Four Gate Whiskey Company: Batch 7, River Kelvin Rye

I’d like to thank Four Gate Whiskey Company for providing a review sample with no strings attached.

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If you’ve been reading my work for any length of time, you will know that I am a very frugal person. Probably not as frugal as many of my readers, I mean I do buy enough whiskey to keep this site filled with reviews. But I am pretty frugal in spite of, or maybe because of, that.

I appreciate delicious whiskey but I know that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a delicious whiskey. In fact, much of the time what you are paying for is scarcity, not quality. Though they might line up on occasion, charging $100 for a whiskey doesn't make it a good whiskey. Charging $200 doesn’t make it better. Cost and quality can, and do often align, but that is more correlation than causation.

Take tonight’s whiskey. This whiskey is described as “95/5 Indiana Straight Rye” on the info sheet. I’m going to guess MGP but have not asked specifically. They aren’t selling a bottle of barrel strength MGP for $175 because it is amazing whiskey (though odds are that it is, MGP very consistently makes amazing whiskey). They are selling it for that price because they are only selling 1,484 bottles of the stuff.

Is the price unreasonable? Well, from the producer’s side of the equation..no idea. I have no idea how much a barrel of 7-year-old MGP rye sells for these days. But I did some quick math based on the retail cost and if every bottle sells at the Suggested Retail Price only $259,685 will be made from Batch 7. And that will need to be split between the retailer, the distributor, the tax agencies (state, local and federal), and the producer who will then use their cut to pay for overhead, supplies, and manpower while hopefully making a profit.

I honestly didn’t think that I was going to be defending the price of the whiskey when I sat down to write this. And I’m really not. Like I said above, I am super frugal, and a freelancer, so there is no way I can afford a bottle of their product. But after sitting down to do the math, I can at least understand why a company might feel the need to charge this high of a price. Whether that price is worth it to you on the retail end is not my call. But let’s see what it tastes like anyway.

Four Gate Whiskey Company: Batch 7, River Kelvin Rye

Purchase Info: This sample was graciously supplied by the producer for review purposes. Suggested retail price is: $174.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $11.67

Details: “95/5 Indiana Straight Rye” (going out on a limb to say that means MGP though this has not been confirmed by the company), 56.6% ABV, 7 years old, 1,484 bottle batch. Available in Kentucky and Indiana.

Nose: Mint, bubble gum, brown sugar, baking spices

Mouth: Mint, brown sugar, baking spice, oak

Finish: Long and spicy. Cooling mint, brown sugar oak, cinnamon, and a hint of cedar.

Thoughts: This is a delicious rye whiskey. It is also, as I said above, way out of my price range. If $175 is an easy spend for you, then this is great. You should buy it if you see it. If like me, you gasp a little at the thought of paying almost $200 for a whiskey, then you should probably pass on this one. It is a very good “95/5 Indiana Straight Rye” (probably MGP) but there are a ton of those out there that are in my price range even if they don’t have the same age or proof on them.

I will, however, be looking forward to the two barrel finished batches of this whiskey that they will be putting out later this year. One in the “Split-Stave” style barrels that they have used on previous bourbon batches and one that will be finished in a “Ruby Port-Rum casks.” I’ve saved as much as could of this sample to compare on the off-chance they send a sample of either of them over.

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Willett Family Estate Bottled Small Batch Rye, 2-, 3- and 4-years-old

Just as the pandemic started gaining steam in the US and just as Minnesota was entering our lockdown phase, I finally decided to get off my butt, hop in the truck, and drop off a few of the whiskey samples for a buddy of mine. Talk about waiting until the last minute.

I left them on his front porch and in return he left something for me. It was a perfectly socially distanced exchange as we waved at each other through the windows. I had included a few of the more interesting items that I had picked up since we had last gotten together along with some of the fun things that producers had sent my way. He included a couple of samples of things he’d picked up along with two bottles of Willett Family Estate Bottled Small Batch Rye. He’d warned me that he was including “something that might inspire a trip to the store for a vertical tasting.”

