Castle & Key Restoration Rye 2021 (Batch 1)

What I can say from memory is sipping this several days ago is that this outshines either of the 2020 batches, which isn’t saying much. This one was still youthful but at least slightly interesting and in no way unpleasant. The mouthfeel is borderline heavy, which was really nice. Plenty of soft rye grain, plenty of corn sweetness and a nice balance of barrel spices. Peanut shells, bit o mint. If I took a guess this would be a 51% rye but a little homework suggests a mashbill of 63% rye, 17% corn and a whopping 20% barley. This would be a great $25 bottle. At $30-35 I can defend a local micro-distiller (where others charge $50-70). Sadly this can’t compete with a $20 Rittenhouse although it is much softer and more likely to be a general crowd pleaser.

Castle & Key distillery, the famed historic and quite attractive site of Old Taylor once producing the E.H. Taylor family of bourbons before being abandoned for scrap and rot in 1972. Restored in 2012, it started a semi-annual release of their Restoration Rye, my sample was the 2021 release 1. At first glance the appearance is light in color almost like "Hangover Pee" and "Not Quite as Light as PBR". But in the dram on the nose the aroma to consist of baking spices such as cloves and pepper with a sweet wood. After the first taste the flavor profile opens up to be earthy, with hints of tobacco and coffee. The mouthfeel and finish was oily and long with flavors of pepper, nuts, and black tea to a clean finish. Really enjoyed this one.

Nose- citrusy nose. I get lemongrass, almost like a bit of orange slice candy, and sweet tart. Very interesting nose for a rye. Palate- Lemon tart, floral bouquet- perhaps carnations? Powdered sugar and a slight bit of mint. Finish- quicker finish and if anything a sweet tart and perhaps green tea on the end. Overall- very interesting rye here. Not what you would expect. Usually younger ryes are spicy and have a good amount of dill and/or mint. This lends itself more toward citrus, almost like a pleasant lemongrass on the nose and continues with those floral notes. The finish is a bit ho- hum, but this grabbed my interest gaining points for being really unique.

Nose has heaps and heaps of nutmeg. There is some candied orange slices and mint mixed in there as well. Palate is filled with honey and clove. Brown Sugar and vanilla make an appearance as well as some lemon bar show up as well. It has a lot going on for such a young rye. Finish is shorter and has the tendency to fall off a little too quickly. This hurts it's overall score as the nose is interesting and the palate is a treat. There is a little oak and cinnamon but it is fleeting and drying.

Aroma - orange peel, oak, brown sugar, hint of rye. Pretty straight forward Taste - lots of citrus notes on this lemon definitely comes to mind. Some orange peel here and vanilla.. very slight hint of rye. This is definitely unique and more on the sweeter side

I like this bottle more now than the first few initial pours. Shiny vanilla, warm oak. Hint of raisins. Herbal spice. Slightly tannic. A decent pour. Took a while to open up or my palette to adjust to it.