Blue Run Kentucky Straight High Rye Bourbon

In a recent tasting review writeup for Five Trail whisky, I mentioned that Coors is getting into the whisky game. I have a friend who works for Coors, and he’s been sending me samples of first the whisky Coors distilled itself and a sample of Blue Run High Rye Bourbon, which is a company Coors recently acquired. I’ll admit I was a little more excited by the Blue Run because I’ve seen decent reviews, and it’s a $100 bourbon, so getting a free sample to give my opinion makes me happy. Though he doesn’t actual work in the whisky division, so it’s really just curiosity. A chance to have a FaceTime call and taste together and share our opinions. But aside from seeing the butterfly bottle pop up here and there and looking at scores, I don’t have a lot of history with Blue Run, so we’re entering virgin territory here. How is it? The nose initially has a lot of heat coming off it, but if you let it sit in the glass 5-10 minutes, the heat tapers off, revealing a distinctly high rye aroma of spice and mint. There’s a sort of Colgate thing going on here that isn’t bad. It’s like an alcoholic toothpaste type thing, or maybe mouthwash. This will appear to you certainly if you’re one of those kids who snuck your bourbon into high school dances in Listerine bottles. There are some bourbon notes too, mainly sweet corn and vanilla, but it does feel like the rye notes take precedence over the bourbon notes here. There’s also some spice that makes me thing of red bell pepper here, and that’s actually welcome. Together it all seems to work to bring about a pleasurable scent that isn’t rocking my world but that I don’t mind drinking either. The palate is sweet, but also full of corn prominently, mainly corn syrup. The mint remains but because it’s mingled with a corn syrup sweetness it comes off like your just unwrapped a candy cane from your Christmas tree and stirred it in your bourbon just to see what would happen and found your bourbon subsumed with Christmas cheer. Honestly, this feels like a December drink to me. And what you get on the finish is mint and spice and a little bit of that feeling that you just finished rinsing with mouthwash. It’s unique and not at all bad. I’d say it’s an extremely interesting $50 bottle that just happens to SRP for $100, which would bring me to the question of, what exactly is Coors planning here? As my review of Five Trail pointed out, it’s a decent blended whisky at $30 that just happens to be sold for $55 dollars, so I’m noticing a trend of them now putting out decent whiskies that just sell for too much. Knowing that Coors flagship brand appeals to people who appreciate budget beer, I’m not sure their whisky strategy correlates. Price in whisky, we all know, doesn’t always equate with quality but rather equates with amount of stock available. Are they planning to expand warehousing space for Blue Run that would allow them to age higher end products that would be priced accordingly while making a lower-end product they could see more quickly for cheap? Or are they going to keep with the boutique high-end curiosity bottlings that seem to be the Blue Run bread and butter? I’d love to pick the brain of whomever is trying to work this out because I don’t foresee a winning strategy here. They’ve kept the Blue Run leadership in place which is a decent start because from what I’ve read, they are making interesting whiskies, but my real question goes beyond whether or not they’re making interesting whiskies into marketing strategy: how are you going to sell enough of this stuff to make it worth your while? Blue Run strikes me as having potential, but right now, they're operating by making whiskies that feel to me like a second rate Barrell. This whisky is priced at $100 but I'd much rather have Larceny Barrel Proof, or Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, or Wild Turkey Rare Breed, or Maker's Mark Cask Strength, all of which cost significantly less than this. So how are you going to convince me to buy your stuff when off the top of my head I just named four that are better and cheaper and could continue doing so (Old Forester 1920, New Riff Barrel Proof Bourbon, Knob Creek Single Barrel Barrel Proof)?

Nose offers candied tangerine, butterscotch, banana, oak, marzipan, and leather. Bizarrely, ethanol seems to come and go with some sniffs offering a distracting presence and others no more than a mild note. Palate opens with big butterscotch promised in the nose, along with caramel, vanilla, and then some apricot and citrus zest in the mid-palate. Flavors are not terribly complex but decently stout. So far, so good, right? Well sadly the finish runs things completely off the rails; harsh and jagged with young notes of bitter oak, atomic fireball candy, and astringent alcohol. Its exceptionally long, but you wish it wasn’t. Mouthfeel is grainy and abusive to the tongue after repeated sipping. A promising start that ultimately became a big disappointment. All the blending in the world can’t hide the youngness of this whiskey. I know this bottle is en vogue but I call ‘em like I taste ‘em. Sorry, not sorry. Found this mispriced at $50, and still can’t recommend. At its normal price of around $90? Laughable. Not sure what other reviewers are getting here that I am not, but for me we are in hard avoid category.

I'm coming to the end of this bottle thankfully. I got it a little less than 2 years ago. I was really looking forward to tasting what Jim Rutledge, previous master distiller at Four Roses, was putting out since his retirement. I was so excited that I traded a Blanton's to get my hands on this Blue Run High Rye Bourbon. Needless to say, I can't see myself going back to Blue Run after this. On the nose I get Ethanol and oak. Truly that about all I can say. On the palate it I was overwhelmed with some spice, oakiness, and a bit of citrus. You can definitely tell it's high rye. There was no real deep impact of the flavours though, and it didn't feel cohesive. When I first opened the bottle, I gave it the benefit of the doubt that it needed time to breathe and open up, but I went back to it again and again with no change or improvement. I had a couple friends try it and they felt similarly. I've decided I'll use the rest in old fashions or with coke. It wasn't the plan, but I refuse to pour whisky down the drain.

The nose is sweet corn, candy corn, peanut shells, caramel, grassy herbs and rye grain, but on the tongue the rye hits me right away - it's quite hot - dark rye spice, maybe cinnamon red hors, cloves, black pepper. At the first taste, I would have said this is rye whiskey, and not bourbon, but the corn elements really roll out as the flavor evolves. It's still hot with a lot of rye spice and cinnamon, but I get barrel char, caramel, candy corn, corn syrup. Really nice long smokey finish with burnt caramel and grassy eye. Really great flavor profile, but I feel that the balance is a little off for my taste, and that there are some rough edges that could stand to be mellowed and melded a bit to make this superb. All around good whiskey, all things considered, and this is an excellent winter or fall holiday companion.

Took a short hiatus from the drink cause of an unpleasant stint with a sinus infection. Once cured I decided to open one of my newest additions to the cabinet. I haven't had any prior knowledge of this brand, but the bottle/label beckoned me. The nose on this contained an inviting cherry and oak essence. Tasting notes consisted of faint cherry which transitioned to the rye spice and leather I was anticipating. This caused the finish to linger and persist in a pleasant manner. Second pour netted a touch of cinnamon and dusted cocoa on both smell and taste respectively. The 111 proof impressively went unnoticed throughout. I'm definitely looking forward to the next pour. Cheers all 🥃

Nose: immediately get some of those pepper, fruity, and licorice notes from the rye, with a subtle undercurrent of vanilla - surprisingly muted given the proof Palate: the black pepper hits quick and heavy right away, some of the licorice also carries through from the nose. Further to the back you get some vanilla and baking spices - almost drinks more like a rye than a bourbon Finish: The spice lingers on the fairly long finish, with a nice "Kentucky hug" all the way down your chest, but surprisingly not much burn - very pleasant and would be perfect on a cold night