The 2013 Thomas Handy was one of my favorite bottles from that season. Judging by the number of “In Search Of” requests for that bottle on the trading forums lately I am not the only one who feels that way. It’s interesting to see a vintage of Handy get quite so much attention as typically it is the red headed step child of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. I’ve had all of the vintages over the past 5 years and despite a fluke pour of the 2012 that I can’t explain, I feel on average Thomas Handy is a great rye whiskey that doesn’t get as many accolades as it deserves. Despite the lack of zealous attention and it often being valued way under other bottles from the Antique Collection it is just as impossible to find. So much so that last year I didn’t even manage to get a bottle of this on my own and was only able to track down a bottle with the help of a good friend.
64.6% ABV; 6 years and 3 months old; $80
Notes: After ~30 minutes of air time, the nose is a wonderful bouquet of sweet vanilla caramel and spicy cinnamon mint gum. The sip is rich with those same flavors and a surprising amount of wood for a 6 year old whiskey. As the taste transitions, the spice you crave from a rye whiskey comes in heavier and balances out the sweets very nicely. There is a lot of luscious sweet and spicy mint but it isn’t as heavy handed as the mint in a higher rye like those from MGP. The finish is warm and very spicy with some anise tingle that lasts quite a long time.
Thoughts: When I first opened this bottle it was pretty rough a mess. I remember it being very hot and harsh even with lots of air time. So much so that I thought it might have been my least favorite Thomas Handy yet. At the time, Whiskey Advocate’s trashing of the vintage actually made some sense. Today as I am reviewing 7 months later the bottle is half full and I am happy to say it’s smoothed out remarkably well and transformed into a great whiskey. I feel bad for all the bloggers that reviewed this based on fresh samples from the distillery because as far as I am concerned they reviewed a completely different whiskey. I still don’t think it’s as good as the previous 2013 release but it’s not terribly far behind it. Side by side with some recent 8 year Smooth Ambler Single Barrel selections I think I would give the slight nod to the Smooth Amblers but those rye whiskeys have the unfair advantage of more age and higher rye which makes them a little more intense than this.
Rating: B+
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