750mL - ~$30.00
- Purchased at Chattanooga Wine & Spirits
Background
Everybody’s looking for redemption, right? I mean, we’ve all made enough mistakes in our past that we feel the need to “make it right”…with other people, with ourselves, whatever. Honestly, the concept of redemption is something that has been very meaningful to me in the second half of my 50 years, so the first time I heard about “Redemption Rye Whiskey” I was intrigued. Turns out, it’s really good…and so is Redemption Bourbon, which I reviewed almost 4 years ago. I enjoyed it so much that while I wasn’t opposed to trying the High Rye version, I doubted I would enjoy it as much as I did their “regular” version.
That Redemption Bourbon used a mash bill with 75% corn and 21% rye, while the “High Rye” expression builds up the rye percentage to 36 (about a 75% increase), while corn is at 60% and barley is “barely” there at 4%. The two also have different ABVs, with the regular at 44% and the High Rye at 46.
Redemption is “distilled in the Indiana Heartland” of Lawrenceburg and bottled by “Redemption Barrel Selections.” This is an indication that the company does not make their own juice, but honestly…who cares as long as it’s good (or great)? I bought my bottle at Chattanooga Wine & Spirits.
Notes
It’s noted on the regular Redemption Bourbon that the whiskey is aged for at least 2 years in new charred oak barrels. The color of this high rye bourbon would indicate that it probably wasn’t aged much longer than 2 years. It was very light amber color that was just a shade or two away from being a straight-ahead golden liquid and looking like some variety of Scotch whisky. Not that the color really means all that much…it’s just that in this day when we are getting used to darker brown liquors and longer aging times, this seems a little out of place all of a sudden.
The Redemption High Rye Bourbon didn’t have a “typical” bourbon aroma in the glass, either. Mostly I got wood notes and some alcohol vapors, with very little of the honey or vanilla notes that are usually so prevalent in bourbon. There was some graininess at the front and a considerable amount of pepper spice. The finish displayed some of the sweeter notes of molasses and vanilla, but even then it was more of a “breath” of those notes than anything else.
I paired this pour of Redemption High Rye Bourbon with a Crowned Heads Mil Dias Cigar, a Nicaraguan medium-bodied blend with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The cigar actually carried more sweetness than the bourbon in this case, while the bourbon provided the majority of the pepper spice, making for an interesting trade in traditional roles.
I liked the Redemption High Rye Bourbon, but I do have to stick my assessment when I reviewed their “regular” bourbon…I liked it better and would rather buy it in the future. As with cigars, I guess that’s why they make more than one blend (or mash bill)…different people like different flavor profiles and it would get awfully boring if every whiskey or cigar tasted the same.
