Old Scout Rye
Straight Rye Whiskey
Aged 7 years
Batch No. 54, 1/21/15 bottle date
49.5% ABV (99 proof)
paid $37
Color: medium brown, with a ruby tint.
Smell: soft and approachable, and quite sweet for a rye. There's some caramel at first most noticeably, but after nosing it for a while, a lot of characteristic rye aromas come to the fore. I get dill and pumpernickel bread for sure, along with cucumber mint soap and leather. Very nice.
Taste: slight sweetness upfront (caramel), but then it's all about the rye spiciness. Waves of dill and pumpernickel bread, allspice, wood tannins, and some leather. The finish is medium and features more wood and a little bitterness - slightly off-balance for me with this astringency.Overall: this is solid, but not great. I'd throw it comfortably in the B-/B category. The nose is really nice, but on the palate it gets a little too tannic. The sweetness doesn't shine through the oak influence, which would be fine if the rye spiciness had mellowed into a smooth leather/allspice/clove spice bomb characteristic of old ryes - but it hasn't. It may eventually get there with more barrel time, but for now it's a little raw. All that said, this is fine to drink straight, would be fine for cocktails, and makes me very excited to try other Smooth Ambler selections.
