Before bourbon and rye popularity surged in the last few years, Michter’s had a decent reputation for releasing quality sourced products that were often rumored to contain much older whiskey than stated and come from coveted stocks like Stitzel Weller. Just how much of that old stock they have remaining is a mystery though and each time they put out a new limited edition release everyone wonders how much it will taste like the previous stuff.
So here we have a 2016 release which they say is a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey that comes with a $150 MSRP and some marketing fluff that aludes to it being older than stated on the bottle. The high price, dodgy provenance claims, and marketing poop conjure up feelings I’ve had before so let’s revisit that format…
So what is this? It’s a 10 year old Kentucky Straight Rye. Well why doesn’t it say Kentucky anywhere on the label? We’re America’s first whiskey company and we can say whatever we want, fuck you. Okay well who made this? Not us but it’s distilled in small batches according to pre-revolutionary war quality standards dating back to seventeen fifty fuck. Well how much does it cost? A lot, fuck you. Alright then why should I buy it? Because some old dude who says no all the time says it’s great, fuck you, you’ll buy it anyway.
Aged 10 years; 46.4% ABV; Barrel No. 16A112; $120
Nose: Pretty standard of what you would expect for a 10 year old barely legal rye - wood, vanilla, brown sugar, and some menthol spice tingle.
Taste: Very sweet and not nearly as much spice as I expected. In addition to the typical wood sweets mentioned on the nose there is a very predominant honey flavor. On the spice side there is some cinnamon and nutmeg but it’s reaching to pick those out. Tastes more like a high rye bourbon than a rye.
Thoughts: This is a perfectly okay whiskey though I wouldn’t say it’s a very good rye. It’s heavy on the sweet side and the spicy notes are way toned down which makes it exceptionally boring. I’ve had this bottle open since March and never really found myself craving another pour.
Rating: C+ / B-
Value: I don’t factor price into my ratings. Even though the $120 I paid was below MSRP, I wouldn’t buy a bottle of this again. In fact, I think I am done with these age stated Michter’s bottles as the price to value ratio is beyond what I care to pay anymore.
I agree with your run down, I have a few Michter's products in my bar, some I like, others, meh. I am tired of Michters convincing us that a 10yo bourbon/rye is something worth hunting for at an inflated price. Nevermind what they retail the 20yo at.
ReplyDeleteI think you could say the same about a lot of companies who keep jacking up the prices these days - look at the latest Booker's rye at $300. You can't blame them because a lot of people are going to pay it but it's making the rest of us grumpy.
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