Willett Week: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye 6 years old, Barrel #57

I love Willett rye.  I LOVE Willet rye.  But after five of them in one week, whew......I don't know how Serge does it with his 7-part Caol Ila verticals on a Tuesday, then 6-part Bowmore horizontals on a Wednesday.  Here's how I structured things:

Tasting #1, Sunday night:  4 year old from barrel 82 and 4 year old from barrel 85
Tasting #2, Tuesday night:  5 year old from barrel 38 and 5 year old from barrel 64
Tasting #3, Thursday night: leftovers from Tasting #2 and 6 year old from barrel 57

It's been a whole lotta...

This final Willett rye was from my own bottle that I'd opened this past winter.  I stashed away a sample at the halfway point.  I forgot to take a pic of the sample, but here's the original bottle:

You see that "Distilled in Indiana" at the bottom of the back label.  That's good news for me.

Bottler: Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (formerly Willett Distilling Company)
Brand: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel
Type: Straight Rye Whiskey

Age: 6 years

Maturation: New American Oak

Region: Bardstown, Kentucky (Distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana)
Barrel: 57
Bottle: 155/204

Alcohol by Volume: 55%

The color?  Let's just call it Willett brand maple syrup.  The nose holds all things for all people.  First, it's very desserty.  Caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream, and cherries.  A rye sundae!  Mango and dried cranberries in there too.  And Cow Tales, the candy.  It's got the spices going on: cloves and cardamom.  It's rocking the barbecue: wood smoke and charred meat.  And -- like most of the other Willetts from this week -- give it 20+ minutes to breathe and a maple syrup note wafts up.  The palate also hits many good spots.  It has the sweets, the sours, brine, and heat, all in balance.  It's a little bready, has lots of cloves, some bubblegum, mint, and cherry-flavored cough syrup.  The dense thick rich finish brings the caramel and sweet cream combo, as well as a lot of fresh fruits (peaches and berries, I think...).  Possibly some rye seeds in there too.

Kristen noted the big alcohol heat.  But she also said the nose reminds her of the cranberry quick bread her church used to set out on Sundays when she was a kid.

This was some good stuff.  There were a number of these 6yos in the stores during Spring 2012.  I haven't seen them since.  With all the good word of mouth the Willett ryes have gotten, KBD may not be able to keep the barrels aging for much longer than 4 years anymore in order to meet demand.  That's not too tragic.  I adore the three and four year old bottlings, but hopefully they have a chance to keep a few barrels going for the extra couple of years.

If I were to give recommendations (I can see your eyes rolling via your webcam), I'd say that the 4 year olds have been reliably awesome in my experience (3 for 3!).  But if you're a fan of big ryes and you see a 6 year old single barrel Willett rye sitting on the shelf for the same price as the 4 year olds, you'd best scoop that up.  And make sure you check out where the rye in that bottle was distilled before laying down the cash.

Best Autumn wishes to everyone!  May you have plenty of whisk(e)y weather.

Availability - Not sure who's still carrying the 6 year, either

Pricing - $35-$40 (East Coast, Midwest), $40-$45 (West Coast)

Rating - 91

Willett Week: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye 5 years old, Barrel #64

Today, I'm covering a 5 year old Willett rye that was distilled in Kentucky (possibly at the Buffalo Trace or Brown-Forman distilleries) rather than the usual source at LDI/MGP in Indiana.  Meanwhile, it turns out that yesterday's 5 year old Willett rye was in fact distilled at LDI/MGP.  That leaves me with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good: Having tasted the two 5 year olds side by side, I was (unknowingly) able to compare two Willetts sourced from two different distilleries.

The Bad: The similarities I'd thought I'd found in the distillate were either my imagination or, at best, the result of similar oak and maturation conditions.

The Ugly: I actually reviewed whiskey from this very bottle back in April 2012.  Not only are today's notes very different than those previous ones, but this whiskey went from being my favorite Willett to my least favorite Willett.

