Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Rye
Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
Comparing Different Barrels
57.5% ABV
$45 – $50
Website
What the Distillery Says
Unblended rye whiskey from a one-of-a-kind barrel chosen by your local retailer based on a sampling of our finest barrels.
Why Compare Two Different Barrels?
First off – it’s fun! But also because I thought it would be interesting to show just how different two barrels can be – and I happened to have both opened at the same time, so why not.
The Barrel Details
Barrel “A” | Barrel “B” | |
|---|---|---|
Picked By | Gourmands International | DeKalb Bottle House |
Barreled On | 12/10/2012 | 1/28/2014 |
Bottled On | 7/17/2018 | 5/9/2019 |
Age | 5 Years, 7 Months | 5 Years, 3 Months |
Warehouse, Floor | Whse F, Floor 9 | Whse W-E, Floor 4 |
What Gary Says
Barrel “A” | Barrel “B” | |
|---|---|---|
| Nose: | Herbal, dill, lemongrass, toasted lemon zest, oak; a tad hot and sharp – water brings a maple and honey note with brown sugar. | Rich, herbal with dill, thyme, fennel, orange zest, bit of brown sugar; water brings honey, vanilla and more orange. |
| Palate: | Sharp, vanilla, orange, pepper spice, oak; water tamps the edges bringing more caramel and orange marmalade, and thickens the mouthfeel nicely. | Thick mouthfeel, vanilla, honey, orange, chocolate, pepper slowly comes in with cinnamon and nutmeg in tow; water brings caramel, more orange, tamps the chocolate a bit and thickens the mouthfeel further. |
| Finish: | Short to moderate in length, with oak and pepper. | Moderately long with orange spice, oak and cinnamon |
| Comments: | Rye can be quite good at a young age. This spent its time on the 9th floor, so a lot of heat up there. Not quite over-oaked, but definitely on the oaky end of the spectrum. I’m not a big fan of ‘oak bombs’, and this is nearing that for me. It improves a LOT with water (neat this would be squarely in the ‘Average’ bucket). | This was bottled about a year after the other, and while a similar age it spent its time in the middle of the rickhouse. Every barrel is unique, but I think a fair amount of the difference is likely attributed to that location. Just delightful! Of course I know some of the folks involved in picking barrels for DeKalb Bottle House, and they’ve got good taste – so this side by side wasn’t a big surprise to me. A really nice rye at a great price. |
Rating: | Average/Stands Out | Stands Out/Must Try |