Review #: 519
Description: Dancing Goat Limousin Rye: r/Bourbon #8298 “Cherry Bitters”
Spirit: Rye
Background: 30 for 30 Day 13: Dancing Goat is based out of Wisconsin and is pretty transparent with their sourcing practices. They are going to be pretty well represented in this series. Why? Because they are putting out single barrels with pretty big age statements and interesting finishes. Their “6 Year Rye” spends at least 5 years in new oak before at least a year of French Limousin oak before any additional finishing. Oh, and these ones were all $60 a bottle. This one, barrel #8298, was aged for 6 years and 9 months before a 3 month finish in a cherry bitter barrel. A barrel used to aged cherry bitters then held this rye. I’ve never heard of such a thing but it sounds like it could work? Let’s see. This is the MGP 95/5 rye recipe
Distillery – MGP
Bottler – Dancing Goat
Brand – Dancing Goat
Selection – r/Bourbon
ABV – 55.6%
Age – 7 Years
Nose – Oh, tons of bright and sweet cherry, sweet vermouth, vanilla ice cream, spiced cake. Lots of sweet and spice and very much smells like a Manhattan.
Taste – Cherry turnover, vanilla frosting, caramel, kind of reminds me of that cherry shell that Dairy Queen will dip your soft serve into but not quite as artificial
Finish – Cherry becomes quite tart, a little hot and dry but settles into some spice and cherry turns back sweet, oaky, dark chocolate
Score: 6
Would I buy a bottle? Yes
Thoughts: This is just a fun bottle. Really like a high powered manhattan in a bottle. The cherry does work well with the rye but it’s not really what you are going to reach for when you are just wanting a pour of whiskey. It’s fun to cocktail with and show off to others and I give it props simplifying for pulling off without being too much or too subtle. The finish is a tad hot and strong for my liking.