Traverse City Whiskey Co. North Coast Rye
Today’s release is the fourth in this week’s Traverse City Whiskey Co. Spotlight here in The Bourbon Finder’s Craft Corner. As a big fan of rye whiskey, and as a Northerner myself, an offering called North Coast Rye speaks to me. Let’s peel the wax, pop the cork, and have a sip to see what this offering is all about.
If you caught the Weekly Whiskey episode from this Tuesday, you likely already know my thoughts on this release. But before we dig into the notes of the product, let’s take a quick peek at what Traverse City Whiskey Co. has to say about their North Coast Rye:
This unique blend of two mash bills: 100% rye and 95% rye and 5%malted barley is barreled at 120 proof and bottled at 90 proof. This rye whiskey has a minimum age statement of three years and is the company’s newest addition to the whiskey line-up.
tcwhiskey.com
Like most whiskey geeks out there, seeing age-stated products and disclosed mashbills makes me happy. Going a step further, we discover the barrel entry proof and as well. Kudos to Traverse City Whiskey Co. for being forthcoming with information we nerds care about! With that, let’s grab a pour and do some analyzing.
Tasting Notes…
Nose – Very rye-forward and punchy. A little bit grassy and that note trails off into a light minty aroma…spearmint is what I’m reminded of. There’s a light sweetness in here as well.
Taste – Grain forward here, and a touch green. The youth of this product is evident on the mid-palate as well as the back. There’s bright rye flavor here and a touch of toffee as well. A few swirls and another sip shows some caramel. Man, another year or two and this would probably be wicked nice.
Finish – On the shorter side. The spicy rye and minty flavors do hang out for a bit, but it fades and sort of falls off at the end.
Craft Corner Evaluation: Almost Ready
Final thoughts…
As a big fan of rye whiskey, I will admit to being let down by this one. I think Traverse City has the potential to bring this product back around, it simply needs more time in the barrel. I appreciate what they are doing with the blended mashbills, and I do think there’s some promise here–this could very well hit someone else’s palate in a more favorable way–so for those reasons I’m calling it “almost ready”.
TheBourbonFinder thanks Traverse City Whiskey Co. for graciously providing us a sample of their product. Being able to try new things in the whiskey space, without strings attached, is an opportunity we greatly appreciate. Per our review ethos, we provide objective reviews and commentary on media samples of spirits and products; remember, friends, these are the good old days of whiskey!
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!
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