Knob Creek Cask Strength Rye (Bottled in 2009)

Knob Creek Cask Strength Rye Bottled in 2009

As with my last review, this is another attempt to clear out some shelf space with bottles I have lingering around for a while waiting to be reviewed.  This time, Knob Creek Cask Strength Rye barreled in 2009.  This is one of the “Limited Editions” that Knob Creek started putting out that wasn’t necessarily limited by volume, but just from a particular distilling season….and who said marketing doesn’t work?

The internet rumors that the mash bill is 55% Rye, 35% Corn, 10% Malted Barley, but this is not confirmed and I have also seen some postings that state it’s a 51% Rye….

ABV….59.8%

How it smells….cinnamon, floral, rye spice haystacks, light maple syrup, vanilla….with water, a little musty and sweet, the vanilla’s heavier but also a little sharper.

How it tastes….spicy at the start developing into a vanilla syrup flavor towards the end and finishing in a lot of oak with some sweetness to it….with water, more vanilla at the start and then the spicy peppery kicks in and amplifies throughout the rest of the sip.  The end is more rye-forward with a dry finish that’s a bit spicy with an oaky note lingering.  The oak is richer but not necessarily oakier, if that makes any sense.

Price….$75(ish) when I bought it (I think)

Rating….🥃🥃

Final thoughts….this was a little disappointing but I will note that the price is really driving the 2x 🥃.  Initially I had it at 3x 🥃, but keeping myself honest I sometimes re-read my own rating guidelines and it was a bit “meh” from a taste perspective and it is certainly overpriced considering others in the market.  Overall, it’s just ok.  It’s not my favorite and I don’t want to be hyper-critical of the taste but having just done the Old Forester Rye, which is a healthy 100 proof for under $30, it’s hard to be super bullish on this sip when it’s over 2x the cost of Old Forester.  It’s a bit too oak-forward for me and I will remind you I did NOT enjoy the Old Overholt, even at $17, which is another Jim Beam rye.

Never the quitter, I added a couple of cubes of ice to another sip.  The taste is much improved, some of that oak goes away and the sweetness comes out to balance the spice.  While the taste is no longer "meh", I still think it overpriced by $25 so my rating stands.

Without the water it’s a bit punchy at first, but after a couple of sips you start to get more of the nuanced scents and flavors.  Adding a dab of water, probably bringing it down to 100 proof, it gets a bit darker and denser from a flavor perspective.  The Spice comes out strong, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the balance with the sweet goes away.  The strong oak becomes a richer oak that is borderline bitter, which I found a little off-putting.  From an oak perspective, it kind of reminds me of a Woodford Reserve Double Oak.  Honestly, I think I like it better straight without the dab of water.  I will admit that it is pretty smooth at full-near-120-proof blast.

I question the internet’s belief that it is a 55% rye.  I think it might be a little higher but it is hard to tell without knowing whether the oakiness is age driven or just barrel selection driven.  In any case, it is way overpriced, which is ironic since despite Jim Beam raising the prices on most of the “small batch” collection, the Knob Creek has remained a fairly cheap price at still $35 and under.  In fact, while most distilleries moved away from the age statement, Knob Creek went the other way and added the 9 year label back in 2019 after following the trend to move to a Non-Age Statement.  

Whisky Advocate, which I love and have been a constant subscriber for probably 12 years now, gave it the Number 2 whiskey of 2018 (which is probably why I initially purchased a bottle), but I think that’s a big stretch.  Perhaps they got caught up in the Rye craze a few years back, especially one at cask strength.  I don’t know, looking back at their selections that year I would say there are some ones further down the list that I would have rated higher for their respective categories including the 1792 Bottled in Bond, which is half the price of this, or the Glendronach 15 Revival and Green Spot Chateau Montelena, which are both more expensive.