BamaVol

Sorry, no but I have tried their bourbon and found it above average, particularly at its low-ish price point. The bottle was so pretty, I was tempted to keep it.

exerda

Same here. Not a huge rye fan to begin with (though I do like Midwinters Night Dram), but Willet's bourbon is decent for the price, so I kind of expect the rye to be similar.

FlyingDoctorwu

Yeah I've heard that as well.. which is a shame because it used to be $40 a bottle...
I'll probably buy a bottle for old times sake and then say something like it used to be so much better...

Love barrel proof bourbon... The Big daddy George T Stagg is so amazing. A good buy for barrel proof is also the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof.. should be <$60 a bottle...

It's okay; but a better 7 yr old rye is Smooth Ambler... cheaper and pretty much the same stuff.. most of the rye comes from the same place (LDI out of Indiana) and is just bottled. Wilett is starting to make their own product, but I think it's only been aged 3 yrs at this point.

Willet has two bourbon lines: the pot still (looks like a giant bong) and the Family Estate. The pot still is their non aged stated bourbon. For the most part it is a solid drinker. The Family Estate is where some interesting stuff happens. It's all single barrel; it's all aged to different vintage. none of it is their own production. So it's all different mash bills. Some is average, some is good, and some knocks your socks off... I tend to love it; I still dream about one bottle that I got years ago... It's only sold through their Gift shop and as private barrel picks from liquor stores (they have to buy the whole barrel and bottle it). If you ever run into it definitely give it a try...

FDW

thelark

Thanks for the tip - picked up the smooth rambler and also decided to give makers cask strength a try.

exerda

Picked up an Angel's Envy Rye yesterday (yeah, not bourbon, but do we even have a rye thread?). Pretty good--and it should be for the $70-ish it ran. Sweeter than most ryes I've tasted, with definite ginger and toffee notes.

DaveBlaine

I find the Elijah Craig 12 year a great balance between drinkability and affordability.

BamaVol

The UPS truck delivered an early Father's day gift from BamaVol Jr #1. I am now in possession of 750 ML of Colonel EH Taylor Small Batch bourbon. A 100 proof product of the Buffalo Trace distillery.

I will pour a shot on Father's Day so I can tell him what I think. He and his wife toured the bourbon trail last year and I suspect he remembered this one.

stimpy

Well that's a fine measure of your parenting skills. Your kid buys you a top notch Bourbon.

exerda

Interested to hear what you think; I have a bottle, but it's one of the few I own which I haven't opened yet to try. I figure I have 50+ others open...

BamaVol

I don't have that many but there may be 5 or 6 unopened bottles at the moment. Being a Father's Day gift, it will move to the front of the queue.

BamaVol

Well, the family that drinks together ... It beats the macaroni necklaces they made back in first grade. Lots of love in either of course.

FlyingDoctorwu

EH Taylor is a new old line for Buffalo Trace. Most of their products are bottled in bond, which has certain sub requirements. Also they really seem to like sweet tubes for their bottles. I've only had a bottle of the Warehouse C survivor which was much hyped but merely a mediocre bottle. The Amal batch and single barrel are both supposed to be solid options. Nonetheless solid work on raising a son who gets solid fathers days gifts. I'm still in the macaroni bracelet stage of life.

Elijah Craig 12 year is a superb bourbon. If you ever see the barrel proof offer ring try to give it a try. I love barrel proof products and this is one of my favorites (and a solid but at <$50). There's some question of whether the Elijah Craig will lose its age statement at some point (happens a lot) but the other possibility is that the supplies will dry up much like what happened to the 18 yo expression (one of the best value pours of yesteryear)

No eye thread but it seems like some rye talk ends up here. My favorite rye notes are typically peppery with a little spice so the Angels Envy doesn't really appeal to me. A lot of the sweetness you pick up comes from a Caribbean run finish that the whiskey spends time in. I'm not a huge fan of finishes to be honest; I feel that they most of them just add sweetness to the drink which I really don't like that all being said, Balvenies finishes are often quite subtle and tasty.

Fdw

LondonElite

Just made the mistake of looking for and finding this tread when I should be working on a report. Now I'm seriously tempted to pour myself a glass of Blandon's, even though it's not even 6pm in the UK....

exerda

You'd probably like the Midwinter's Dram from High West, then; it's definitely peppery and with a bit of extra spice to it--not sweet at all. And the rye doesn't have that "band-aid adhesive" subtext to it, which some seem to (I'm thinking of a couple of craft ryes I've tried, one from NY and one from KY in particular). It's also, unfortunately, $100+ a bottle. I haven't tried their other ryes, though their blends (Bourye & Son of Bourye, for example) are good but likely sweeter than you'd like.

I have found that in general, I like finishes. Yeah, I like a well-made, plain bourbon pretty well... but I find that one finished in sherry or port or Malaga or whatever is a bit more interesting. I know I have plenty of standby plain bourbons that I love, so it's fun to try things which are very different, too.

stimpy

I think for Rye whiskey, we have a few years to wait before the really good ones have been aged enough. The rye craze only began about 4 or 5 years ago, right? At that time the makers put a big effort into it and maybe in another 3 to 5 years we'll get a really good aged Rye.