To say I was shocked at two full bottles being in my sample bag was an understatement, but all I can say is that I really do have the best friends.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Small Batch Rye, 2-year old

Purchase info: This was a very generous gift from a good friend. Guessing it had been sitting in his collection since it was first released.

Details: 55.7% ABV. Two years old.

Nose: Cinnamon candies, orange zest, and cedar

Mouth: Cedar, orange zest, toffee, ginger

Finish: Medium length with lingering notes of "orange slice" jelly candies, cinnamon, and hints of cedar wood.

Thoughts: Very bright and energetic. Spice, citrus, and cedar throughout. I originally reviewed this way back in 2014. At the time, I thought it needed to more time to age, but these days, I’m ok with the bright energetic flavor of it. In fact, I really enjoyed it. It’s fun to see how our tastes evolve when you’ve had over half a decade between tastings of a product.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Small Batch Rye, 3-year old

Purchase info: This was a very generous gift from a good friend. Guessing it had been sitting in his collection since it was first released.

Details: 55.2% ABV. Three years old.

Nose: Toffee, cinnamon, orange zest, and cedar

Mouth: Cinnamon candies, "orange slice" jelly candies, toffee, Cedar, and a nutty note.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering nutty notes. Cinnamon and cedar with hints of dark chocolate.

Thoughts: You can definitely tell this started as the same whiskey. This is a lot sweeter as the sweet barrel notes are influencing the orange to make it more candy-like.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Small Batch Rye, 4-year old

Purchase info: $47.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.20

Details: 55% ABV. Four years old.

Nose: Dark Chocolate, toffee, cinnamon, and cedar

Mouth: Cedar, cinnamon candies, dark chocolate, toffee, and hints of mint

Finish: Long and warm with lots of cinnamon and cedar, some dark chocolate, and just hints of orange.

Thoughts: I found it interesting how by four-years-old the orange notes are practically non-existent. I'm getting just hints of them at the tail end of the finish. It is also interesting how that cedar note intensified.

In fact, the cedar was one of the dominant flavors throughout the vertical. If you are like my wife and you do not like that flavor, you won't like these. If you like it then you should pick up a bottle. Me? I don't love it, but I don't mind it either. It’s not my favorite rye whiskey note, but it is one I have enjoyed on more than one occasion.

Weirdly, I actually think the four-year-old is actually my least favorite of the bunch. Contrary to my 2014 assessment, maybe it didn’t need time to “grow up.” Compared to the brightness of the 2-year-old, the current 4-year-old feels muted. In fact, I actually prefer to blend the three rather than drinking any of them alone. The base of the four year old brings richness while the addition of the 2-year-old adds a bit of liveliness to the whiskey that I really enjoy.

Overall, as with many ryes, I’ll probably use these in cocktails more than I will neat. I like them but, I think I might have some blending to do in the near future so that I like them even more.

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Dad's Hat Pennsylvania Straight Rye Whiskey

Just a little over five years ago, I took my first look at a product from Dad’s Hat. It was a nine-month-old rye whiskey that had been finished in Vermouth barrels. I wasn’t really a fan. I rated it a meh and said the following:

Not being a fan of really young ryes, this is not quite to my palate. That said, it feels like it was a nicely crafted rye before the barrel finishing and I hope they have some stuck away in big barrels for the future.

Honestly, it was the vermouth that threw me on the last one as much as the age. (Turns out, I’m not really a fan of vermouth.) So when I noticed this four-year-old version sitting on the shelf of my local Total Wine during a recent “content run” I knew that I’d need to take another look at the brand. And of course, I picked one that had been aged long enough that it no longer needed an age-statement, even though they were kind enough to put one on the label anyway.

Dad's Hat Pennsylvania Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $59.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.00

Details: Aged a minimum of four years. 47.58 ABV. Mash bill: 80% rye, 20% malt. Aged in 53-gallon barrels.

