Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye Whiskey

This is straight rye at full volume: bottled uncut and unfiltered at cask strength, part of Buffalo Trace's Antique Collection, and released each year as a high-proof snapshot of young rye. Distilled in Kentucky from a rye-forward mash bill and aged around six years in new charred oak, it opens with sweet oak, barrel char, cooling menthol and a five-spice bouquet of cinnamon, clove and Szechuan peppercorn. The palate is where it earns its shelf space. Bold cinnamon and dried sandalwood lead, then a lush, viscous middle of strawberry candy and grenadine gives way to a long, warming finish of wood spice and spiced fruit. It suits the rye drinker who already knows the category and wants to taste it without dilution, and the collector filling out the Antique Collection. A newcomer may find it intense, though a few drops of water draw out the fruit and herbal notes. We carry it because it shows, with real structure and balance, what rye spice and new oak can do together.