Review #: 275
Description: Restoration Rye 2021 Batch 1
Spirit: Rye
Background: Restoration Rye is the first whiskey to come out of the Castle & Key distillery since it’s refurbishment. Made of 63% rye, 20% malted barley, and 17% corn, the batch is 80 barrels and I believe it doesn’t have an age statement. I believe last years release was 3 years so would make sense that it has reached 4 years. This was tried at the distillery so notes are a bit brief and I didn’t have my normal glassware, so keep that in mind.
Distillery – Castle & Key
Bottler – Castle & Key
Brand – Restoration
Selection – N/A
ABV – 50.5%
Age – NAS
Nose – Smells like an old fashioned, orange, caramel, honey, little bit of wheat/rye bread, some toasted grain but not young or negative.
Taste – Pretty sweet with dark caramel, honey wheat bread, brown sugar. Sweet but a little thin on the palate
Finish – Caramel and dark chocolate truffle, peppery and musty grains (but not in a bad way), rye spice lingers. Not too hot.
Score: 5
Would I buy a bottle? I’m fine with just a tasting, but had I bought it blind, I wouldn’t be mad about it for $40
Thoughts: My first taste of C&K whiskey and I was really surprised. There were no offensive notes or signs of young whiskey that would be off-putting. It’s a bit straight forward, and the worst part was how it just felt a little thin, but it had some solid sweetness along with enough rye too and a bit of orange to keep it interesting. Despite the score, this makes me excited for their future releases.