Hochstadter's Family Reserve 16 Year Rye Revew

Hochstadter's is a product from the Cooper Spirits Company who have been putting out sourced ryes in a variety of different forms. Today we have their latest high end offering which is a cask strength, 16 year old, 100% rye that was distilled in Canada. 100% rye from Canada almost always means Alberta Distillers which is where a few other popular ryes such as WhistlePig are sourced. I was initially skeptical about this for a couple of reasons, mostly the high price but also because the Lock Stock & Barrel rye which is also from Cooper Spirits has less than favorable reviews. I really like aged rye and Alberta rye, especially at cask strength so I was willing to give it a chance.

Aged 16 years; 61.9% ABV; $200

Nose: Spicy and very warm. Spearmint, menthol, wintergreen, sugary bubblegum. Definitely smells like a well aged, cask strength, super high rye whiskey.

Taste: Lots of sweet charred oak sugars with a big spice blast in the finish. The range of spices is all over the place, everything from dill to wintergreen to spearmint to baking spices. The age is certainly evident as its got a wide range of oak and the sweet notes that imparts. The high proof comes through very heavy handed as all the spice, sweet, and oak notes are very bold. Overall, it's a sweet woody spice party.

Thoughts: Not only is this an exceptionally good whiskey, it's also a great rye whiskey. In fact, I think this is better than last year's Booker's Rye which was a really good whiskey but not a great rye. This is coming from someone who likes spicy wood bombs though so take that for what it is worth. The real question here is, is this worth the retail cost? If you are asking that question, then the answer is probably no. My advice is to split a bottle with some friends and try it for yourself. I did that and felt it was good enough to splurge on a bottle for myself. It may not be the best value out there but cask strength hyper aged ryes aren't getting more plentiful or cheaper as the years go by. So yeah, the pricing isn't great. Yet two months after release here there are still some of these sitting on the shelves. I can waltz right down to a number of locals and buy as many of these as I want. No hassle, no chase, no calling in any favors that count towards the limited number I am comfortable with asking for these days. To me, this is like buying a car at Carmax. Yeah, you pay a lot more but you don't have to deal with all the fucking bullshit drama leading up to getting the car at a better price.

Rating: B+ / A-

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating. 

Alberta Dark Batch Review

Alberta Dark Batch is a Canadian blended rye whisky that became available in the states within the last year. Canadians will be much more familiar this product under its original name “Dark Horse” but due to an existing distiller in the United States already using that name Beam Suntory is offering it under a different label here. What is really interesting about Dark Batch to me is how it takes advantage of the more relaxed whisky regulations of our neighbors to the north. Chuck Cowdery has an excellent writeup that delves deeper into that subject but the TLDR; version is that Canadian whisky can contain a small percentage of spirits from other sources and doesn’t have to be aged in fresh charred barrels. Given that flexibility, what we end up with here is a blend of 45.5% Canadian rye whisky aged 6 years in fresh charred oak barrels, 45.5% Canadian rye whiskey aged 12 years in used bourbon barrels, 8% Old Grand-Dad (no age statement) bourbon, and 1% sherry. While all of that sounds exciting on paper, with so much going on there’s also there’s a chance it could be a complete mess.

No Age Statement; 45% ABV; $28

Nose: Menthol, eucalyptus, red wine, brown sugar, pine. It’s spicy, sweet, and fruity as expected.

Taste: Tastes a lot like it smells. Menthol, pine, and anise spice are very noticeable even from the start of the palate. The spicy notes taper off a little in the middle to give way to some softer brown sugar and red wine fruity notes. The spice comes back stronger in the finish but I find things start to fall apart a bit at the end. The spice takes on sharper, more aggressive peppery characteristics which overpower some of the fruit and sweet notes I would expect to linger.

Thoughts: I like it but it’s not for everyone and certainly not something I would want to reach for every day. At a recent blind rye tasting I participated in this took second place only to the very beloved Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye Cask Strength. That’s not very surprising as there’s a lot to love about this. Judging purely on uniqueness this one ranks well and also scores a lot of points in the value department as sub $30 is a great price considering all of the individual components. I can’t help but to compare this to High West’s Midwinter Nights Dram which blows this out of the water but in the absence of that bottle Dark Batch is a nice affordable and accessible substitute.

Rating: B / B-