Johnnie Walker Select Casks Rye Cask Finish

N: The rye influence is surprising. Doesn't smell like JW - certainly wouldn't guess it blind. Toffee, caramel, green grain, ethanol, mint, herbal tea, medicine notes, some sweet corn. P: Does taste a bit like JW. Slightly fruity with toffee, caramel, buttered popcorn(?), vanilla, earth, pine, mint, green tea, oak, barrel spice, and a good biting heat. F: Hot cinnamon, chili pepper, rye grain, dried herbs, mint, some of that smooth JW profile wanders in, earth, tree bark, dried leaves, dash of stone fruit. Picked this up on a whim (with some helpful advice on the Discord from @Benji-Robert) while traveling and hitting up random stores. Scored a couple nice, old dusties on that trip. This was one of them. 10 Year JW (same age as Black, right?) aged in first fill American oak, then finished in ex-rye casks. This is what the new High Rye JW wishes it were. It's spicy, grainy, herbal, earthy - a lot of the things you get from a good rye whiskey. It's a lot less of a JW whisky, but the profile is there. It's interesting. I would buy it again if I came across it. My understanding is that these were released once, in 2016. Not 100% certain that's true, but the box the bottle was in sure looked like it had been on that shelf for 7 years. Quick searching online shows this is still fairly widely available, but I had never seen it or heard of it before. Well, if you like JW and you like rye (or maybe flip those around), and you happen across a bottle of this, it's a no-brainer. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord: https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will provide a new one.)

My first thought that this was just a silly gimmick. And don't get me wrong: it *is* certainly a silly gimmick (I suspect JW has long been using ex-rye barrels; they've just been treated as indistinguishable from ex-bourbon barrels--until now, when American whiskey has become huge business worth cashing in on). But it's also not a bad little blend, and (despite my doubts) a bit of the spicy, herbal, "green" American rye character actually *does* come through. Smell is vanilla, toffee, some interesting funk (reminiscent of something I've encountered in Nikka whiskeys before), bubblegum, caramel, clove, light baking spice, mint. Taste is pretty soft, with vanilla, clove, some generic fruitiness, and herbacious bite. A bit of dry wood that lingers on into the finish, along with some burnt caramels. We're not talking a world-class whisky here, but the novelty, the semi-craft presentation (46% ABV, though chill-filtered), semi-reasonable price ($45 USD), and otherwise limited selection at a lot of airport duty-free shops makes it a fairly attractive option for home-consumption or gifting alike. Splits the difference between the American and Scotch whisk(e)y categories--the sweetness and herbaciousness of a bourbon/rye, the delicacy of a scotch blend.

Nose: Vanilla, toffee, fruits and spice - all enjoyable but a tad too generic. Palate: Vanilla, toffee,fruit and spice again. Finish: Short, but smooth and refined. This is very much a whisky cut from the same cloth as the cheaper Johnnie Walker Blenders' Batch Red Rye Finish blend. That whisky has a strong bourbon/rye character, particularly on the palate, but although the story is essentially the same here everything is elevated to a higher level and the result is more subtle. The cheaper Blender's Batch Rye is more obviously bourbon/rye influenced, particularly in the palate, and is priced at a point where it is a valid alternative to many bourbon, rye and scotch blends that will primarily or exclusively be used as mixers. However this whisky is up against the likes of Compass Box blends, Johnnie Walker Double Black, Glen Grant 10 year old, etc. It's a tough market point and at that price there is not actually a lot to recommend it. For a few bucks more you can buy JW Green Label, and that's the real issue - who would buy it in preference to the alternatives? Nice enough stuff but overpriced as a mixer, and lacking the finesse of a whisky you'd want to drink neat. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Johnnie Walker Select Casks: Rye Cask Finish is a limited release from Diageo that, unlike many of JWs recent expressions, has an age statement on it (10 Years). There's been a handful of hybrid releases lately (I'm thinking of Glenfiddich's bourbon-cask finished 14 year old) so I was interested to see how this stacked up. The first thing I noticed when I put my nose in the glass was the extremely dominate rye whiskey notes. I would be curious to know just how long this was finished in those rye casks because they definitely make their presence known. When you taste the scotch, the palate is yet again dominated by rye spices. There's also vanilla and caramel and, on the finish you get the expected Johnnie Walker sea-salt/maritime flavor. If I had to guess, I would say that the blend that they used had a lower proportion of Islay scotches - either that or the rye completely drowned out the peat notes here. The interplay with the spicy rye flavors and the aforementioned sea-salt note makes this a very intriguing hybrid expression. I liked it! I wonder what's next for Johnnie Walker's Select Casks range... a sherry or port cask finished expression, perhaps?

An initial opening of bourbon notes (am I nosing a Scotch?) of vanilla, corn and rye, however all faint. The longer it opens the stronger and more pronounced the vanilla notes become. A soft palate delivers a peppery body and a touch of sweetness of brown sugar or caramel. The rye notes are discernible, but not too overt and very pleasant. The sweetness subsides and finishes warm and spicy with a touch of oak. The rye is revealed in the finish exposing a bit of spearmint. A nice easy dram and adds a unique twist to the scotch. I have always been partial to Johnnie Walker as it is my starter and gateway scotch brand leading me into single malts. I have not been interested in their other whisky's in their line as I think the ppv does not warrant purchase. However, they have done right with this whisky: 46% abv, an age statement, price and quality make this a good for a collection. [$44][88/100][Opened: 4/3/16; 4/20/16]

While not being a big fan of rye whiskey in general, I was a bit apprehensive about buying this bottle. Rye spices are too overpowering (IMHO) and really keep me from enjoying most American rye whiskeys. So I decided to try this version of the JW Select because I haven't had it before and it was relatively cheap ($40/750ml). Decent rye spice on the nose and palate, while still smooth on the finish. I believe it's 10yo JW that was finished in ex-rye casks for just a month or so. That's all the time it needed to pick up what I consider an acceptable amount of rye-ness. Good spice level that finishes smooth and short. It lingers just long enough until you're ready for another sip. Solid overall and recommended. Cheers.