Nashville Barrel Company 11 year “Double Gold Simpson” Straight Rye Whiskey

COST: $150 for 750 mL bottle

AGE: 11 yrs

MASH BILL: Undisclosed (it’s MGP rye whiskey though, so either 95% rye/5% malt or 51% rye/45% corn/4% malt. Based on the spice, I’m going with the 95/5 as most likely.)

PROOF: 126.12

In late 2023, Loren Simpson joined the Nashville Bourbon Company team. He is a certified sommelier, but in 2010, when feeling like his interest in wine was peaking, he happened upon a bourbon tasting at his local liquor store and loved the Four Roses expression he tasted. That tasting has set him on a new path for more than a decade. He became an extreme fan of Four Roses amassing a collection of nearly 750 different Four Roses bottles.

Being an accomplished taster (remember, he’s a certified sommelier), he has made numerous highly regarded private barrel selections over the years, he has led educational tasting events, and is known for having a fine-tuned palate.

As part of the NBC team, the first rye whiskey that Loren picked was an 11yr straight rye whiskey, NBC barrel #624. They entered it into the San Franscisco World Spirits Competition earlier this year and it won Double Gold. This bottle that I’m reviewing from barrel #659 is a follow up pick by Loren that I understand to be from the same run of whiskey.

Without further ado, let’s see how it is!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: A cherry, auburn color (1.6), and very oily looking with fat, slow legs and a beautiful ring of beads on the glass that cling for the better part of a minute before coalescing and running down.

NOSE: A hearty spice of cinnamon, peppercorns, and rye open up the nostrils right away. There’s softer notes of nutmeg, vanilla, and milk chocolate that follow. A sweet, zesty note settles that reminds me of lemon custard with a dab of raspberry sauce. A little deeper, there’s earthy notes such as dried cedar and toasted pecans. Lots of layers going on here, but it is a slightly astringent though not offensive.

PALATE: This lands with a lot of vanilla and caramel and not neatly as thick as it looks, but rather velvety and soft at first and becoming more “rye like” later. Cedar, dark chocolate, and an occasional hint of cherry. After a few seconds, the spice really settles in reminding you this is definitely a rye whiskey. A prickling on the back of the palate with mint, cinnamon, clove and anise providing a spicy and tingling sensation going into the finish.

FINISH: A long, dry finish with the most mild of hugs just warming the chest high and center. Cedar and charred oak dominate with notes of caramel, mint, and citrus swirling about. I also get an occasional chocolate note that I rather enjoyed throughout this sip tying it all together.

RATING: 8.0/10

VALUE: 6.0/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

OVERALL: There’s a lot of layers and depth to this rye whiskey. I was not expecting the chocolate note that carried throughout on this sip but it was a pleasant surprise. Meanwhile, the nose, palate, and finish all had unique notes making this a continuously evolving sip. With the high proof, I was a bit worried the spice of this rye would be bolstered and overwhelm my palate, but it was not. As a matter of fact, I would say that this expression sips about 10 proof points lower than what it is.

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, WhistlePig PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08