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JP Wiser's Rye

Pretty decent budget offering

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@JasonHambreyReview by @JasonHambrey

3rd Nov 2014

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JP Wiser's Rye
  • Nose
    ~
  • Taste
    ~
  • Finish
    ~
  • Balance
    ~
  • Overall
    84

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This whisky is, I believe, only available in the US - it certainly isn't available in Ontario. I think it's also a relatively new whisky, released within the last 2 years or so.

Nose: Rye and banana come off at first, with some bourbon notes in the background. It's fairly rich, too. I also get some dried corn and fresh dried oak - and these seem to grow as the whisky sits - and they certainly are quite nice. Brown sugar, maple, and a few pine notes are in the mix too. Not bad. 85%

Taste: Fairly sweet on the entry, with some rye fruitiness, oak, brown sugar, and caramel before some cinnamon and banana kick in. Just at the end, I find a touch of black tea as well. It's a bit more sweet than I would like, and doesn't quite have the spice I expected with Wiser's - but it's still quite nice. 85%

Finish: Banana, maple, vanilla, a touch of oak, and a few bourbon notes. Still maintaining that sweetness from the palate. There is a bit of dry tingling spices as well - cinnamon, black pepper, and a bit of nutmeg. Also, there's a bit of a strange sweetener-type feel to the finish too. 80%

Intrigue: This is a pretty decent offering, and is a bit different than the Wiser's stuff in Canada, but not too much. It's a bit too sweet for my liking as a sipper, but it has enough going on to make it enjoyable. Despite the sweetness, there's still some nice spiciness and sweetness in the mix to make it pretty enjoyable. 83%

Weighting the nose 25%, taste 35%, Finish 15%, and Intrigue 25% the overall grade is 84.

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4 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

I have been curious about this JP Wiser's Rye for a long time. As you surmise, we've seen this one for about a year or two here in Maryland.

Which of the other Wiser's offerings would this be closest to?

Sweet doesn't bother me when it is natural, but with Canadian whisky you cannot trust that to be the case. Artificial sweetness in whisky always tastes bad to me. Much as I like Wiser's Legacy and Wiser's Red Letter, JP Wiser's is not a brand to which I would give blanket trust. My bottle of Wiser's 18 yo tastes to me like a bottle of high fructose corn syrup.

This is another one I wouldn't likely buy without tasting first, but in this area JP Wiser's Rye costs $ 25.06 total, more than a bottle of Bulleit Rye, twice the price of a bottle of Old Overholt, Pikesville Supreme, or Beam Yellow Label Rye, and three times the price of Windsor Canadian.

It may be awhile before I get my taste of this, since it isn't sold in Canada to my Canadian friends and I don't know anyone here who is buying it.

9 years ago 0

@JasonHambrey
JasonHambrey commented

yes, that is true. again, I had a mini of this one so there wasn't much cost loss. The sweetness doesn't taste too aritificial, but it does take a bit too much of a hold at times I think. It is probably most similar to Wiser's Deluxe, but better, and some of the banana fruity notes are much more reminiscent of Legacy than the other Wiser expressions. But, it's not as big or spicy as Legacy, and certainly not in the same category.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't buy a bottle to sip. It's decent, but for the price you can find some more interesting bottles, for sure. But, perhaps, in a bar when I am looking for a casual whisky on the affordable side I might get a dram.

9 years ago 0

@JeffC
JeffC commented

I asked about this awhile back and (if I recall) the conclusion was that this is merely Wiser's Deluxe repackaged for the US market. This was based in part on the Canadian webpage description of the Deluxe being the same as the US webpage description of the Rye. If correct, this is literally putting the same product in a different bottle in a different market.

9 years ago 0

@JasonHambrey
JasonHambrey commented

Interesting. I thought it tasted a bit different than Deluxe (and a bit better), but it's been a while since I tasted Wiser's Deluxe and I haven't had a lot of it. I certainly thought this one was better (I gave Deluxe a 76 during my evaluation of it), and I don't remember any banana notes in Deluxe. Also I only had one sample for this review so perhaps my thoughts would change if I had more of it.

9 years ago 0