Jefferson's Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 10 Years
TJ of the North
0 683
Review by @Victor
- Nose22
- Taste20
- Finish21
- Balance20
- Overall83
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- Brand: Jefferson's
- Type: American
- ABV: 47%
Jefferson's Straight Rye Whiskey, like WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey, is Canadian-produced 100% rye mash whiskey, bottled as US Straight Rye Whiskey in the US. Castle Brands owns the Jefferson's label and has the whiskey bottled by McLain and Kyne in Louisville, Kentucky. Many think that this whiskey, like WhistlePig, is most likely distilled and barreled at Alberta Distilling, Ltd in Calgary, because that is the only distillery known to produce 100% rye mash whiskies in Canada. The reviewed bottle has been open for two days.
Nose: strong intensity maple and oak flavours, including vanilla and caramel, strong rye spices, significant alcohol greeting, and slight to moderate lemon citrus. This is generally quite a pleasant nose, except that the alcohol and the citrus is a little stronger than I would consider optimal.
Taste: sweet maple, plenty of rye spices with contrasting moderate lemon citrus. The alcohol greeting is noticeable but more in balance on the palate than in the nose. The rye and wood flavours are enjoyable enough here, but I just don't care at all for lemon citrus flavour in rye whiskey.
Finish: it is a good long finish here, with the wood and rye flavours holding up well. Because the citrus does fade out a little before the other flavours, I prefer the finish to the delivery of this whiskey.
Balance: if the citrus flavours fade away after this bottle is open 6-12 months, this whiskey will go up 5 points in my ratings. I much prefer WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey to Jefferson's Straight Rye Whiskey. Interestingly, the bottle has no more information on it than that given in my intro and a statement of the ABV. It takes examination of the fine print from a small label on the side of the bottle to discover that this is Canadian-distilled rye. I really do not know whether Castle Brands actively seeks to deceive the US consumer with the name Jefferson on this whiskey, but appearances would suggest that.
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I am revisiting Jefferson's Staight 10 YO Rye Whiskey on today's rye tour, 2 years after the review: much change in the bottle...no citrus now, and this has mellowed out considerably. This is now to the nose and palate very clearly Alberta Distiller's Rye. I was hoping that this would eventually morph into WhistlePig. It didn't do that, but it is pleasant, and what it did do is morph into something very much like Alberta Premium, but with more wood influence. The wood seems stronger here than with Alberta Premium, but that would stand to reason, since it is 10 years old and is a US straight rye matured in new charred oak, compared to 6 Yo Alberta Premium, which would use all or mostly used barrels. As of this tasting, I like this bottle a point or two better than when I first reviewed it.