Willett Family Estate Bottled Small Batch 4 Year Straight Rye Whiskey
- Grain to glass
- Non-chill filtered
- Core range
- Proof
- 112.2
- Age
- 4 yr
- Style
- RyeStraight Rye Whiskey
- Street price
- $59.99
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“Two Willett rye recipes married at cask strength in the Maryland style.”
Tasting notes
- nose
- caramel apple and burnt toffee, honey and rye bread, with licorice, anise, caraway and dark berries
- palate
- raisin and light cherry, licorice and honey, chocolate mint, citrus, green tea and cinnamon over roasted oak
- finish
- herbal and tannic; honey, licorice and toasted bread with black pepper, fading into eucalyptus, mint and sweet black tea
Mash bill
A blend of several whiskeys, so no single grain split.
A blend of two recipes: 90% from a mash of 74% rye, 11% corn and 15% malted barley, and 10% from a mash of 51% rye, 34% corn and 15% malted barley. Willett built the pairing to echo the fruit-and-spice profile of historic Maryland-style rye, with the high-rye recipe leading and the corn-heavier one softening it. Both go into the barrel at a low 110 proof.
- Cask
- New charred American oak
Why it's craft
This is estate-distilled rye: Willett mashes, distills, ages and bottles it in Bardstown, at the distillery Thompson Willett founded in 1936 and the Kulsveen family still owns. The rye goes into the barrel at 110 proof, lower than most Kentucky whiskey, and comes out at cask strength with no water added. The label carries the batch strength filled in by hand.
Willett Distillery
Family-owned · Est. 1936 · Tours