Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Rye

I've been sitting on this bottle a while. I bought one at the tail end of 2019. Then, that following June, I bought another and gave it to my dad on Father's Day. Not sure why, having not opened or tasted it, I decided it was the right choice, but my dad likes your standard 100 proof Knob Creek Rye, the price was going up $10 on the barrel select (I got mine and the Father's Day bottle for $50 and have since bought another at $60), so I figured why the hell not? And when my dad opened his, I tasted it and thought it was pretty damn fine, but I didn't necessarily need to rush to open mine at that point, since I prefer spreading my tasting of good bottles out. Yesterday, I have my dad and my brother-in-law over to watch the Eagles play the Colts, and even though our team ended up pulling it out in the end, I don't think it's too bold a statement to say that the whisky I served was far better than the game. In addition to serving the Laphroaig 10 Sherry Oak and Ardbeg Beastie, I served the Sagamore Spirits Single Barrel Rye as well as opening Paul John Cask Select, Johnnie Walker Green, and Knob Creek Single Barrel Rye. Now, I'll have reviews of the Paul John and Johnnie Walker coming up, and those are interesting when paired in that they have very similar fruity notes, but the Walker is much better balanced than the Paul John (both were very good). But it was also a revelation tasting the Knob Rye Single Barrel after the Sagamore Single Barrel. Now, I'm giving this the same rating as the Sagamore because I think both are amazing. And being ryes both, they have similar notes. But the Knob is the subtler of the two. The Sagamore is your full orchestra and the Knob is a string quartet. The Sagamore is in your face and brash, Johnny Cash giving you that middle finger, and the Knob is an unplugged set by Neil Young, sitting along on stage with an acoustic guitar. The nose on the Knob has a graceful sweetness, a sort of maple toffee clove aroma with a slight hint of mint in the background. On the palate, you get spicy rye and vanilla with that slight edge of mint carrying through and a little bit of the earl gray tea taste on the back end. The finish is long and rich, but overall leaves me with the impression of elegance. While that Sagamore was brash, this Knob is refined. There's a place for both obviously, and giving them the same score, I can't pick one over the other. They're both well worth your while. The only question is, does the quality hold over the years? We'll have to wait and see, since I'm in no rush to open the 2022 bottling I bought. This was put in the barrel 10/8/2013 and bottled 3/27/2019, Warehouse W-K, Floor F-02, Rick R-08. Genuinely pleasing and will probably be gone far too quickly. This is a must try for all lovers of rye.

I have high expectations for this one. I enjoyed the standard KC Rye and absolutely loved the Barrel Proof Single Barrel Bourbon. Hopefully the rye gets a similar upgrade as an SB BP. This bottle is from Barrel #7642. This bottle has the lighter green label—this is the older style packaging which means it was bottled at least a few years ago. Nose: Almond, walnut, cashew, and pistachio. Black licorice. Black tea, cocoa, and pipe tobacco. Pumpkin spice. Rye spice. Baking soda. Dill. Black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Palate: Caramel and vanilla. Apple and leather. Pistachio, walnut, and almond. Coca and black tea. Pumpkin spice. Rye bread and sourdough. More rye spice and massive black pepper. Orange peel and ginger. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and oak. Finish: More of the apple, caramel, and leather. Cocoa, black, and pipe smoke. Pistachio and almond. Rye, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Long as they make a finish—as expected at 57.5% ABV. Solid nose and palate. Remarkable finish. Considering I paid $40–on sale down from $50–the VFM here is amazing at either price. Now, to compare this to the Knob Creek Rye and the KC SB BP. This is a major upgrade to the profile of the standard rye, with some Single Barrel complexity mixed in for good measure. However, it’s a hair behind its bourbon counterpart. Just a hair. As a result, this lands squarely at 4.75. One of the best I’ve had. And I feel the need to point out that the Beam distillery is demolishing the competition for when it comes to well-priced American whiskey. This one is just another in their belt.

