Cost: $60-$70 for 750mL bottle (I’m reviewing a sample)
Age: 6 years
Proof: 100
Mash Bill: 73% Missouri corn, 15% rye, 12% malted barley
I recently reviewed Holladay Soft Red Wheat (Bourbz Review #68) after hearing a lot of great things about that wheater. However, to my surprise, there were more people that mentioned they thought the rye bourbon expression from Holladay was better than their soft red wheat. Considering I gave the soft red wheat a 6.9, I figured it was worth checking it out sometime. Well, I figured it was a matter of time before I would buy a bottle, but little did I know that it would be even sooner than I imagined due to u/Bailzay providing me this sample! (Thanks again!) So, lets see how the 6 year rye mash bill bourbon stacks up to the 6 year wheater!
Reviewed neat in a glencairn.
Appearance: Auburn (1.5) in color with thin legs of a medium viscosity.
Nose: Clove and caramel hit me right away, followed by some toasted vanilla, baking spices, and a hint of chocolate. I also pickup a faint oak note at the tail end of the nose. This is a very powerful nose for 100 proof, with all very distinctive notes.
Palate: I get a mix of clove, orange peel, and vanilla at first. The sweetness continues with notes of caramel, a little milk chocolate, and black cherry. Towards the end of the sip, the sweetness starts to give way to spicier notes such as black peppercorns and cinnamon providing a numbing to the palate. The oak certainly turns up much more prominent than on the nose. This has a medium oily mouthfeel that coats the palate quite well.
Finish: This is a short to medium finish that focuses on sweet oak and leather for the most part. There’s a light pepper and rye spice that continues to linger from the palate that pairs quite well with the sweet oak note. There is a mild hug that comes in about 5 seconds or so after the swallow and is gone within 10 seconds.
Rating: 6.5/10 on T8ke Scale
Overall: This is a solid sipper! I went ahead and compared this pour to the Holladay Soft Red Wheet BiB side by side while doing this review and I actually do like this better than the Soft Red Wheat. For those paying attention, you may notice I gave the Soft Red Wheat a higher score than this pour though. But I also rated this one a little differently than I did the soft red wheat (see more details on my reddit post about this pour)
It’s lacking some complexity, but it has a lot of depth and well defined notes. I think the use of the rye in this bourbon helps add some depth that the wheat doesn’t provide. However, I do wish the price was a bit lower. To me, that makes the Soft Red Wheat a much better value considering I got it for only $55 a bottle.
Behind the Bottle: This particular batch was bottled on January 26, 2023. There were 90 barrels that made up this batch. It was distilled in fall of 2016, and the barrels were aged in Rickhouse C. 18% of the barrels came from floor 2, 31% from floor 3, 40% from floor 4, and 11% from floor 5 (the 7th floor is the top of this rickhouse). Again, I love the amount of information that Holladay provides for their products. Other distillers should really take note!
This is classified as a “Real Missouri Bourbon.” For it to get that classification, it must meet all the federal requirements to be called a bourbon, but it also must be mashed, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in the state of Missouri, aged in oak barrels manufactured in the state of Missouri, and starting in 2020, it must be made exclusively with corn grown in the State of Missouri. I love this! I’m note from Missouri and have never lived there, but I love the state pride involved in that!
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