Roaming Man Batch 13 & 14

 
Roaming Man Batch 13 vs Roaming Man Batch 14 (Rye Whiskey)

Cost: I received both of these as a gift from a good friend in the alcohol business who picked them up in a recent visit to the Sugarland Distillery for me to try and review. (For the record, I’m definitely not being paid for these reviews and the notion of this being a gift is not influencing my reviews at all.) For those looking for it, the price is around $50 for a 375mL bottle at the distillery, and prices appear to vary from $45 up to $100 online for a 375mL bottle.

Mash Bill: Both batches are 51% rye, 45% corn, 4% malted barley

Reviewed neat in a glencairn.

Roaming Man Batch 13

Age: This batch contains 34 barrels with ages from 2 yrs 9 mo to 5 yrs 3 mo.

Proof: 108.2

Appearance: Oloroso Sherry in color, very viscous looking with very slow legs and a beautiful ring of beads that cling to the glass.

Nose: Lots of honey and caramel. Alright, hear me out. I try not to compare one spirit to another spirit, but this smells a LOT like High West Midwinter Night’s Dram. It’s got the kinda stewed red fruit, wine cask finishing that I can pick up in MWND. Not quite as intense, but it’s there. There is a faint granola note that is lingering in the background as well. It’s a very inviting nose that is more reminiscent of a bourbon than a rye whiskey, and I think that’s testament to it being 45% corn and 51% rye (barely a rye whiskey and close to being called a bourbon).

Palate: There’s a balanced mix of sweet corn, rolled oats, and under ripe stone fruit giving it a mild bitterness and rich sweetness at the same time. There’s some baking spice that pops at first but fades into a familiar peppery rye spice. This sips a little hot with a tingling that starts at the tail end of the sip and fades into the finish. It’s not offensive though as it blends in with the rye spice nicely. It’s not astringent or anything like that, just a little something to remind you this is cask strength.

Finish: The finish is very long, and does not feel young at all. There’s a sweet red fruit and white pepper note that lingers the longest. There’s a very faint oak that is captured in the finish as well. There’s not much of a hug here, but the tingling at the end of the sip does continue into the finish and hangs around for a good 30 seconds or so.

Rating: 7.7/10

Roaming Man Batch 14

Age: This batch contains 37 barrels with ages from 3 yrs 1 mo to 3 yrs 6 mo.

Proof: 111.1

Appearance: Deep tawny, almost sherry in color; not nearly as viscous looking as batch 13 as it has thin, fast legs and doesn’t cling to the glass as nicely.

Nose: Again, I get High West Midwinter Night’s Dram vibes, but maybe a little more diluted than batch 13. There’s still a good bit of caramel and a faint grainy, granola backbone to this nose. Batch 13 definitely has the better nose than batch 14 to me.

Palate: Very similar to batch 13, I pick up sweet corn, oats, and under ripe plums, cherries, and black berries. There’s a lot more of those baking spice notes than what I found in batch 13, with more pronounced notes of cinnamon. This one doesn’t seem quite as hot as batch 13, but that could be because I focused on batch 13 first and now my palate is warmed up for batch 14. (Though. I did try my best to prep my palate for this tasting by sipping 1 oz of Maker’s 46 Cask Strength prior to starting. So, I think there might actually be a difference there.)

Finish: The finish is a little more subtle than batch 13 and not quite as long. There’s still a presence of sweet, red fruit accompanied by a more dominate rye spice than the pepper note that I found in batch 13.

Rating: 7.0/10

Overall: This was a really fun tasting! First of all, my friend is a total bad ass for gifting me both of these! Considering this isn’t even distributed near me, I’m really fortunate that he picked these up as I didn’t even know this existed prior.

Second of all, why can’t all distilleries provide the level of detail that Sugarland does on their bottles of Roaming Man? Just look at all the detail they provide in the pictures in this post! We know all these distilleries are collecting all this info, why not share it?!

Lastly, Roaming Man completely tears down the construct that a lot of people have that “young whiskey is bad whiskey.” Both of these batches have age statements less than 4 years and they are both great sipping whiskeys! As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I’ve gotten more into rye whiskeys the last couple of years. Previously, I had only viewed rye whiskey as good for cocktails. But the last couple years, I’ve spent some extra dollars on rye whiskey and have been viewing them as more of a sipping whiskey than just a cocktail spirit. Roaming Man is a great example of some of the really impressive rye whiskey that is being produced in the US the last decade or so. It’s an excellent sipping whiskey. However, I went ahead and made an Old Fashioned with each as well. I’ll say that I would still prefer Sazerac Rye or Michter’s Rye for an Old Fashioned over Roaming Man, but only because Roaming Man is way more complex, which leads to a lot of “taste bud confusion” when used in a cocktail. That said, it certainly still stood out in an Old Fashioned and didn’t get overwhelmed by the other flavors (the cask strength helps here).

If you get a chance to try a batch of Roaming Man, I highly recommend it. There are going to be a lot of people that will simply say, “$50 for 375mL, <4 yr old…hard pass.” But these folks are missing out. It really is a great whiskey that is worth checking out to see how quality can be achieved without just reaching large age statements.

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.

2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.

3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.

4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.

5 | Good | Good, just fine.

6 | Very Good | A cut above.

7 | Great | Well above average

8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.

9 | Incredible | An all time favorite

10 | Perfect | Perfect