Sagamore Spirit Barrel Select Rye

I became a fan of Sagamore last year, in August, when I picked up their Distiller's Select Tequila Finished Rye. Although I acknowledge that taste is subjective, I'm going to stand up for the Tequila Finished Rye and say that the "expert" review here is simply wrong, and it's not deserving of an 82. On Whisky Advocate, it got a 87, which is low for them (they tend to grade up) with a note that it was too grainy. I'm calling bullshit. I liked the Tequila Finished Rye so much that rather than ignore the fact that people are dissing it, I feel the need to stand and defend it. It recently disappeared from stores around here, and I'm not sure they're still making it, but if you can find one, pick it up. It's delicious. And also interesting. Maybe that's what the low scores are about. It's divisive. Drinkhacker, however, gave it an A, so I'm gonna give a little nod to Drinkhacker for that. You guys got what they were doing. You loved it. And I feel simpatico with you on that. I picked up this Barrel Select prior to picking up the Tequila Finished Rye. I just didn't get around to opening it. I do that sometimes. I remember the day I picked this up. It was either late June or early July. I'd broken a tooth. It was a capped tooth with a root canal, so I wasn't in pain, but I had to go to the dentist to get the jagged little piece that was still in my gums removed, and then get a bone graft to set me up for getting an implant (which I still haven't been in for...New Year's resolution anyone?). They hit me with Novocain, and then the dentist yanked and wiggled in a circular motion until she managed to get it out, and though it wasn't the worst experience I'd ever had at the dentist, I figured I deserved to treat myself to something nice. So, driving home, I passed a Fine Wine and Good Spirits that isn't my regular Fine Wind and Good Spirits and stopped in and picked up this: Barrel 128, Location F4/R5, which means bubkis to me and likely means bubkis to you (unless, naturally, you can commit random numbers to memory and happen to find yourself browsing through the store and discover that your local store picked their barrel from the same part of the warehouse, which...what are the odds?). Nevertheless, I digress as I always do (I think most of you have caught on that for me this site is less for whisky reviews and serves as more of a whisky journey diary, right?). I opened this two weeks ago, Thursday night, as the Eagles played the Texans, and me and my dad partook. And it was quite good then, but two week's worth of time and a little bit of air have made this amazing. Upon opening it was nice and rich and full of spice on both the nose and palate with a wonderfully long finish. It carries an age statement of 6 years, which for a rye, is a decent amount of time in the barrel. With the air and the time open, the spicy nose has become muted, but not to its detriment. Rather the nose is a lovely mixture of cardamom and bergamot, a sort of wonderfully festive mixture that suits the November/December cold, the Thanksgiving season, and Christmas being around the corner. For being spicy, it also has this refreshingly clean open scent that I'm really digging tonight. There's also a sort of fruitiness to it I'd describe searching my mind as orange sherbet. Honestly, I've had whiskies before where I'd like their nose to be turned into a candle scent, but this might be in the lead for that category. Just wonderful. Moving to the palate, the bergamot is still there, but it's subtler than on the nose. The orange sherbet evolves to more a spiced cider with a wedge of orange and a cinnamon stick floating in it. And the finish carries through on that cinnamon lingering nice and long. My only regret is that for $54.99, I didn't pick up another. I started this review with a score of 4 starts, but as I sip and type, I keep going back to the rating up top and creeping this up. I'm a fan of rye over almost any other style of whisky except peated scotch so keep that in mind, but this is better than Alberta Cask Strength and better than Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye, and given that I have the Sagamore 8 Year, this has me looking forward to that with great anticipation. We don't get a lot of Sagamore in the PA stores for some reason (hell, I had to buy the 8 Year in Jersey). I don't really know why, since it's not like Baltimore is all that far off, but when I look at their site and see all the different things they're doing with rye, all the different finishes they're trying out, I can't help feeling like a visit to the distillery is in order, a visit in which I leave with an empty trunk and come back with a full one. I certainly hope that local stores haven't given up on the barrel picks and they're just temporarily out of stock. I know that Sagamore used to source and is trying to incorporate more of their own juice into their new products. I'm just hoping they don't end up going the way of High West with that. Because the Sagamore whiskies I've had have really been winners. Come to think of it, I haven't bothered with their standard bottling yet, but I'm kind of curious as to how their regular rye stacks up against all the rest in that range. Thoughts? Opinions?

