As our readers will likely recall from the Willett Family Estate single barrel bourbon review, that particular product is distinct in that it is only released as a single barrel offering; whereas the Willett Family Estate rye is offered as a small batch or as a single barrel selection. At the time of this post, Willett is not entertaining barrel selections, but this particular bottle today is a selection that was done by the Bourbon Pursuit Podcast and their community. Willett doesn’t mention much about the rye on their website, aside from from tasting notes on the small batch. You can view a fairly interesting timeline of the family and distillery, however, and learn about the release dates of their products. Find that information on the Willett website. I really enjoy providing a quote from the distiller when writing these reviews, but in this case, there’s very little to share:

The barrels that went into this small batch combined to make an amazing drinker.

kentuckybourbonwhiskey.com

Speaking a bit more on the small batch version of this rye, you can find how it scored in our Ten Willett Whiskeys – Reviewed post. While there is a very distinct maraschino note that I get in Willett products, it can manifest in different ways. Let’s see what’s going on in this rye, and just how good a selection it is.

As a rye fan I have to admit this one checks a serious amount of the boxes for me. While there’s undoubtedly more heat here than many (many) other rye offerings out there, it’s also a really unique pour. There’s a rich color, explosive bouquet on the nose, and an impressive finish. The presence of what I refer to as “the Willett note” is there, but not in an off-putting way. In fact, it works better here than in any other Willett product I have tasted to date. This certainly moves the bar higher than the small batch, and if you have the opportunity to experience one of the age-stated rye picks, I’d recommend it.

Our grading system: As mentioned in our About Us page, we’re excited to share bourbon with our friends, family, and readers. There are enough critics, cynics, and curmudgeons in the whiskey world as it is, so our goal is to foster the bourbon community in a positive way by bringing fun and entertaining content whenever possible–as such–we decided that applying precise scores to whiskey was simply too serious for us (and didn’t accurately showcase variability in taste from day to day). We use a simple grade school system to apply a grade to the whiskeys we review because we feel it is indicative of the whiskey’s grade for us on that particular day. A grade of a “B” today may very well be a “B+” or even a “B-” on another day, so rather than focusing on a precise score today that may not stand the test of time, we are just sharing our overall grade of that pour for that one tasting. Pour a bit and enjoy, friends, these are the good old days of whiskey!