Nose: Cedar greenery and mint.

Mouth: Cedar, oak, mint, caramel, ginger.

Finish: Medium and warm. Lingering notes of pine needles, anise, and greenery.

Thoughts: Lots of cedar and mint on this one. A good hit of rye malt flavor on the finish, even though the mash bill doesn't list malted rye in it. This pairs very nicely with the Summit "Juicy" IPA I'm having with it. There are similar pine/cedar flavors in them.

Fun fact, I like this better when tasting in a Glencairn glass than I do while drinking it out of my usual old fashioned glass. That’s kind of a knock against it for me as I don’t like drinking out of a Glencairn. Overall I like this because it is interesting but I don’t know that I’ll be reaching for it frequently. Definitely a “change of pace” neat pour for me. It makes a hell of a cocktail though. That said, I’m not sure I’m willing to dish out another $60 for a product I’ll mainly be using as a mixer.

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George Dickel Rye Whiskey

Damn, I’m tired.

I’m not sure if you noticed this, but I am a wonderful husband. So much so that I took today “off” from work in order to build my wife a permanent fence around her garden. Well, start building anyway. This is going to be a much bigger job than I had anticipated when I told her that my building this was her Mother’s Day present. Today I used an auger to dig 14 two-foot holes and put in 14 posts. If I had good soil, it probably wouldn’t have taken as long (or been nearly as hard) but I live on clay. Very wet clay.

The good news is that if I ever decide to get into pottery, I have all I would ever need just a few inches below the surface of my yard.

Luckily for me, my wife is an amazing wife too. As I finished cleaning up and sat down to write, a Sazerac magically appeared at hand. She decided that I needed to have a post-work cocktail. And knowing what I was writing about tonight, she used that.

George Dickel Rye is the whiskey that made me realize that I’d never reviewed most of the Dickel lineup. I seriously thought I had. I bought it right after it came out for the express purpose of reviewing it. It was an era when most of the rye coming out was from MGP. This probably was as well, though I doubt anyone actually admitted as much. But I remember that the word on the street was that they bought it fully aged and then ran it through charcoal. Kinda the opposite of the Lincoln County process that Dickel usually uses.

But I wanted to see what the filtering did to the product. At the time, I really didn’t notice much and I’ve bought it as a cocktail rye off and on since. And yes, the entire time, I thought I had reviewed it. So here I am finally making up for lost time and letting you know what I think of one of my rotating cocktail ryes (I guess that might be a hint right there).

George Dickel Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Village Liquors, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.67

Details: 95% Rye whiskey mash. 45% ABV. Filtered through maple charcoal.

Nose: Cedar, mint, hints of brown sugar.

Mouth: Brown sugar, mint, cedar.

Finish: Gentle and on the shorter end of medium length. Notes of mint, baking spice, and a hint of maple.

Thoughts: I like this one as a cocktail rye. It has a lot of the typical 95% Rye-Style flavor notes but is just a bit sweeter than I like my rye to be when I sip on it. I really like it in an Old Fashioned or Sazerac though.

OK. Now. I am off to take my second shower of the day because, honestly, I stink.

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New Richmond Rye Cask Strength

Way back in 2012, I stumbled upon a semi-local distillery. At the time, the Minnesota tax system was set up so that only the largest distilleries could afford a license. And so, aspiring craft distillers jumped the border in order to pay a license fee that was about 1/30th the size. So when I say semi-local, think about an hour and a half away. And this particular distiller paid homage to that border jumping by naming his first whiskey “Border Bourbon.” I reviewed it back in 2012, but there really isn’t much point in linking you to that since in the intervening seven and a half years, that young bourbon has grown up into a fully mature one. The website says four years old, the branded shelf-talker said five years old. So It’s somewhere in there.

