Tasting notes

nose

Butterscotch, cherry cola, light anise and fresh oak, with a grassy edge

palate

Rye grain and rye bread, orange marmalade, dried stone fruit, butterscotch and salted caramel

finish

Long and warm; rye spice, malt, allspice, raisin, light cinnamon and burnt caramel over gentle oak

Mash bill

Rye and malted barley, blended from two recipes in a proportion that is not published. One recipe is 80% rye and 20% malted barley, the other 90% rye and 10% malted barley, and neither uses corn, so the rye grain sets the flavor. The Huber family grows the rye on its own farm and buys the malted barley locally. Both are sweet mashes, fermented seven days in closed-top stainless steel.

Why it's craft

The Huber family grows the rye for this whiskey on its own farm in southern Indiana and blends two rye-and-malted-barley recipes, one 80% rye and one 90%, then ages the barrels in the old rickhouse on the same land. It is bottled in bond and released in small batches. Neither recipe uses corn, so the rye grain carries the flavor. The family has farmed at Starlight since 1843 and opened the distillery in 2001.