Willett Family Estate Bottled 3 Year Straight Rye

53.7% abv Nose: rye spice of course; dill; vanilla; slight brine. Taste: full sweet and creamy, with butterscotch, caramel and vanilla at first, giving way to a full hit of rye spice; as it develops it dries, with assorts spices like dill, Serrano pepper and black pepper. Finish: medium-long and drying, with slight toffee and peanut brittle rounding out an intense rye spiciness which leaves your tongue tingling. Peppermint and spearmint finish the deal. Value: $45-$60 USD (if you can find it). It’s worth it. Final thoughts: while tough to get your hands on, this cask strength rye checks all the boxes of a stellar mid-shelf whiskey. Great neat and with a drop of water, I could also see this standing up well in a cocktail. If the dill note doesn’t turn you off, this complex rye is a must buy. Score: 4/5 Highly recommend buying a bottle

An intense, Family Estate Bottled Rye Whiskey from the Willett distillery in Kentucky - made with stock distilled after the Willett distillery re-opened in 2012! The first distillation takes place in their 60-foot tall column still, while the second distillation takes place in a copper pot still. Following that, the spirit was filled into white oak barrels with a level 4 char to mature. It has a birth with notes of rye, oak, lemongrass, caramelized apple & a hint of savory thyme; while a sweet life adds notes of herbs, spices, mint & cinnamon; that led to a long, dry & toasted death with notes of fruit, maple, black pepper, brown sugar & beeswax. January / February / May / June / December 2018 / August 2022

I got this from a Kroger earlier this year for $38. I recently got the 4 year rye (on the right), but thought I’d review this before cracking that one open. Setting: in glass, rested 10 minutes Nose: slight caramel, ethanol (54%), oak and spice, mint and slight dill, there’s also a sweet note that I can’t quite name, butterscotch perhaps? Palate: rye spice, slight caramel and vanillin, oak, some menthol and dill finally some grain at the end. There’s a medium finish, but oh so good. I have say, I really enjoy this rye. There are only 2 other ryes I can think of off the top of my head that I enjoyed more, but no disrespect to Willett, in my opinion this young rye is GREAT. 9/10

I was looking forward to trying these guys stuff given all the great work they have done with externally sourced spirit. This is a review for the 53.7% bottling. Interesting, if you like the Dr Pepper cherry flavour this will be right up your alley. Me not so much. As another reviewer noted dill and/or aniseed / fennel as well. Definitely well crafted dram just not my cup of tea. I'd struggle to drink more than the dram I have. 3.25

This surprised me. I'm not huge on ryes- this was up front orange/citrusy with a bit of a soft minty finish. None of these are things I really gravitate towards but I've never had a bourbon that blended flavors like this in such a positive way. Very unique- my bottle was a mini. Would love to find a full size of this to keep around!

From a mini that I was pleasantly surprised to find at Total Wine. Nose of oak, rye, leather, white chocolate, toast and green apple. Spicy and richly sweet on the palate, with flavors including rye, oak, char, caramel, sweet apple, red hots, citrus peel and vanilla. Long spicy finish. Complex and full; harsher than the 4 year.