Review #1423 – Woodford Reserve Distillery Select Barrel Finished Rye

This is a new release from Woodford, and surprisingly one of my first Woodford reviews in a long time. This is their new Distillers Select Barrel Finished Rye, which is a rye that undergoes a secondary finishing in a newly charred barrel. Let’s see how it is.

Review #1423 | Bourbon Review #622

Distiller: Brown-Forman

Bottler: Brown-Forman

Brand: Brown-Forman

Selection: N/A

ABV: 45.2% ABV

Age: NAS

Nose: Vanilla bean, rich cinnamon and toffee. Oak. Cherry, blueberry and some pepper. Chocolate, cocoa.

Taste: Medium mouth feel, no heat. Sweet oak, vanilla bean and some berry. Not a ton going on, but the oak is prominent. Some clove and allspice.

Finish: Short but pleasant – lots of honey, oak, pepper and tobacco.

Overall: Certainly not bad, but also nothing super impressive. Really chocolate-y. Overall, I am surprisingly enjoying this the more I drink this – and I think it deserves a nice bump up from the 5 I was going to give it. It opens up nicely and has a bit more complexity than I usually get from Woodford, and the finish really is pretty nice.

Thanks for reading!

Rank: 6

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Decoded:

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.

2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.

3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.

4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.

5 | Good | Good, just fine.

6 | Very Good | A cut above.

7 | Great | Well above average

8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.

9 | Incredible | An all time favorite

10 | Perfect | Perfect