Of course, my least favorite Willett still ranks in the 80-percentile of all the whisk(e)y I've ever tried.  Here's the back of that original bottle, with the "Distilled in Kentucky" description at the bottom.

Our old cruddy countertops and old tacky backsplash are there in the background
from days of yore, before we tore them all out...

And here is the sample bottle, I had stashed away over a year ago.

Bottler: Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (formerly Willett Distilling Company)
Brand: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel
Type: Straight Rye Whiskey

Age: 5 years

Maturation: New American Oak

Region: Bardstown, Kentucky
Barrel: 64
Bottle: 190/192

Alcohol by Volume: 55%

The juice may be from a different source, but the color remains the same as the others: maple syrup.  The nose is the corniest of the Willetts so far.  Corny and creamy, creamed corn?  The paint-like fumes that I'd sniffed in yesterday's rye are here too but more subtle and arise later on.  Lots of green grains, fresh wood pulp, molasses, and hot hay.  It's a little toffee-ish too with some vanilla extract thrown in, and some Juicy Fruit gum.  There's the cinnamon, but maybe in bark or stick form.  With some more time in the glass, the rye releases notes of cilantro, turkey gravy, cloves, and notebook paper. The palate is where this one separates itself from the others.  The tree bark, cinnamon candy, and black peppercorn notes are not surprising.  But the lightly perfumed vegetal bitterness is.  And then something eggy; can there be sulfur in rye?  On the other hand there's still some nice sweetness going on.  The odder notes go away in the finish.  It's full of buttery oak, cinnamon, and mint.  It goes on and on, bringing with it some cocoa powder and cloves as well as a very mild bitterness.

Kristen says it smells of farm equipment and wet hay.  I wish I'd smelled that, too!

How do I account for the differences between my notes here and the ones from April 2012?  Maybe my palate changed.  Perhaps trying this rye side-by-side with another one allowed me to pick out different notes and get more specific.  Or maybe something changed in the bottle.  My review last year was from whiskey towards the top of the bottle.  This sample was poured four months later when the fill level was at the midpoint.

While I won't rave about it like most of the other Willetts from this week's reports, it's still a decent rye.  Ultimately the nose is nice, so is the finish.  While the good finale actually makes one forget about the palate's quirks, those oddities are still there.  I'm thinking this version of Willett's rye may appeal better to folks who aren't the biggest fans of LDI's 95% rye mashbill.  For the rest of us, keep an eye on the back of the label for "Distilled in Indiana", that may be the difference between good and great.

Availability - Not sure who's still carrying the 5 year

Pricing - $35-$40 (East Coast, Midwest), $40-$45 (West Coast)

Rating - 83

Willett Week: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye 5 years old, Barrel #38

Local temperatures reached 90 again yesterday, so I'm going to keep on keepin' on with the Willett ryes.  Come on, Autumn, the welcome mat is out!

Today's and tomorrow's ryes will be 5 year olds.  One from a sample courtesy of Jordan (thank you!) and one from a bottle I'd actually reviewed some time ago, but had had a completely different experience upon tasting it again.

Both of these 5 year olds had a noticeably different spirit character than the 4 year olds.  I'm wondering if it was because many of the 5 yrs were not distilled by LDI/MGP, but instead by an unnamed Kentucky distillery.  This curiosity came up in a Straight Bourbon forum discussion a few months back.  The floated theory was that the rye came from either the Buffalo Trace or Brown Forman distilleries.

If anyone has thoughts about or experiences with this, please let me know!  [Note: Today's rye was distilled at LDI, tomorrow's rye was not.] Here's the label from my bottle, Barrel #64 (reviewed tomorrow):

The whiskies were still good, but of a different feel than the 4 yrs.  And, honestly, they were more difficult to figure out.

Let's start with Jordan's sample from Barrel #38.

