Now we know two things in regards to Winchester. The first being they made the Winchester rifle, the gun of the American West. We also know of the Winchester House, home of Sarah Winchester which is very haunted and weird. (What we like ghost stories even if they aren’t real). Now something we don’t know of is the ‘Winchester Cowboy’ or “Winchester Whiskey’ and yet here we have the name of the famous brand on this Rye – but why?
We’ve done the Bourbon before which was middling in all but some ice, so now let’s check out the Rye. Thankfully we can say while it’s fine that the Indiana company wasn’t good at bourbon, they do know their way around a rye. We do wish this was better though at that which we want from a rye – an old fashioned, but alas it’s good even when neat so we can’t complain too hard.
Okay seriously, we’ll have an actual review of Glenlevit 12 Yr soon. We always seem to forget it’s never been reviewed on this site until we do something like this – an offshoot – and then try to compare it scorewise to the standard outing. What we have here is some scotch, but finishes it’s aging instead in a rum cask. The effect is certainly something that has more rum elements, but does that make it better?
Now we’ve previously had an offshoot from the Bruichladdich in the form of Port Charlotte – which was *heavily* peated. Here though with the good old classic it’s actually un-peated relying wholly on barley for it’s flavor.
Typically you don’t see something that’s both a rye and a bourbon – they mostly just make the rye whiskey to their own standard. Maybe that’s something that should change though because this has ‘loads of flavor’ going on, and it’s only improved when you mix with it.
There’s a go to market strategy which states that if you aren’t the best, you better be first. It would seem Texas-based Balcones has taken this to heart because this thing kicks you in the teeth and offers nothing of enjoyment. Combine that with a price point that’s laughable and we enter the gauntlet once again for something that thinks it’s bigger than it’s britches.
If you’ve noticed a distinct trend on this site it’s that overall we’re not big fans of sherry casking. It’s often just the result of a tax avoidance, and usually is used improperly and to ill effect. However we have been known from time to time to enjoy that bit of sherry, and it seems that while a nice 12 year scotch may not be helped with it – it seems Rye and Sherry might just be the combo we needed. That or maybe these Limestone Branch Distillery folks know what they are doing.
Editor’s Note: Fuck that was a hell of a week, anyway.
We have sort of a complicated relationship with Dewar’s – on the one hand we prefer Famous Grouse or just a Glenlivet 12 Yr for a mixing/well scotch. (we really should review those) That’s not to say the white label hasn’t occasionally showed up in the bar. The 12 year Dewar’s is thankfully a bit better, but given the length of age one would expect that. This though – this was unexpected, and quite frankly much better than it had any right to be.
It’s bold – we’ll give them that. The whisky itself is actually a fine combo of smoke, sweet, citrus, and wood – although failing to properly bring them together. No, we say it’s bold because it looks very nice and well defined, but then you read what is being said. In short, we’re a site that’s built on honesty, and often we find what people say about their product to be a load of spunk – but we sort of revel in the sheer audacity of Aberfeldy.
We really have to ask the makers of this – where do you get off? Sorry but time and time again we get a unique bourbon, one that isn’t awful, but is still littered with faults – and yet they charge WAY too much. We’re sympathetic (a little) to smaller distilleries, or small batches, hell even single malts – but this just a blended bourbon charging way above its paygrade.
