Michter's Distillery Michter's US★1 Barrel Strength Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey NV 750ml

This limited-release rye offers a rich aroma of vanilla and caramel. Bottled at barrel strength, it’s initially drying and hot on the palate. Complex and echoing with rounded vanilla and allspice, it stands up to plenty of dilution, and finishes on a hint of almond.

Gloriously pretty new copper kettle color; I see more sediment than I like to see, though the vast majority of servers and drinkers will not notice. Lovely aromatics greet the olfactory sense in the fragrant forms of ripe red pear, red grape sour candy, red grapefruit, rye bread; second passes detect more of the grain aspects without ever being eclipsed by the spirit strength. Entry is succulent, tangy, keenly peppery (green and black peppercorn), holiday fruitcake-like, rich in texture; midpalate reflects the entry to a tee, but adds the extra dash of tree sap/resiny flavor that takes away a little for the entry sweetness but makes for a complex, concentrated aftertaste. Generous, undiluted straight rye that deserves a fifth star even allowing for the bit of sediment.