95% rye, 5% malted barley — a high-rye mash bill that ferments faster and hotter than our bourbon, and needs a shorter, more assertive cask to stand up to it rather than a long, gentle one. Six years in Virgin American Oak gets there: enough tannin and baking-spice character to frame the rye without a decade of mellowing softening out the grain’s natural bite.
Bottled at 50% ABV, which we settled on after cutting trials down to 43% made the pepper and dill notes read as thin. This is the whiskey we recommend to anyone who finds our 12 Year too gentle.
