Rye of the Year 2022

Well, here we are it’s now 2023, hopefully you’ve all gotten your fill of the “best of'“ lists. I’m not doing a list this year, in fact, my usual categories of Best Bourbon, Best Rye, and Best American Whiskey (includes finishes) has been reduced to simply Rye of the year and Bourbon of the year. Typically my “whiskey of the year” ended up being a finished Rye, and this year, a finished Rye was the most compelling Rye I’d had, so no need for two categories. I had some really nice Bourbons this year, Knob Creek 18, and Heaven Hill 17 were stunning standouts, but they didn’t fit the criteria of being relatively easy to find, not high priced, or not super limited editions. The American Whiskey category was flat out dominated by Barrell Seagrass Gold Label, which again, not easy to find, high priced, and a super limited edition.

I’m left with the Rye category, which had some really terrific releases this year (those Maryland Heritage releases were fun, but again, higher priced and very hard to get), but for me, one stood out above the rest. It was imported from Detroit from Two James Spirits, and its Catcher’s Rye Vermouth barrel aged.

These were my initial thoughts upon tasting it during Tales of the Cocktail.

“Five years old, locally distilled and bottled, vermouth barrel aged. I do not have the details on how long, was it wet or dry, or anything. What I can say is that I had a very good tasting of it and it’s spectacular. The vermouth notes are present, but they don’t wreck the rye, this is a rye whiskey, and it shouldn’t be covered by ham fisted finishes. It’s not, it’s accentuated and it reminds me of the skill and quality on the level of Sagamore or Barrell finishes. This was the coolest whiskey I tasted all week, and I had some really good ones. I’m unsure if it’s on the market yet or if it’s a major or local only thing, but I’m telling you, if you see this, it’s a BIN bottle.”

Sadly, this is not a heavily reviewed bottle of whiskey, so most of the info out there is simply the generic marketing gobbledygook, so we clicked the “contact” button on their website and asked about it. We didn’t get any response, but it doesn’t matter….. it was still my Rye of the Year and you can order it here for $79.99 plus shipping. You’re welcome.

- Mickey Pinstripe