Tasting notes

nose

toffee, honey and black walnut, with a dark, savory edge and baked cinnamon roll

palate

dark chocolate, salted caramel, cherry and mint over pronounced rye spice, with a caramel-icing sweetness

finish

long; rye spice and rounded oak give way to toasted wood and warm gingerbread that linger

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.

Why it's craft

Michter's created the toasted-barrel finish in 2014 and has the second barrels built to its own specification: wood seasoned outdoors for 24 months, then toasted without charring. The rye goes into them at full barrel strength after maturing in its first, charred barrel, which Michter's fills at 103 proof rather than the 125 the rules allow. Its warehouses are heated and then left to cool through the winter so the whiskey moves through the wood more often. Michter's does not say where the rye in this release was distilled.