Bottler: Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (formerly Willett Distilling Company)
Brand: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel

Age: 5 years

Maturation: New American Oak

Region: Bardstown, Kentucky
Barrel: 38

Alcohol by Volume: 55%

The color remains maple syrupy.  The nose on this one is the strongest so far.  Charred oak, almond paste, paint fumes, and prune juice lead the way.  It smells as if there's a little bit of corn (like corn chips) in here.  So, since LDI's mashbill has no corn, either this is from a distillery with corn in their rye mashbill or I'm just smellin' things.  Wouldn't be the first time.  I also sniff some ripe dates, coriander, and cloves.  There's a little bit of leather, a little vanilla, chicken stock, and a whiff of maple syrup at the end.  The palate has a cinnamon schnapps note that was entirely absent from the 4yrs, and sort of reminded me of my Rye Storm but better.  There are sweet and spicy notes like brown sugar, dates, and a minty effervescence.  Those balance well with green notes like grass, celery, and cucumber.  The spirit shouts the loudest on the finish.  Very cinnamony.  Some anise and figs, as opposed to the dates.  It's a bit drying, probably more from the big distillate than the oak tannins.

Kristen agreed that this was a strong sniffer.  She found this to have the least amount of vanilla, but with a dose of those paint fumes.

This is a big rye.  It's not for those who are looking for a mellow sipper nor those yearning for an oaky buttery caramel bomb.  It's a brash fighter and I'm glad the folks picking barrels for Willett went ahead with this one.  It took almost an hour for me to sort this one out, but in comparison with tomorrow's rye it balanced well in the end.

Availability - Not sure who's still carrying the 5 year

Pricing - $35-$40 (East Coast, Midwest), $40-$45 (West Coast)

Rating - 87

Willett Week: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye 4 years old, Barrel #85

Continuing within Autumn's Willett Welcome Wagon, I present my current open bottle of Willett Rye, another four year old, this time from Barrel number 85.  I tried this one alongside yesterday's 4yo from Barrel 82, a silky oaky take on the LDI/MGP good stuff.

Bottler: Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (formerly Willett Distilling Company)
Brand: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel

Age: 4 years

Maturation: New American Oak

Region: Bardstown, Kentucky (spirit distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana)
Barrel: 85
Bottle: 160/228

Alcohol by Volume: 55%

The color is the same as yesterday's rye: maple syrup (pronounced "sih-ruhp", "sih-rip", or "surp" depending on where you're from).  Woo! the nose is peppy. Much more spirity than Barrel 82. Black pepper, cherries, and a slight yeasty pretzel-like note.  There's cantaloupe, toffee, mint chocolate chip ice cream, mint Listerine, and spicy basil. From the oak there's a little vanilla, a little salted caramel, and some pencils.  The heat does cool off with some time, revealing something that reminds me of the GlenDronach single casks, like dense chocolatey sherry.  The palate holds lots of spicy zip.  LOTS of anise. Cherry liqueur, mint leaves, baking chocolate, and sweet black licorice.  There's also something a little grassy in there, floating along in sweet brandy.  The finish gets a little salty and savory. Beyond that lies plenty of peppery spice, more anise and mint leaves.  It has that old Robotussin thing, like black cherry meets anise (again).  The finish seems slightly shorter than #82 without the sticky oak.

Kristen says this one is a little fruitier with more subtle vanilla, and a much hotter nose.

Yesterday's (#82) and today's (#85) barrels appeal in different ways to different temperaments and different moods.  The oak was much more reserved in #85, allowing the rye distillate to run loose.  The spirit isn't overbearing, but it does like to tussle.  I guess I'm comparing whiskey to dogs now.  While Barrel #82 is a heavy lapdog that'll chew through the couch from time to time, Barrel #85 will poop in the refrigerator and eat the whole wheel of cheese. "Actually, I’m not even mad. That’s amazing.”

Availability - Many US liquor specialists

Pricing - $35-$40 (East Coast, Midwest), $40-$45 (West Coast)

Rating - 92

It's Willett Week! -- Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye 4 years old, Barrel #82

With the equinox behind us, and the temperature climbing to 88 92 today, I've decided to welcome in (or encourage the arrival of) Autumn with five days of Willett single barrel straight rye.  LDI/MGP's 95% rye mashbill is at the heart of the whisky of preference in my household, thus Kristen also lent her nose to all five of these ryes.

