Cream of Kentucky Estate Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
Cream of Kentucky is an old brand that was purchased by Jim Rutledge’s new distillery, J.W. Rutledge Distillery. For those who aren’t familiar with the name “Jim Rutledge”, he was the Master Distiller at Four Roses, working there for almost 50 years (from when it was still Seagram) and reviving the brand here in the U.S. I won’t reiterate what others wrote, but click here or here for some more information on Jim. As I mentioned in my Instagram post, this will be a bit of an extended review, providing some additional details and thoughts on the distillery and the bottle.
It seems that J.W. Rutledge Distillery is buying some stock from other distilleries as they produce and age their own distillate. The two brands they are selling now, Cream of Kentucky and High Plains Rye are both sourced products. The Cream of Kentucky brand had at least one other release thus far, an 11.5 year old Bourbon. I haven’t tried this one, but it was marketed at a $150 price point, so pretty steep.
One thing I would like to point out about J.W. Rutledge Distillery is the shot-across-the-bow in its mission statement on its website (full statement here).
“Another goal is to remain free of corporate structuring… This will also mean there will not be a corporate structure in place to require addition of flavors to Bourbons, or finishing of Bourbon in used barrels, of another type alcohol, to alter and change the flavor and character of our whiskeys.” (source: www.jwrutledge.com/message)
On the one hand, it seems they want to focus on producing pure bourbon and pure rye whiskey the “old fashioned way” as they state earlier in the statement, but on the other hand I’m picking up that they do not approve of the recent trends of cask finishing of any sort. While I personally enjoy a nice cask finished whiskey of any type, I have also had many where the cask finishing is being used to mask an inferior base product. So, I feel ya Jim! That said, I’m intrigued to taste what they are making in house and will certainly search out some of their products once released…..my curiosity is piqued.
OK, now back to the review. The “Estate” Rye which was recently released is made from 100% Rymin Rye grown, distilled, aged and bottled at Kentucky Artisan Distillery (home of Jefferson’s Bourbon). This particular release was limited to 70 barrels worth of Rye and released as a Bottled in Bond without an age statement, but we know it is at least 4 year old juice, however some sources on the internet indicate that it is 6 years old.
ABV: 50%
How it smells.…very floral, hay stacks, light vanilla, a bit of cinnamon…you can certainly tell it is a 100% rye from the nose
How it tastes.…I don’t know how to describe the start except that it is similar to other 100% ryes that I’ve had, but turned up a notch…and the best I can equate it to is old timey yellow butterscotch candies, the ones that you would only find in a glass bowl at your grandparents’ house, only without the sugar sweetness, this then transitions to some really nice rye spiciness in the middle that finally turns sweet. The end is a bit earthy with some ginger in there and the finish is short with honey and some oak.
Price….I purchased it for $75, but the MSRP is $70.
Rating...🥃🥃🥃
Final thoughts….From a flavor perspective I found this very interesting and ultimately I liked it. I thought the mouthfeel was a bit thinner than the Old Potrero 100% Rye I recently reviewed, but the Old Potrero is a 100% malted rye, so I would expect it to have a bit more mouthfeel. This tasting was also a bit of a quick evolution for me. My notes were “First sip, didn’t love it…Second Sip, I started to like it…Third sip, much sweeter and loses some spiciness, this is pretty good”. The flavors were so distinct and different that it actually took my mouth a couple of goes to get acclimated, but once it was acclimated I actually enjoyed it. My “problem” is really just the price. At $50-$60, I’d give it 4x 🥃 but at the $70-$75, it’s just a 3x 🥃 from a value perspective.
My ONE petty comment, which I am putting after the rating because this did not affect my rating at all but it was something I thought about afterwards, the bottle topper is really shitty. It seems to be the same as the Knob’s Creek topper, which in my own humble opinion is by far the WORST bottle topper in the industry, I would gladly take a screw cap top over it any day of the week. I can’t tell you how many times I have pinched my hand putting that terribly shitty topper back into the bottle (life hack: I get around this now by having Knob Creek 9 year in my decanter, so I actually never have to put the topper back in, just take it off once and throw it in the trash where it belongs). HOWEVER, I will say that the longer neck on the Cream of Kentucky bottle, compared to the stubby neck of Knob Creek, reduces some of the bruised-hand-liability, but come on….for $70+ and you’re going to be a “premium whiskey” and you’re using that P.O.S. topper?
End of rant.
Overall, I liked it. It is a limited release so it is worth picking up if you can get it close to the MSRP but if the price is highly inflated above MSRP, maybe pass on it. Once is enough for me, I’m not stocking up on it if I happen to come across another bottle in a store.
Exhibit A:
Ok, serious. Now end of rant.