Barrel Pick by Smoking Barrels, dubbed "Knight Rye-der" Barrel No. 27, Floor 3, Rick 3 Age 6 years 55% abv, 110 proof Open 8 weeks Nose - Orange peel, black tea, Maraschino cherry, honey, strong rye spice, light dill, light oak, medium ethanol. Palate - Spicy when it hits the tongue. Floral, honey, toffee, oranges, rye spice and tannins. The finish is oily, tannic, and medium-long, with sharp citrus and floral notes, plenty of spice, and strong oak building at the back end. This is a really solid rye, and a much better price than the cask strength which is $10 more but only a couple proof points higher. This compares favorably with 2 ryes I bought in 2020 at similar abv, the Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye and Knob Creek Single Barrel Rye. I liked this more than WT RB Rye, but I thought BCBC knocked it out of the park with their Knob Creek pick. Still, solid classic rye flavors near cask strength at a good price. If you like MGP rye then you'll probably love these barrel picks.

Tasting an A&B store pic tonight. This one looks great on the shelf with great color in a nice bottle. Hoping the juice inside lives up, but the reviews have been a little mixed so here goes. Nose on this one is almost sweet bourbon at first, but then the rye notes come in just as you are about to give up on them. Mostly brown sugar here with a just a hint of baked bread. First sip brings some lovely toasted caramel on the front end. Then a soft burn starts to come on in the middle, but it is more cinnamon than traditional rye pepperness. The dram closes to more traditional fresh baked bread notes and a soft finish. Not going to lie here, this one surprised me a bit. I know barrel picks can vary so you have to keep that in mind, but I am really impressed with this bottle. I will need to try some others from the line, but this is an excellent bridge for bourbon drinkers that haven't been able to find a rye they can drink. Definitely recommend this bottle at the price.

Neat. Neck Pour. Bourbon Junkies Swordfish Oil. The Bourbon Junkies first barrel pick. This is also my first Sagamore experience. This would be tough to identify as a rye blind. Vanilla royal frosting on a lemon cake. Clove and cinnamon for days. The frosting is what dominates and it’s very sweet forward. Decent mouth feel. Not creamy but the edges are really oily keeping it from being thin. Spicy and breast on the tongue. Shows up strong mid-palate and especially the finish. Lemon cake still stands but more of a sweet cream icing. Orange zest. And more cinnamon and sweet cream icing on the finish and it lingers strong. Rye spice builds up on the back end with subsequent sips. This one was so close to letting me down. Nose is kind of bland. Not a lot of flavor up front. But mid-palate to the finish, it really ramps up. The finish especially. Great finish on a rye.

Worldwide Wine & Spirits store pick Barrel 85, location F1 R1 Glass: Glencairn, rested 15 minutes. Color: Medium-dark amber. Nose: Lots of dark fruit with some baking spice. Palate: Thick with baking spice and clove. Finish: Medium heat but long length. Splash: A hint of the fruit from the nose returns. Overall: 9/10 - Another great bottle under $60. For the price, it’s in the running for my favorite mid-priced rye.

B'more Whiskey Group pick, Barrel 73 F1/R3. This carries the typical MGP notes but also has a bit of richness on the nose and palate. The nose is sweet, pastry-like, confectioners sugar, with a hint of MGP dill. The palate has just the right amount of rye spice, a hint of dill, some orange, and sweet rich mouthfeel. The finish is a tad drying but long. Very drinkable at 110 proof.