If you’ve never been on a riverboat – it’s objectively okay. Sure it feels nicer than say a regular ferry, and it’s certainly got some historical interest – but then so does a clipper ship. The point we’re very long-windedly trying to make is that it’s nothing special. This is because it makes a perfect segue into this Riverboat whiskey.
It’s not a secret that distilling companies have been trying as fast as possible to buy everyone else up so they can do two main things. The first capitalize on brands people know while earning their profits, and secondly to use them as a ghost factory for some nonsense shit like this. Just meetings of alright we got this not great rye – let’s not attach it to a brand name, just throw some vaguely southern US symbol on it and ship it. Make sure it’s got some pithy story and a batch number on it because that’s what they like.
What they Say: “Riverboat Rye Whiskey was crafted as a tribute to the history of American Whiskey. Our distillery tells the story of the early days, when rackhouse workers would open barrels with only a few years of aging to ‘thieve’ a bit of the whiskey. Once sampled some, we understood why. This Rye is young in age, but feisty and full of character, much like the denizens of America’s riverboat age, when whiskey was a way of life.
Carefully aged no less than one year in new American oak barrels. Distilled in Indiana and bottled by Riverboat, Columbia TN. 750mL”
Taste: 3.0 – Sure there is some rye in there, but if we’re honest this taste more like a standard overproof southern whiskey than anything else.
Aftertaste: 3.0 – Again you taste more the proof, with the rye on the side. It’s not terribly tasty.
Burn/Smooth: 2.0 – Now – this is not burning like you would typically get. Instead this a burn that starts as soon as it hits your lips and keeps going to remind you – hey 90 proofs sometimes don’t fuck around. Smooth however is far, far, far away from the word to use.
Aroma: 7.5 – Simply a delicious smelling rye whiskey. It hits all the right parts, and does nothing to let you down.
Honesty: 0.0 – Yeah, you want to know why your rackhouse workers stole some of this before it was done? Because it was overproof and got them drunk. Crucially though – it wasn’t fucken done, because by god this needs half a decade to mellow the fuck out. It’s a harsh bitter pill to swallow. We will say the design now is better than before, but even then the label is shoddily put on, and this is really just a dumping ground for Redemption Rye which is actually you know – a good whiskey.
Mixability: 4.17
W/ Rocks: 3.0 – That takes away some (and we do mean only some) of the harsh flavor, but it is otherwise ineffective at tempering this whiskey as it is simply far too hot.
Whiskey and Coke: 5.0 – That helps, maybe the most of any other fixes, but fuck is it still just a hot bourbon.
Old Fashioned: 4.5 – We will admit, it’s better than just rocks. It seems some sweetness and bitter is enough to shave off some of the hard edges here, but fuck no is this a good old fashioned. On a good day it’s passable.
Value: 3.0 – It’s not very expensive, but it also is not worth buying.
Google Shop Average: $18
Website: https://www.redemptionwhiskey.com/ (as far as we can tell made by same folks)
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 1.0
Want to compare this spirit against our archives? Visit our statistics page.
Metric Score: 22.67/70 |+| Metric Average: 3.24 |+| Reviewer Average: 1.0
New to Honest Booze Reviews, or just wondering how we score? See our FAQ/Review Policy.
Final Thoughts: I loathe this whiskey.
