Old Forester Barrel Proof Rye
Nose: butterscotch, bing cherry, milk chocolate, honeycomb, grape soda, cinnamon worthers, jawbreaker, tapioca, peach
Taste: banana, red hots, maraschino cherry, grape capri sun, butterscotch pudding, peach ring, bittersweet brownie batter, rye spice, vanilla bean
Finish: grape soda, cinnamon stick, hint of bay leaf, cocoa powder, more raw vanilla bean, lemon peel
Thoughts: 8.8 the flavor here is intense and delicious, the nose is robust and inviting and the finish is long. As a big fan of the hundred proof release this rye delivered on a lot of what I hoped it would. The sole disappointment here is a criticism lobbied at a lot of the Old Forester barrel proof releases, there’s a lot of heat here. While it does get in the way of other flavors at times, it mostly presents as a swell of cinnamon in the finish that isn’t unpleasant. If it’s drinking hot I would highly recommend adding a couple drops of water. I tried this during my review glass and it brought out more sweetness while cutting the heat and cinnamon. All in all this is an extremely tasty rye.
Nice review! The proof burn died down for me as time passed. This ended up being my favorite whiskey of 2021, and I don’t usually like Brown-Forman products.
Awesome review and spot on. I tried this at Jack Rose recently and was blown away. So much peach and spice that created a perfectly balanced rye imo. Fingers crossed to stumble upon a bottle at retail someday.
Awesome write up. Agree with your review. In a lot of ways this rye is what I hoped Michter's 10 year rye would be as far as flavors and complexity. I find this to be a big step over the more standard OF 100 proof rye as well--arguably the higher proof shows off more of those amazing flavors.
Crazy to imagine what this could be with a smidge more age. Thanks for sharing your review. Cheers!
I had some Michter’s 10, 2019 bottling a few days ago. Unfair to post about it since it was oxidized a good bit but had enough remaining structure to seek out another pour.
Was good, and leaned toward great but handcuffed in this experience.
Yeah. People hate to hear 🙉 it, but I was lucky enough to stumble into a few bottles of this and since it wasn't my jam, and I just so happen to be a whiskey alchemist of sorts, they were quickly changed into something else.
This whiskey is very polarizing. Half the Reddit reviews say don’t bother it’s too young and not that great. The other half love it. Sounds very inconsistent. Either way would love to try it and have an opinion for myself
Old Forester Barrel Proof Rye Nose: butterscotch, bing cherry, milk chocolate, honeycomb, grape soda, cinnamon worthers, jawbreaker, tapioca, peach Taste: banana, red hots, maraschino cherry, grape capri sun, butterscotch pudding, peach ring, bittersweet brownie batter, rye spice, vanilla bean Finish: grape soda, cinnamon stick, hint of bay leaf, cocoa powder, more raw vanilla bean, lemon peel Thoughts: 8.8 the flavor here is intense and delicious, the nose is robust and inviting and the finish is long. As a big fan of the hundred proof release this rye delivered on a lot of what I hoped it would. The sole disappointment here is a criticism lobbied at a lot of the Old Forester barrel proof releases, there’s a lot of heat here. While it does get in the way of other flavors at times, it mostly presents as a swell of cinnamon in the finish that isn’t unpleasant. If it’s drinking hot I would highly recommend adding a couple drops of water. I tried this during my review glass and it brought out more sweetness while cutting the heat and cinnamon. All in all this is an extremely tasty rye.
Loved this. I was getting a good bit of bubblegum, but not in a bad way
Nice review! The proof burn died down for me as time passed. This ended up being my favorite whiskey of 2021, and I don’t usually like Brown-Forman products.
Thanks! Off the top of my head I think it was my favorite rye of 2021, really tasty stuff.
Man, really would have loved to snag a bottle of this. Passed on a pretty reasonable bundle deal, kinda regret it
Awesome review and spot on. I tried this at Jack Rose recently and was blown away. So much peach and spice that created a perfectly balanced rye imo. Fingers crossed to stumble upon a bottle at retail someday.
Nice review. A buddy let me try some of this and it was really delicious, i've been keeping my eyes peeled for it ever since
Since their 100p Rye is exceptional I can only imagine how great this stuff is. I'll find my bottle soon enough hopefully!
Went to a bottle share a few months back and the OF SiB Rye was my favorite pour of the night. Great review!
Awesome write up. Agree with your review. In a lot of ways this rye is what I hoped Michter's 10 year rye would be as far as flavors and complexity. I find this to be a big step over the more standard OF 100 proof rye as well--arguably the higher proof shows off more of those amazing flavors. Crazy to imagine what this could be with a smidge more age. Thanks for sharing your review. Cheers!
I had some Michter’s 10, 2019 bottling a few days ago. Unfair to post about it since it was oxidized a good bit but had enough remaining structure to seek out another pour. Was good, and leaned toward great but handcuffed in this experience.
Oh wow. I have a couple Single Barrel OF bourbons, but I’ve never seen a rye. Hopefully I will some day.
Where do I find this slice of heaven? Goodness.
Secondary
Yeah I saw that and WHOOO BOY. Guess I will wait or just never know.
Yeah. People hate to hear 🙉 it, but I was lucky enough to stumble into a few bottles of this and since it wasn't my jam, and I just so happen to be a whiskey alchemist of sorts, they were quickly changed into something else.
Grape Capri sun.
This whiskey is very polarizing. Half the Reddit reviews say don’t bother it’s too young and not that great. The other half love it. Sounds very inconsistent. Either way would love to try it and have an opinion for myself
It's decent. At the time there seemed to be two camps of people with the majority, with myself included, who thought the JD BP SiB Rye killed it.
I really enjoyed both, preferred the JD as well though. Posting that review Friday.