Tasting notes

nose

floral, with dried lavender and orange peel over vanilla, toffee and praline, and a thread of spearmint and sage

palate

dried apricot and baked apple, then toasted almond, cinnamon, nutmeg and cracked pepper, with molasses and dark chocolate deeper in

finish

medium to long; chocolate and spiced apple butter stay with the pepper, then it dries out to oak while a little sweetness lingers at the back of the throat

Mash bill

Rye, corn and malted barley, in proportions Michter's does not publish. Michter's makes its rye in what it calls a Kentucky style, with more corn and malted barley than most American ryes carry, and Master Distiller Dan McKee says that extra corn and barley gives a rich sweetness to set against the rye spice. Michter's aims this rye at bourbon drinkers wary of rye, and says many of them find they like it.

Why it's craft

Michter's traces its name to Shenk's, a rye distillery founded by Swiss Mennonite farmer John Shenk in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, in 1753, and this single-barrel rye carries that line on in Kentucky. Each bottle comes from one barrel aged more than ten years. It returned in April 2014 after nearly three years off the market, once then-Master Distiller Willie Pratt approved it. Michter's does not say where this release was distilled: its Shively stills filled their first barrel in August 2015, and earlier stock was distilled under contract to its recipes.