Another local distillery tasting. Amazing zoom tour and plenty of cool info to geek out with… but how’s the actual product?
Straight Wheat Whiskey
Sweet wheat whiskey. Interesting flavor profile that would pair amazingly with food. A little thin body due to being wheat distillate and low age of course. Strong vanilla notes that combine well with the profile. Definitely worth trying. Not quite great enough to own a bottle.
Score: B-
Four Grain Straight Bourbon
While plenty of flavor in this, it tastes a little metal and corn forward and low age shows. It could use a few years under its belt to benefit itself. Still very sweet and tasty but not exciting at all.
Score: C
Straight Rye
Sweet rye, if a little thin on the palate due to lower proof. Some surprising juniper notes that play well with the rye itself. But in the end of the day it’s quite thin across the board and not that interesting other than being a rye.
Score: C-
Stake Private Barrel Rye, Batch 15-0006
So much juniper in this one. Almost like a mix of gin and on a rye base. All the good notes from rye is amplified, but I wish it wasn’t so herbal. Probably worth trying and extra cookie points for being a private barrel rye. The gin taste notes is messing with my mind though. Genuinely wondering if this is an aged gin in my sample somehow.
Score: C+ (B if you like gins)
Barrel Reserve Sloe Gin (Claims to be only one in the world)
This is basically medicine. Very cough syrup but actually tasty and without artificial flavors. Sour, sweet and a little bit bitter, this is an amazing mixer material that’s almost sippable by itself.
Score: N/A (C+ not whiskey)
Overall:
Either my palate is broken during the tasting or everything of theirs tastes very slightly of juniper which isn’t helping the case for this distillery. My personal conclusions… drinkable when poured and several things are very worth trying at the bar or via distillery tour but not worth the price or hassle of buying a bottle to consume due to lack of anything outstanding. The sloe gin is arguably most interesting thing in the samples I’ve been given, followed by the private rye barrel (juniper and all). Mixing sloe gin and four grain whiskey makes for a very very tasty mixed ‘drink’.
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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown