Laws Whiskey House Bonded 6 Years
San Luis Valley Straight Rye Whiskey
50% ABV
$75
Website
We would like to thank Laws Whiskey House and RadCraft for sending us a sample to review.
What the Distillery Says
Laws Whiskey House is a grain-to-glass distillery in Denver, Colorado that applies a “there are no shortcuts” philosophy to each batch of whiskey produced. Each batch is milled, cooked, fermented, distilled, and aged on-site, utilizing heirloom grains from family-owned Colorado farms. The practice of open air, on-grain fermentation captures the essence of Colorado’s terroir while the copper pot-column still produces a robust, grain-forward style of whiskey.
This expression hails from the San Luis Valley rye grain of a single season, shaped by us as the single distiller, then aged in our federally-bonded rack house for over six years. Starting in April 2020, Bonded SLV Rye will be available in 15 states throughout 2020.
Tasting Notes: Sweet grass with honey and brine on the nose, cooling notes of wild mint and fennel, followed by deeper accents of sea salt, orange tee, and brown sugar on the palate. Finishes with a rich and buttery mouth feel accompanied by tobacco notes.
Mash Bill: 95% heirloom rye; 5% heirloom malted barley (all grown in Colorado)
Aged over six years in new, 53 gal, charred oak barrels
What Gary Says
Nose: Thick with lemongrass, mint, heather, bit of sea air, raw honey, touch of oak, hint of brown sugar and green tea ice cream.
Palate: Rich and viscous (borderline syrupy) mouthfeel, orange marmalade on rye toast, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, pepper spice, touch of mint, barley malt, and a hint of clove.
Finish: Fairly long, wet, and thickly lingering with malty spice notes.
Comments: This has one of the best mouthfeels on a rye that I can recall – really thick and rich; just coats the tongue. Not as sharp on the palate for a high rye mashbill as you might expect, and the barley seems to have more of an influence than I’d expect. I get a lot more malty notes. In fact, if tasting blind, I might have thought this was an interesting blend of straight rye whiskey with a single malt scotch. All that aside, this is just a delicious whiskey – and a very nice bottle too; quite hefty.