This is 100% rye whiskey, made up of 80% unmalted Canadian and Californian rye with 20% malted rye from the UK, which is then aged in charred oak and ex-rye barrels.
Appearance
We have orange gold in colour whiskey here, it has a syrupy thick swirl line with slow thick legs.
Nose
Blood oranges and sweet cherry cough mixture/cough candy bring a tsunami of aromas for me when this is first nosed. The sweet notes slowly become mixed with a sweet perfume, and a hint of parma violets is in there too, it’s quite floral through the mid section of the nose. More time brings chocolate with quite a lot of wood coming through also, wood polish joins the wood aromas, and then right at the end light sweet tropical fruits rein in some of the wood aromas.
Palate
The mouthfeel is nice, and wow it’s a spice bomb on first sip. Again lots of cough candy, backed up with cinnamon gobstoppers and ginger root. After the spice has subsided sweet tropical fruits come forward, pineapple slices and faint peach flavours.
Towards the end of the palate the spice and sweetness turn into slight bitterness. The blood oranges come back, joined by cranberries, bitter lemon, aniseed, cardamom and anise, with some espresso coffee.
Finish
Length is long side of medium for me, it’s still very much chest warming too, there are still plenty of spices to enjoy. Towards the end of the finish i have dark chocolate, praline, blackberries, chocolate chips and virginia rolling tobacco.
My thoughts
I have to say that the more Bourbon/American whiskey i’m trying the more i’m enjoying them, and the differences between them are becoming more apparent. This is very much a learning curve, but a rather enjoyable one.
This is another Rye Whiskey iv’e really enjoyed, and at 46.5% ABV it’s quite punchy. There are plenty of spices and sweetness with this bottling, and that development into darker slightly bittern notes is lovely, with sweetness coming in again right at the very end. I like this and would happily have a bottle in my whisk(e)y cupboard.
You can find the Sonoma Distilling Company here, and their whiskeys are generally available on-line in the UK.
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