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Tincup American Whiskey

A respectable rye

1 1083

@MegawattReview by @Megawatt

12th Aug 2017

1

Tincup American Whiskey
  • Nose
    23
  • Taste
    20
  • Finish
    19
  • Balance
    21
  • Overall
    83

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Distribution of ratings for this: user

  • Brand: Tincup
  • ABV: 42%

If I had paid more attention to the label I might have noticed that this mainly consists of "high-rye bourbon" from Indiana. MGP? Most likely, though the whiskies they are known for are not high-rye bourbons, but high-rye ryes.

Anyway, this one took some adjusting to. This is perhaps my third glass. On the nose, you get lots of rye, and some fresh lumber. Not very bourbony at all. Very clean and fresh-smelling. Very herbal, almost a touch of cannabis oil (not that I would know), and some interesting mineral notes, like wet stone. Also some mint jelly. Interesting and quite complex.

In the mouth it has some bite. At first I found the alcohol overpowering, and the overall impression astringent. I've adapted to it since the first glass but it is still not the most graceful stuff on the market. Medium-bodied with hot, slightly sweet rye notes tending more toward herbaceous rather than fruity. Think of India Pale Ale and you are in the ballpark. A tad bitter. But like the nose, it is still interesting and complex.

The finish is where the oak shows up. Not a lot of it, but enough to allow the flavours to linger on the tongue for quite some time.

Balance-wise, this takes some getting used to but I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Hard to say how much impact that "small amount" of Stranahan's excellent malt whiskey has on the experience but this strikes me as quite different from the other MGP ryes I've had. And make no mistake, this is a rye whiskey. If you like rye and can find this at a reasonable price (I got mine on clearance), I say go for it.

Nose:

Body:

Palate:

10 comments

t
tfahey1298 commented

I agree, a respectable rye, reasonably priced.

7 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

Tincup is bourbon. Tasting rye flavours does not make it rye whiskey.

As far as rating and commentary other than that, I would be close to what you have stated, @Megawatt. I'd probably rate it a few points lower, actually. I have a neice and husband who love Tincup. It is a little rough for my taste, and probably the roughest product I have seen yet for an MGPI whiskey.

7 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@Victor I have met your wife, and now I look forward to meeting your husband...

stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye

7 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Nelom
Nelom commented

@Victor According to their website, Tincup is a blend of bourbon and single malt. While it may be mostly bourbon, I'd think the presence of single malt means it's no longer technically bourbon.

Or can you blend bourbon with other whiskies and as long as it's still 51% corn and the other whiskies conform to the barrel, origin and aging requirements of bourbon, the new whisky you've blended is also bourbon?

7 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Nelom, no you are right, once you put something else in the mix, it really cannot be called bourbon anymore, which is, no doubt why they cal it "American Whiskey" instead.

So far I haven't found any that go by the nomenclature of "American Whiskey" that I have liked much. I imagine that some of them will be likable, even to me. Usually those 'American whiskeys' fudge on the standards which I value most in straight bourbon and straight rye whiskeys, or they put wheat and rye together badly, as wheat and rye usually combine.

7 years ago 0

@Megawatt
Megawatt commented

I read somewhere the mash is 72% rye but that was not from an official source. Also to my palate this smells and tastes far more like a rye than a bourbon. In fact it tastes more like rye than several ryes I've had.

7 years ago 0

@Megawatt
Megawatt commented

@Victor

I stand corrected, apparently it is more like 35% rye. Could have fooled me. Also, I agree it is a little rough and was prepared to score it maybe around 75 but when I really picked it apart it held up better than I expected.

7 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Megawatt, thank you for your responses. I understand the difference between a "critic's score" set around specific parameters and a personal enjoyment score. I will sometimes grade a whisk(e)y higher or lower for a critic's review than a grade which would reflect my own personal enthusiasm for drinking that product. So what would that critic's score represent, concretely? I think that it would represent an appraisal of the quality of the individual parts of the whisky-tasting experience for a given product, which, when merged to form a whole, form an experience which could be enjoyed much more by others with slightly different taste than mine...but not by me.

7 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@Victor I've noticed the same in whisky scoring. I've started to consider an overall enjoyment rating which, if different from the score based on nose, taste, finish and balance, is what I use for my Connosr score.

7 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Nozinan, bien entendu. The whisky enjoyment whole is greater (and different) than the whisky-evaluation sum of the parts.

7 years ago 0