Please note: These are not the fancy premium Willetts of lore.  No "Doug" or "Iron Fist" or "Velvet Glove".  Those whiskies are very rare and very expensive.  The ryes I'm weighing in on this week are the ones we can often find at our favorite retailers for prices in the double digits, hopefully not more than $45.  I'll go in age and barrel order.

---

MONDAY:

FAMILY ESTATE SINGLE BARREL STRAIGHT RYE - 4 YEARS OLD - BARREL #82

Bottler: Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (formerly Willett Distilling Company)
Brand: Willett Family Estate Single Barrel

Age: 4 years

Maturation: New American Oak

Region: Bardstown, Kentucky (spirit distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana)
Barrel: 82

Alcohol by Volume: 55%

(thanks to Florin for the sample!)

The color stays pretty consistent amongst these ryes, almost always of a maple syrup hue.  The nose is loaded with brown baking spices -- a loaf of cinnamon, cloves, and brown sugar. Oh, and some sticky gooey bread pudding. Tons of vanilla as well, along with mint and milk chocolate.  It's also a little briney and there's some toasted rye bread in the mix too.  Confectioner's sugar meets leather shoes. Lots of oak, from bark to pulp. Finally......let's do the time warp......I'm back in Hebrew School (specifically, second grade on Tuesday and Thursday nights) when they brought in Israeli carob bark and dates. I wasn't crazy about that stuff then, but its flavor is in this rye's nose.  Less time travel necessary for the palate. Smoky oak. Salted cucumbers and caramel sauce. Vanilla beans and bread pudding. It's sweeter and fruitier than I remember Willett rye to usually be.  But there's still the black cherry soda syrup and Robotussin (the good kind with the alcohol in the '80s) notes.  Big oak and big spirit in the finish.  Salt and sweets, along with peppery spices, linger long. After a little while, caramel candies and orange zest arise.

Kristen says it smells like vanilla and nice warm things.

That probably sells it better than my tl;dr notes above.

Compared to the rye I'll post about tomorrow, this one is much oakier and mellower.  It puts up less of a fight, less of a headbutt to the mouth, than other Willett ryes.  While I like (probably more than is healthy) the Willett wallop, barrel #82's silky delivery is very welcoming.  Approved.

Availability - Many US liquor specialists

Pricing - $35-$40 (East Coast, Midwest), $40-$45 (West Coast)

Rating - 92

Summer Whiskey Report: Power's John's Lane 12 year old Single Pot Still

You're saying to yourself, "Didn't he just report on a sample of this stuff four months ago?"

And I say, "Thanks for reading my blog!"  Hypothetically, if I had posted about it, I would have ended said presupposed report saying I would study it further.  Now I have.

This was my other summer whiskey, in whole bottle form:

Another great gift from my in-laws, Andrew and Leslie!

Brand: Power's
Style: Single Pot Still
Distillery: Midleton
Age: at least 12 years (up to 14 years)
Maturation: mostly first* fill ex-bourbon barrels, along with some oloroso sherry butts (*though another official site says second fill)
Country: Ireland
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? Likely

Since we may have been here before with this whisky, I'm going to skip with the history lesson (which can be found on the post I may have done in May).

Right up front I'm going to say, this does not make for the best hot weather whiskey.  It's not light, it's not bright and fruity.  Going through this bottle only proves my original estimation that this whiskey is brooder, not a perky party girl.

As with yesterday's whisky, having a whole bottle allowed me to do more than a single study.  And lining it up next to the lightweight Glen Ord helped highlight its characteristics.