But I’m not here to talk about the bourbon from 45th Parallel Distillery. No, when I stopped off to check out a couple of cross-border liquor stores recently, I noticed that there was a Cask Strength version of their rye on the shelf. I’d had exactly one bottle of their rye and wasn’t impressed with it to ever review it. It was just too young for me at the time. Well, guess what? This guy has grown up too. And seeing a 120 proof version on top of it made me think it was just about time to give this semi-local product another look.

New Richmond Rye Cask Strength

Purchase Info: $59.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Chicone’s Liquor Mart, Hudson, WI

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.00

Details: Non-age stated (over 4 years old). 60% ABV.

Nose: Mint, vanilla bean ice cream, and cedar.

Mouth: Hot and Spicy. Mint, vanilla, cedar, and cinnamon.

Finish: Long and warm. Notes of mint, cinnamon, and cedar.

Thoughts: I’m very glad that I stopped to stretch my legs on my way back from Wisconsin. I’ve even more glad that on a whim I decided that a liquor store was the appropriate place to do so. I grabbed this during a fit of nostalgic curiosity and I am glad I did. It is quite good (and quite drinkable neat despite being 120° proof). Heck, even my wife who doesn’t like rye as much agrees that this one is going on the "special shelf" so we don’t go through it too quickly.

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Rossville Union Barrel Select: South Lyndale Liquors

The MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana makes some of my favorite rye whiskey on the planet. I love their 95% rye style. It’s my favorite style of rye. The Kentucky style of barely legal 51% rye is usually fine in a cocktail, or if you are looking for a more bourbon-like rye, but for me? I like my rye to have a bit more rye flavor. And the closer a distillery gets to the 95% style that MGP made famous, the more I tend to like it.

A couple of years ago, MGP decided that supplying the majority of the rye whiskey on the shelves through intermediaries wasn’t enough and they introduced their own brand of rye, named Rossville Union. This rye was a combination of their 95% rye and their 51% rye mash bills. I suspected from my own blending experiments that these would favor the 95% flavor profile as it tends to show through in any blend I’d made. I was pleased to find that I was correct when I purchased it for myself and reviewed it back in June 2018.

So it was with great delight that I read last August that MGP would be extending the Rossville Union line into a private selection program for retailers. And when I saw a pair of them at a local retailer? I just knew I had to pick them up.

Rossville Union Barrel Select: South Lyndale Liquors, Savory.

Purchase Info: $42.99 for a 750ml bottle (on sale) at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50ml): $2.87

Details: 50% ABV

Nose: Mint, cedar, cinnamon, clove

Mouth: Dry and spicy with mint, cinnamon, and clove.

Finish: On the shorter side of medium length. Notes of herbal mint, cinnamon, juicy fruit gum, and cedar.

Thoughts: Very tasty. I like this with a splash of water. Water brings out sweetness and accents the juicy fruit gum on the finish, making it very reminiscent of certain Four Roses bourbons.

Rossville Union Barrel Select: South Lyndale Liquors, Sweet.

Purchase Info: $42.99 for a 750ml bottle (on sale) at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50ml): $2.87

Details: 50% ABV

Nose: Clove, cedar, mint, vanilla and a hint of dill.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy. Clove, mint, caramel, cedar

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. Notes of cinnamon red hots and cedar.

Thoughts: Another very good selection. When served neat, I like this better than the Savory. Not really a fan of this one with water though.

But how do they compare to the standard Rossville Union?

The standard Rossville is sweeter on the nose than the “savory” but less sweet than the “sweet.” The mouth of the standard release adheres more closely to the “usual” 95% MGP profile than either of the Barrel Selects. And the finish of both Barrel Selects pours are more complex. Overall, I like all three but the Barrel Select bottles are something pretty special.

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Elijah Craig Straight Rye Whiskey

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

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Much of my family is under the impression that because I am self-employed, I can just take any day off. The reality is, of course, that I never really have a day off. Even while on vacation I am taking phone calls from clients and answering emails.

But guess what?

