Old Potrero Single Malt Straight Rye Whisky
Welcome to the farm!
0 291
Review by @PeatyZealot
- Nose24
- Taste23
- Finish22
- Balance22
- Overall91
Show rating data charts
Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Old Potrero
- ABV: 45%
A friend of mine introduced me to ratebeer.com and I saw the beers from the Anchor microbrewery were rated very high. Tried a couple and boy were they fingerlicking goooddd. Then I saw a review of the 18ct style version and it mentioned that it came from the Anchor company. The review and the quality of the beers made me very curious about the whisky. The same friend called me up and asked if I know this brand Old Potrero? ´Saw it in a review, should be very interesting´ He said: Ok I´ll buy it, see u in an hour or 2! So I finally had a chance to taste some real 100% rye whisky. I expected it would be something totally different and it is, it really is :) I had 3 glasses, but it wasnt enough to get to the bottom of it. Still, here goes the first impression:
Price: €43,-
Color: warm gold
Nose: Hay, Fertilizer, wet rye, horsesweat, fresh oak. Its like walking into a farm surrounded by forests! Also there is butter, honey, roasted nuts, sunflowers, pine tree resin, and even some milk chocolate. There was something else, a strange smell I couldn´t translate to a thing, but holy crap what a nose!
Arrival: It goes from light to strong, big flavor in a few seconds and it developes into oaky woodsap, cinnamon, nutmeg, a tiny bit of smoke, cough syrup, flowery pepper, peach(!), cake, huge rye obviously and some worn leather. Keep it in your mouth and enjoy the dance! Damn good stuff and so complex/pure for such a young age, bravo!
Finish: Long bittersweet in a soft burn and it leaves a bit of that tangy feeling on the side of the lips. More spices come back and the slightly smoky dry oak returns as last.
As I was tasting this it reminded me a bit of Elijah Craig 12. Offcourse it was the rye and only now I´m starting to recognize rye flavours in bourbons much better.
Very high quality and interesting spirit for the more adventurous dramblers around. I would eat 50 Bhut Jolokia ghost peppers in a row for a bottle of the 18ct style
Did you note from which batch of Old Potrero Single Malt Rye Whiskey this was taken?
About age of the whiskey, rye grain has so much flavour that you don't need a lot of time in the wood to get a lot of flavour. The smokiness you noticed is from the heavy char they use in the barrels. My reviewed bottle had noticeable char flavours also. I found that the char flavours fade somewhat with oxidation of the open bottle. I have also sampled from another batch of this whiskey in which I did not notice the char flavours at all.