Sazerac Straight Rye 18-year-old, Spring 2016 Release / 45%/ 0.75l

Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey debuted at the end of the last century, shortly after the acquisition of Ancient Age Distillery (now Buffalo Trace) by the Sazerac Company of New Orleans.

The contract included supplies of whiskey, including old straight rye. The end of the century was not kind to this type of drink and none of the producers had supplies. Sazerac 18 years old was included in the prestigious Antique Collection series, alongside WL Weller 19 years old and Eagle Rare 17 years old bourbons, and had no competitor in its category. The edition presented here from spring 2016 is a whiskey from 24 barrels filled in spring 1998. It consisted of only 2,587 bottles, due to the loss of as much as 72.1% of the barrels' content during maturation.

Aroma : rich, lots of oak, leather, tobacco, allspice, a little cinnamon, pepper, burnt sugar, notes of cedar and minimal dried fruit.

Taste : lots of oak bitterness, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, vanilla, caramel, dried plums, traces of mint and eucalyptus.

Finish: quite long with strong oak tones, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, a bit of dried herbs and burnt sugar.