Review #174: Roaming Man Rye Whiskey Batch 2024DII

MASH BILL: 51% Rye, 45% Tennessee White Corn, 4% Malted Barley

PROOF: 109.2

AGE: Batch of barrels aged 4yr 8mo to 5yr 10mo

COST: $60 for 750mL bottle

Sugarland Distilling Company has been making Roaming Man Rye Whiskey since 2017. For its first 7 years, it was only offered in a 375mL bottle exclusively at the distillery. However, starting in 2024, a 750mL bottling was offered.

Today, I’m reviewing the second batch that was bottled in the 750mL bottles: Batch 2024DII. From my understanding, batch 2024DI (the first batch destined for 750mL bottles) and 2024DII were both produced back-to-back with not much differentiating one from the other. After having tried batch 13 and 14 from the exclusive 375mL bottle only era, I’m really looking forward to enjoying a bottle from the original 750mL batches and see how it compares. Let’s check it out!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: A warm, mahogany color (1.6); quite oily looking with fat, slow legs.

NOSE: A dominant amount of brown sugar sweetness accompanied by numbing black pepper, earthy rye, ripe cherry, and zesty orange peel. There’s a light herbaceous honey background to it all and a touch of spearmint that shows at the edges of the nose.

PALATE: A thin simple syrup mouthfeel coats the palate well enough to pick up notes all across the palate. While the sweetness is a boosted on the palate, the spice is cranked up even more. Caramelized brown sugar, black berry jam, and cinnamon sticks dominate. More earthiness comes through as a little nuttiness, rye, and a herbaceous note. At the back of the palate I pick up a rich black cherry note, and showing up late are expressed orange peel, mint, and a touch of dark stone fruit. The cherry and stone fruit notes almost give this a sense of being a wine barrel finish.

FINISH: A medium to long finish and fairly dry. White pepper, dried rye berries, and a hint of tobacco bring a spice initially. Burnt caramel and black berry reduction add sweetness with a touch of bitterness. While the tobacco and caramel fade first, the black berry, white pepper, and rye notes harmonize to make a long lasting and very nice profile as this fades away.

RATING: 7.5/10

OVERALL: As memory serves, this is quite similar to Roaming Man batches 13 and 14, and also confirmed by reviewing my tasting notes of those. I love how complex this rye whiskey is even though it’s fairly young by today’s standards. While it didn’t have a ton of barrel notes, it did have a wonderful balance of sweet and spice and none of the harshness that is normally found in younger whiskey, particularly at cask strength. Based on the specs that are provided on the label, I feel like to some degree this has to be attributed to the use of 25 gallon barrels and not all 53 gallon barrels. I know there is some science that shows nothing, including smaller barrels, can replace time when it comes to spirits maturation (time needed to allow the alcohols to oxidize), but at the same time, that surface area to volume ratio can allow more of the whiskey to oxidize in the same amount of time compared to larger barrels. Regardless though, the age should not discourage anyone from checking out this great rye whiskey!

Also, I don’t want to forget to mention how awesome it is that Sugarlands Distilling puts a rather unprecedented amount of information on the bottle label (see photos). I mentioned it in my review of Batch 13 and 14, but I really wish more distilleries would be this transparent about their whiskey. For those that don’t care, they literally don’t care, and for the whiskey nerds out there, it’s refreshing and makes it feel like the distillery understands us and our desire for information.

The 750mL Roaming Man expression going forward will be the “standard” Roaming Man expression (larger small batch), and their special releases (smaller small batch) will continue to be offered in the 375mL bottles. Additionally, the 375mL special editions will be distributed to select markets in addition to being offered at the distillery. While I’m still not seeing Roaming Man on my local shelves yet, I’m really looking forward to it showing up as I’ll start keeping one of these in my bar all the time. It’s a great sipper and it holds up quite well in an Old Fashioned. Based on the consistency I’ve seen between batches, whether you happen to see a 750mL or 375mL Roaming Man expressions, know that this is a craft whiskey worth checking out!

 

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, BBCo Origin High Wheat, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, Maker's Mark Wood Finishing releases, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Woodford Reserve Batch Proof 121.2, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08