NEAT

The color is a dark yellow gold.  The nose leads with a combo of rubber cement, toffee, and fudge.  A whole lot of that.  Digging deeper, one may find whole wheat bread crust, pipe tobacco, barrel char, something figgy, vanilla, talcum powder, red berries in caramel sauce, and chewing gum.  I found little sign of the sherry butts, but there is still quite an alcohol tingle to it.  The palate is malty and sweet, having a bit of the toffee & fudge character from the nose.  There's also black coffee, oats, hot cereal, butter, brine, and chlorine.  Something green and grassy lingers underneath and there's a sharpness that feels a bit younger than the whiskey's age.  The extensive finish carries with it a citric sting.  There's more of the hot cereal character, topped with butter, caramel, and bananas.

WITH WATER

Those nose has gotten more expressive -- bigger, fruitier, gummier.  Orange bubble gum in fact.  Bright spices, cardamom in molasses.  There's nougat with the fudge now, and also something lightly perfumy.  Meanwhile the palate has gotten milder, but it's still very malty.  A little sweeter and easier.  Very reminiscent of my favorite Power's blend, minus the rougher spots.  It finishes mild and malty as well.  Some tartness and bitterness have snuck in.  It's also lightly herbal, perhaps juniper?

Sometimes we think a whisky is difficult to decipher because we assess it to be dense and cryptic.  And sometimes it's really because the whisky is just closed up tight.  Though in my previous estimation I'd said water didn't help the John's Lane 12 year, I am going to contradict myself.  That wall I'd previously kept hitting with the whiskey was largely because the nose can be very closed up when sniffed neatly.  It resulted in me knocking this sucker down a half star at the start of this tasting.  But then I tried it with a little water and the nose perked right up.  After the hydration the palate loosened up just a bit but mostly turned itself into the classic Power's blend (but better).  That may not appeal to you like it appeals to me.

This is still some tense stuff, it's not the most casual of drinks.  I'd take it over most single malts, but I still prefer all the Redbreasts over it.  The Redbreasts, even at cask strength are much more expressive.  If you do spring for Power's John's Lane 12 year, I recommend giving it 15 or more minutes in the glass, and a little water after you've tried it neat.

Pricewise, $65 is sort of pushing things.  That's higher than the cask strength version of Redbreast 12, and about the same price as Redbreast 15 year old (bottled at 46% ABV and unchillfiltered).  If it's actually a limited bottling then perhaps the price would make sense, but I haven't read anything about a short supply.  At $80 forget it, especially when you can still get two bottles of RB12 for that price via some retailers.

There is a younger NAS version of the Powers pot still ("Signature Release") that hit The States this month (also 46% ABV), it retails for $40-$50.  If I do get my hands on it, I'll try to limit it to one report......per year.

Availability - Specialty liquor retailers
Pricing - $65-$80
Rating - 90 (right on the edge, and please consider my usual Irish bias)

Summer Whisky Report: The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 years old

Kristen and I have discovered we are cold weather people.  We like cold weather food, cold weather beverages, and cold weather clothing.  We were born in Upstate New York.  We live in Southern California.  Such is life.  Whenever the stork does deliver us a child or two, we will likely search out a new home in a place that has four seasons.

But even in places with four seasons, Summer does pass through annually.  Seasons, especially the molten center of Summer, disregard the calendar, so no matter where we go The Heat will plant its fat ass in the air for a number of months before trudging off to hibernate.  And, for me, most whiskies do not drink well in The Heat.  Since Scotch and Irish booze originates in Celsius Land, I'm going to say when the air hits 30°C (86°F for the rest of us) beer and cold cocktails feel more appealing. (As far as storage goes, I try to keep the whisky below 25°C in our warm home.)

I still keep a couple whisk(e)y bottles open in the summer.  I aim for lighter, fruitier, 40-46%ABV, non-peated stuff.  It's an ongoing experiment each year, trying to sort out what works best.  Since the calendar says summer is ending this week, I shall present y'all with a pair of this year's summer whiskies.

Today's whisky:

THE SINGLETON OF GLEN ORD 12 YEARS OLD

No filters or Instagrammage on this one.
Our kitchen was glowing with Magic Hour light
and my iPhone camera behaved.
The whisky itself, though, had been chill-filtered generously.

