipe that goes into Beam rye and Old Overholt, just a little older, but that means the answer is (a), they're picking barrels that fit a profile they're looking for.It sounds right for the target, as in mild, but sophisticated in that there are some pretty nice rye characteristics present, they're just not hit-you-over-the-head. Like I said, it's not for us, because I think I can safely say this is the hit-you-over-the-head crowd here.I'm still looking forward to trying it, but the fact that they haven't sent me a sample is another suggestion that they're not appealing to my constituency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whskylvr Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 As Cowdery mentioned on a previous post. Vodka Looking!!When I first saw this bottle my initial thought was a "Blood Orange EFFEN VODKA". We have had this in the store for sale for 3 weeks and we haven't moved a bottle. Even trying to push it on the "hip" bars with no luck. It's hard to sell a product when you don't know what it tastes like. Being that I work for a distributor (we should have had a bottle to taste) ya think!!Huge marketing campaign especially in the big cities. L.A. has it in 5 or 6 high end bars and the main focus is using it in mixed cocktails.Looking forward to trying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dramiel McHinson Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 As Cowdery mentioned on a previous post. Vodka Looking!!When I first saw this bottle my initial thought was a "Blood Orange EFFEN VODKA". Looking forward to trying it.EGADS! Uh..sorry...I had an unsolicited visual there for a moment.:bigeyes: I managed to self nominate for the position of village idiot in another post on Old Potrero rye. Rye is where my lack of knowledge and exposure renders me useless. I don't mind giving the new Beam a go either. If it doesn't go on the favorites list that just leaves room for another bottle of something else. Now, if I could just find some of those head bangin' whiskies in my area I'd be able to home school myself better.Thanx for the great guidance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnbowljoe Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Spotted some of this yesterday when I was picking up something at my local store for a friend. $45 a bottle. Ugly bottling to me. I'm old fashioned. Give me a Weller Antique 107, just for looks alone.:cool: JoePS I'm not a rye guy anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Got to try it for free last night at a tasting. (Atlas Whiskey-Fest in Boston) I am not a fan. I found it quite similar to the other Beam rye products, which is to say light, thin, and with very little flavor. It was also quite sharp on the palate. Baby-saz, WT rye, Rittenhouse, and even Fleichmann's are 100 times better. Pricing was interesting, they had it listed as $22, with event pricing of $20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 I checked with the store owner to verify the price and he said it was a mis-print and he is checking on the real price. OMG!!! $45/bottle for this crap! Now if Beam can make $$ and expand the American whiskey segment, then that's great, but I would also fear that they turn off people from rye/bourbon that are being open minded enough to give it a shot.Or maybe the target market IS people who buy pretty price tags and don't care what is inside. Still don't want to give rye a bad name though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLfarmboy Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 ..Huge marketing campaign especially in the big cities. L.A. has it in 5 or 6 high end bars and the main focus is using it in mixed cocktails. I haven't spotted it around here. It dosn't suprize me that it's heavily marketed to, well, the people to whom its marketed. I checked with the store owner to verify the price and he said it was a mis-print and he is checking on the real price. OMG!!! $45/bottle for this crap! Now if Beam can make $$ and expand the American whiskey segment, then that's great, but I would also fear that they turn off people from rye/bourbon that are being open minded enough to give it a shot. I was thinking along the same lines. You don't buy Roquefort expecting it to taste like cheese whiz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leebo Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Saw this in two MA stores for $ 48 and $52. A lot of others I would buy before this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slob Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I saw this for the first time today on the shelf. The price was prohibitive for me, at least at the moment. But of greater concern to me is the brand image. It looks very sleek and sophisticated. I am neither sleek nor sophisticated and I do not want my Rye bottle looking at me like it's better than me. Does this stuff even have a website?Edit: It does have a website. Sort of. http://www.ri1whiskey.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLfarmboy Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 ....Does this stuff even have a website?Edit: It does have a website. Sort of. http://www.ri1whiskey.com/An attempt to create buzz by saying almost nothing?Inadvertently, it speaks volumes about the whiskey: All hype and no substance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 A couple of thoughts on this. I can't begrudge Beam for their effort. Actually, I applaud it. They're trying to hit a market. That market isn't me, and it's probably not most who walk this site. But I think, the fact that they're trying new things, is a good thing.I see from their website that Slob provided, that if you put in a birthday (necessary to enter the site) that puts your age under 21, it transfers you to a Nickalodeon cartoons alcahol awareness website. Weird.Lastly, I see from the website that they plan a Ri2 and a Ri3. Let's hope they do better for OUR market on those. I dropped the 48 bucks on this one, and came away disapointed. They're going to have to promise me a big RI for them to get me to do it again on the next iterations. I don't care how purdy the bottle is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBOmarc Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I tasted this recently and can't disagree with the comments on the taste, or lack thereof. It did save me the money to buy it. The local liquor store has not sold one bottle. So much for a catchy bottle and front row prominent display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slob Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 An attempt to create buzz by saying almost nothing?Inadvertently, it speaks volumes about the whiskey: All hype and no substance.It works in IE, but not Firefox. But don't go installing IE just to see what's there. http://press.ri1whiskey.com/pdf/press_release.pdfhttp://press.ri1whiskey.com/pdf/tasting_notes.pdfhttp://press.ri1whiskey.com/pdf/recipe.pdfhttp://press.ri1whiskey.com/images/uploads/35b527876968cd213013f286b1498755.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attila Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 IF JB removes a certain type of barrel for this that would have otherwise went to old overholt, i imagine the flavor of old overholt will change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLfarmboy Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 A couple of thoughts on this. I can't begrudge Beam for their effort. Actually, I applaud it. They're trying to hit a market. That market isn't me, and it's probably not most who walk this site. But I think, the fact that they're trying new things, is a good thing.I see from their website that Slob provided, that if you put in a birthday (necessary to enter the site) that puts your age under 21, it transfers you to a Nickalodeon cartoons alcahol awareness website. Weird.Lastly, I see from the website that they plan a Ri2 and a Ri3. Let's hope they do better for OUR market on those. I dropped the 48 bucks on this one, and came away disapointed. They're going to have to promise me a big RI for them to get me to do it again on the next iterations. I don't care how purdy the bottle is.I'm in the process of redoing this computer. I wiped everything out and re-partitioned the hard drive and installed Windows XP.All I got was a screen, white on one side and orange on the other with the RI logo on one side. No place to enter your birth date.I've always wondered why sites have those. Reading about bourbon or other alcoholic beverages isn't drinking them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoshani Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 The press release mentions that they are going to be doing line extensions... ri2 and ri3 are in the works. I need a drink...anyone have some pre-prohibition Old Farm Rye? (That IS the actual brand of whiskey made by the Overholt family. Abe never saw Old Overholt.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I'm in the process of redoing this computer. I wiped everything out and re-partitioned the hard drive and installed Windows XP.All I got was a screen, white on one side and orange on the other with the RI logo on one side. No place to enter your birth date.I've always wondered why sites have those. Reading about bourbon or other alcoholic beverages isn't drinking them.Maybe, something is amiss on your computer, then. I see you're getting the big RI1 logo on the white side. But, it appears your missing the text with the birthdate info, which is on the Orange side. I just tried it again, and it popped up for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 IF JB removes a certain type of barrel for this that would have otherwise went to old overholt, i imagine the flavor of old overholt will change.Unlikely. I'm sure this was thoroughly planned in terms of supply of product as well as marketing. Rye is pretty small volume, but R1 is essentially zero volume while OH is a lot more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 I did see it on the shelf in Ann Arbor this past weekend. I think it was 39.99. I bought Stagg instead.Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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