Full Review

Thirteenth Colony

Thirteenth Colony
Southern Rye Whiskey

Category: Rye Whiskey

Date Tasted:
Country: USA
Alcohol: 47.5%
91 Points
Gold Medal
Exceptional
$34

Thirteenth Colony
Southern Rye Whiskey

Category: Rye Whiskey

Date Tasted:
Country: USA
Alcohol: 47.5%
Golden amber color. Woody aromas and flavors of caramel buttercream cake, candle drippings, pencil shavings and eraser, and cornichons with turmeric with a supple, bright, fruity medium-to-full body and a warming, delightful, medium-length finish displaying touches of cherry-peach granola, spice nuts, and chocolate. A nicely balanced and rewarding Rye that will cover a lot of bases.

Tasting Info

Spirits Glass Style: Spicy & Fruity
Aroma Aroma: caramel buttercream cake, candle drippings, pencil shavings and eraser, and cornichons with turmeric
Taste Flavor: Same as aromas with touches of cherry-peach granola, spice nuts, and chocolate
Smoothness Smoothness: Warming
Enjoy Enjoy: in cocktails, on the rocks and with cigars
Cocktail Cocktails: Sazerac, Old Fashioned, Manhattan
Bottom Line Bottom Line: A nicely balanced and rewarding Rye that will cover a lot of bases.

The Producer

Thirteenth Colony Distilleries, LLC

The Producer
305 North Dudley St.
Americus, GA 31709
USA
1 229-924-3310

Rye Whiskey

Spirits Glass Glencairn Canadian Amber.jpg
Serve in a Glencairn Ganadian Whisky Glass
Rye Whisky must contain a minimum of 51% rye grain, be distilled at less than 80% ABV (160 proof) and be aged for a minimum of two years in new charred barrels. A small amount of straight Rye whiskey is bottled and marketed, but most of the industry production is blended into other whiskies to give them additional character and structure. Canadians frequently refer to their whisky as "Rye," though it is in fact made primarily from corn or wheat.

The Taste: While the best Bourbon is known for a creamy, caramel-like palate, the best Rye whiskey makes its presence known with a spicy, grainy, hard-edged firmness that is distinctive and unique. Usually very dry, with notes of walnut, toasted grain, and black pepper, straight rye has a bold assertive character that has earned it a small but dedicated following among discerning whiskey fans.

The Scotch-Irish immigrant distillers had some exposure to using rye in whiskey production, but for their German immigrant neighbors rye had been the primary grain used in the production of Schnapps and Vodka back in northern Europe. They continued this distilling practice, particularly in Pennsylvania and Maryland, where Rye whiskey, with its distinctive hard-edged, grainy palate, remained the dominant whiskey type well into the 20th century.

Rye whiskey was even more adversely effected by National Prohibition than Bourbon. A generation of consumers weaned on light-bodied and relatively delicate white spirits turned away from the uncompromising, pungent, full-bodied straight Rye whiskies. Production of Rye whiskies had vanished altogether from its Mid-Atlantic homeland by the 1980s. A handful of modern Rye whiskies are currently being made by Bourbon distilleries in Kentucky and Indiana. America’s first indigenous whiskey style is today only barely surviving in the marketplace. Its primary use is for blending to give other whiskies more character and backbone, although a small but vocal group of Rye whisky enthusiasts continue to champion it.

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