Diageo has designed/built/enumerated "The Singleton" brand as a starter single malt for those folks graduating to more flavorful malts from Diageo's hitlist of blander blends.  [Dang it, I couldn't get through one sentence without picking on Diageo. Seriously though, there are blended whiskies out there that are full of flavor, and single malts totally lacking the same.]  Three distilleries contribute to "The Singletons": Glendullan for the North American market, Dufftown for the European market, and Glen Ord for the Pacific market.

I've had plenty of The Singleton of Glendullan.  It's harmless, very drinkable, but a bit on the GlenDULLan side.  Having read a number of reviews saying that The Singleton of Dufftown is not much better, if not worse, I haven't been in a hurry to source a sample of that one.  But I had heard a number of positive things about The Singleton of Glen Ord.

Last November, my wife GENEROUSLY grabbed a bottle of The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 year old from the Duty Free shop at Sydney International Airport and spirited it back to me safely.  I held off opening it until the summer.  The first week of July, to be more specific.

Distillery: Glen Ord

Brand: The Singleton
Owner: Diageo

Age: minimum 12 years

Maturation: likely a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks

Region: Northern Highlands

Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Bottling Date: Feb 2012 (L2050)
Chillfiltration? Yes
Colorant? Absolutely

I may need to qualify the notes below.  Since this whisky is from my own bottle, I was able to do two focused tastings (alongside tomorrow's reviewed dram) thus the long laundry list of characteristics I found.  I'm including this disclaimer because I don't want there to be any assumption that I have an above average sniffer.  I don't.  Instead, I have a whole bottle to play with, rather than a 30mL sample.  Now, back to the important stuff.

NEAT

The color is a rosy copper. Really, Diageo? You really needed to put that much e150a into this in order to convince people it was whisky? And the bottle is GREEN, thus potential customers can't even see the whisky's color. But never fear, the nose is gorgeous.  It starts with orange oil, lots of it.  Then brandied cherries, blackberry jam, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, strawberry Bubble Yum, and bananas (not the skins). So much fruit! There's also Junmai ginjo-shu sake (our favorite!), syrupy sweet dessert wine, and gummy bears.  Contrasting all those purdy smells are notes of (human) sweat and damp moss.  Fewer fruits on the palate.  Bananas, lime rind, and maybe some orange zest.  There's also milk chocolate, lots of granulated sugar, caramel, and brine.  More towards my preferred palate, a farmy note shows up from time to time; think hot used hay.  The texture is watery, so it makes one wonder what this one would be like at 43%ABV.  The finish is very sweet.  Sugar and honey.  A little dryness and bitterness in the background.  The farmy note, cut grass, brine, and generic citrus notes hang around for a while.

WITH WATER

The nose stays very pungent with lots of citrus.  Mostly oranges and orange candies too.  Lighter notes of lemon rind, citrus muffins, pineapple, and vanilla extract in the back.  Oranges again on the palate.  Whipped butter, flower blossoms, and fresh herbs (maybe oregano?) as well.  Overall, it's quite sweet.  The sweetness continues through the short and plain finish.  A curious mocha note in there.  And as far as the oranges go, it's mostly pith and pulp.

When I first opened the bottle, the main characteristics were of fresh berries......just like official printed description told me.  Early in the bottle there was a mild peaty note (more straightforward than the farmy one) but the fruits are carrying the day now that bottle is past its midpoint.

The nose is a four-star party.  The palate is decent, inoffensive as it was likely designed to be.  It's very watery in the mouth thanks to the 40% ABV, similar to a lot of cheap blends.  It's a pisser they didn't at least try to bottle it at 43%; I mean, who would that have hurt?

As it is, served neatly in its light state, it makes for an easy drinker in these hot late summer weeks.  As it's already so watered down, adding water doesn't help much.  An icy highball of it holds little character.

When it comes to my malt preferences, was Diageo successful with this brand?  Sort of.  The nose proved that Glen Ord can generate some fun whisky.  I hope to explore this distillery further, but via independent bottlers.

Availability - Asia & Oceania
Pricing - A wide range, from $40 to $80 depending on the country
Rating - 82