8 year store pick from Total Wine in Gilbert Arizona (I understand this review might be useless to anyone outside the geographical area) I have had these before but was intrigued by the extra couple years on this one. Nose is very stereotypically rye; white pepper, lemongrass, coriander, rye spice, honey graham cracker, a hint of pumpernickel, and mild oak. Ethanol is not overpowering, but is certainly present. Palate offers some interesting sweeter notes in the form of snickerdoodle cookie, gingerbread, poppyseed muffin along with caraway seed and toasted sesame. Flavors are nice and punchy, with a fair amount of richness but lacking a little complexity maybe. Long finish takes a sharp turn to Spiceville, with tons of pepper, oak, ginger, clove, mint, chili pepper, and cilantro although the herbaceous is pretty low overall. I would have preferred more of an evolution here. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and oily/slick, which really worked to keep the tongue fatigue to a minimum. I was hoping an 8 year store pick would produce pure magic, but instead it produced a…pretty decent rye whiskey. First caresses with sweetness and then pummels you with spice. At $70, I feel it appropriately priced for the market, but not a rebuy for me as I can think of ryes I’d rather pay $10-15 more for.

I am not a huge rye whisley fan. I drink them fairly often but its not my go to. Thats what not being a huge fan means. Youre still a fan, just not a huge one. Knob Creek is part of the Jim Beam/Suntory hybrid frankenstein mega-company so in my mind they are part of the worlds problems and not on the solution side in any way. Most of their products are shells of their former glory and/or marketing gimmicks that only prove how dumb we as consumers truly are. But deep down in their deep dark place of deepy deep, they know how to make good whiskey. And Knob Creek is one of their most consistent outputs. This one, a barrel strength rye, is very very good. Oak and leather and spice and that minty peppery dill thing ryes often bring and if you’re like me which is unlikely you realize halfway through the dram that even the most bullshitty of bullshit artists sometimes do something positive, which is more than we can say about our installed leaders and mostly anyone who lives and works in Washington DC . So whether thats praise for JimBeam'SuntoryStein or a fiery insult to the wannabe powers that be, the interpretation is up to you. This is ghoulbuns, signing out from the banana republic formerly known as USA

Mission Wine and Spirits barrel pick; named the "Fifth Floor," because, I assume, the barrel was stored on the fifth floor. If I recall, that's sort of in the middle, but maybe that's wrong. Bottled at 115 proof, 57.5%. N: Caramel, vanilla, mint, menthol, dried herbs, green grain, cereal. P: Mid-level sweetness, earthy, herbal tea, caramel, vanilla, mint. F: More dried herbs, mint, oak, some caramel, some chili pepper heat. Solid single barrel. Not good enough to make me feel I needed to run out and grab another before they were gone, which is really what I hope for from a store pick, but that's pretty rare. But I wouldn't hesitate to grab another store pick single barrel rye. There's a nice roundness to this that most ryes don't quite have. I'd be up for trying another one. ____________ 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.)

Liquor City Uncorked pick, "Gallenstein #3" Warehouse 1; Floor 4; Rick 17 Barreled on 10/06/2014 Bottled on 05/27/2020 Age - 5 years, 7 months, 21 days Open 5 weeks Nose - Boozy, strong baking spices, toasted grains, leather, bitter oak, cocoa, dried herbs, and light maple syrup. Palate - Dry spices, cinnamon, black pepper, oak, toffee, brown sugar, hay, and herbs. The palate is long with dry, bitter oak, heavy rye spice, heavy black pepper tobacco smoke, brown sugar, and medium ethanol bite. This is the worst single barrel I've had of Knob Creek Rye, which is saying a lot. The picks I've gotten through BCBC were fantastic, so my expectations were likely too high. This is the most classic barely legal rye profile I've had in a while, nothing exceptional or unique. If you told me this was high rye bourbon, I wouldn't blink. This and Pikesville are easily the best way to ease a bourbon drinker into the world of rye, and both continue to be great values when there are a ton of sourced 4 year ryes that cost more.