Colonel E.H. Taylor Straight Rye Bottled In Bond Whiskey

This Colonel E.H. Straight Rye Bottled-in-Bond 100 proof bourbon pays tribute to the previous Distillery proprietor with an extraordinary rye bourbon reminiscent of days long past.

Color: Medium-light gold with brownish glints.

On the nose: Key lime, vanilla custard, underripe tangerines. Some smoky scents of campfire emerge, along with the piquantly woody aroma of mesquite. A moistly meaty scent of roasted bone-in chicken breast presents itself, as well as a hint of black licorice. There’s a heaping dollop of vanilla and some damp pennies in here, but this keeps coming back to smells of stern rye grain.

In the mouth: At the front of the mouth, this is possessed by a piquantly bitter rye grain flavor, carrying on from the nose’s dominant influence. Fulsome red fruit flavors balance this out at midpalate, which also has the salutary richness of polished wood. I get nuances of red brick (not that I’ve ever tasted one, but you know…) as this becomes mineral-dominated toward the back of the tongue. A firm flavor of fluoride and a dash of mocha carries this into the pepper-accented finish, which lingers briefly before fading into oblivion.