Tomorrow I am taking a real day off! (Well, unless something urgent comes up. Damn my Midwestern work ethic…) But the plan is to take tomorrow off to research some projects I’m working on for the Etsy store. So I guess I’m not really taking it off so much as allocating the day to a more fun kind of work. And I can’t wait! I’ll be in the garage playing with wood and tools. I’ll be online researching 3D printers and materials casting/metalwork. It will be so much fun. I can’t wait!

Elijah Craig Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: This sample was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.00

Details: 47% ABV. Mash bill: 51% rye, 35% corn, 14% malted barley. Initially available in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oregon.

Nose: Cinnamon, caramel, and mint, with hints of cedar and bubblegum.

Mouth: Cinnamon, mint leaves, spearmint, almond, and oak.

Finish: Nice and spicy without being super hot. Lingering baking spice and mint.

Thoughts: I like this, it’s a pretty tasty rye. I’ll probably consume this most often either neat or in a cocktail. Like with most "Kentucky-style" barely-legal ryes, I wouldn't reach for this when making a cocktail that calls for rye (like a Sazerac) but I'd use the heck out of it in cocktails that call for bourbon that can handle some extra spice.

In the name of Science! I tried this next to a couple of other ryes I had in the house (Rittenhouse, Old Forester, and Jack Daniels). I’d say that, for obvious reasons, this is most like Rittenhouse. Now, this is lower proof than Rittenhouse but the press release reads as if it is a bit older. And my experience mirrors that. Tasting them side by side, both my wife and I like the Elijah Craig better than the Rittenhouse. My favorite of the group was Old Forester, then Elijah Craig, with Rittenhouse and Jack Daniels bringing up the rear.

Final verdict: if it is in your area, it is certainly worth as look as the price is great for how good it is. If you are a fan of barely legal ryes this is a good one. I, however like a bit more rye in my ryes.

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Lot 40 Canadian Rye Whiskey: Revisited

Tonight, my beloved Minnesota Golden Gophers kick off their 2019 college football season. And I couldn’t be more excited. I love the first night of football season. For me part of looking ahead means looking back. Taking stock of last year and all the good things that happened always give me a sense of optimism, even when it isn’t warranted. But tonight is the last night that anything that happened last year means anything. All that matters now is the future.

This is the same tactic I take when I do these “revisited” posts. Sure, what happened in the past is important as a starting point, but what is happening now is all that really matters. So in that spirit, let’s take a look at Lot 40 Canadian Rye Whisky. It has been two thousand, three hundred seven days since I last reviewed this whiskey. And I loved it.

I tried it blind as part of an online Twitter tasting (remember Twitter? Back when it wasn’t a cesspool filled with hate?). Soon after, I made a trip to Canada and brought a few bottles back home with me. Shortly after that it showed up in my local market and all was well. I would pick it up every once in a while, but the fact that it was priced above $60 at the time made those times farther and farther apart. Until one day, I realized I hadn’t purchased it in years. so I grabbed it and here we are.

Lot 40 Canadian Rye Whisky: Revisited

Purchase Info: $39.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 43% ABV. 100% Pot Still Whisky

Nose: It’s a bit of a caramel bomb. Pencil shavings, caramel custard, spearmint and cloves.

Mouth: Toffee, mint, cinnamon, black pepper and creamy custard.

Finish: Medium length with lingering caramel and baking spices.

Thoughts: This is a lot sweeter than I remembered it being. So much so that I dug into my sample library for my last sample of the 2012 release that I bought so many bottles of. These are two completely different whiskies. 2012 is spicy on the nose and the mouth is complex with hints of dill. The current bottling is nothing like that. The nose mouth and finish are all heavy on the caramel. It is so sweet I don’t want to use it in cocktails, like an Old Fashioned, that have added sugar. I’m very sad. This is the farthest anything has fallen in the Revisited series. It went from a love to a meh.

I really hope that isn’t an omen for the football season…

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