Best ryes for Father's Day for dads who like spicier, sweeter whiskey

USA Today

2 days ago

Best ryes for Father's Day for dads who like spicier, sweeter whiskey
Rye is one of my favorite spirits. The base of a bourbon with a spicier, sweeter twist? Sounds awesome, count me in.
While you won't find as many ryes on your local package store's shelves as bourbon or Scotch, they typically bring boatloads of taste at a reasonable price point, especially compared to whatever bourbon nerds have locked in on any given year (I mourn the loss of $45 bottles of Blanton's and blame the internet, which remains a mistake). There's a bit of a Wild West feel to sipping a rye whiskey -- whether it's sourced from the American Midwest or from our neighbors up north (most Canadian whiskeys are rye heavy, but we're not talking about those today. Still, they're good!).
Let's talk about the American ryes I've drank over the last year, from the midwest up to Vermont (and yes, I know I included Limousin Rye in the cover image but didn't actually review it. It's my go-to. It's good).
MORE WHISKEY LISTS FOR FATHER'S DAY:
-- Best flavored whiskeys
-- Best and most affordable bourbons
Fox & Oden rye
There's a certain faux old school appeal to the bottle. It's nice, but also feels like it's meant to be poured by a man with a handlebar mustache and a butcher's apron. This is a blend, whittled down to 45 percent alcohol by volume but retaining the dark brown color of a spirit that's done its time in an oak prison.
Sticking your nose in the glass gives off a slightly astringent vibe to start. Dig deeper and you get some sweet fruit -- it feels like peach or grape or anything that would have made a solid Crystal Light sachet.
The first sip is exactly the kind of sweet and mellow I'm looking for in a rye. There's a little stone fruit -- cherries and raisins with a little bit of caramel. Toward the end, something changes. You hit a wave of vanilla and oak, accelerating you toward the finish where some minor spice awaits.
It's not as potent as black pepper, but there's a little heat that wipes away the sweet fruit you get up front. This adds a little more depth and leans into the more jagged qualities that make rye so interesting. It's less of a dessert drink than a typical bourbon, even if Fox & Oden gives you a running start with those bread pudding-ish flavors up front.
Whistlepig Piggyback six year rye whiskey
This pours a lovely brown, with a little stickiness leaving a few legs running down the side of the glass. The smell is spicy oak with a little vanilla. This is unmistakably a rye whiskey, introducing choppy waters to the smoothness of bourbon.
The first sip is sweet up front, then slightly more astringent than I'd hoped. There's a harshness here that goes beyond the spice of a rye and doesn't feel like a six-year spirit. The mellowing factors of the barrel are minimal, leaving you with lots of grain but less to temper it than you'd like.
That doesn't mean there still aren't nice flavors here. There's a lightness lingering underneath with that vanilla and honey that rolls in as it leaves your tongue. There's a little abstract fruit, but nothing I'd claim tastes like citrus or cherry. Just a little fructose sweetness. That leads to a dry finish and a sip that's not as complex as I wanted, but still easy to drink despite that up-front harshness.
While the spice isn't what I expected, it's still a pleasant dram. You get some baklava flavors underneath that grain -- nothing as sweet as, say, an Indian whiskey, but a nice effect nonetheless. It's a bit hit or miss, which isn't what you want to hear about a bottle, but at $50 it's worth that risk. There are good things here and bad, which adds to the intrigue.
Sagamore Double Oak American Whiskey
This appears to pour a darker shade of mahogany than some of its peers. That's encouraging. The smell off the top is spicy vanilla, a little bit of baked-goods butter, cinnamon and some of that oak you'd expect.
This is exactly what I expect a good rye to taste like. Smooth but spicy. There's a lot going on here. There are some toasted notes like you'd get in a malty dark porter beer. There's some stone fruit. There's cinnamon and burnt sugar and a little vanilla. All along, the sweet and spice braid together to create a complex sipper that rewards you for taking your time with it.
I'm not sure the Double Oak makes a huge difference here, as most of the flavors that stand out the most aren't necessarily barrel-added influences. There's a nice amount of vanilla and toast, certainly, but Sagamore's strength is the way it lets its rye shine. It's bold and complex and, importantly, not muted by a little bit of ice. The spirit shines even after being watered down a bit -- which is great for me, because I like my whiskeys on ice.
It's a bit pricier than other ryes at about $65 per bottle, which suggests you're paying a premium for the double oak. But it lives up to the price, at least for me. There's a depth here I don't taste in mid-tier ryes like Bulleit (which is a very nice sipper over ice, but much simpler than Sagamore). It's a bit of a splurge, but it's worth it.
Cedar Ridge Bottled-in-Bond
This is bottled-in-bond, which means it's exactly 100 proof, aged at least four years, all from the same distiller and, generally adherent to an old school way of making spirits. It's not a guarantee of quality, but it also ensures you're not drinking slop.
The pour is a lovely, leggy brown that sticks to the sides of my glass before slowly settling after a quick swirl. The scent off the top is a little boozy, but hidden inside is brown sugar and bread, which suggest there's gonna be some chewy sweetness to this. It's appealing, for sure.
That sweetness holds up, bringing those sugary notes and some stone fruits that linger long after the sip has left your lips. It's heavy but not thick, boozy with minimal burn -- there's a minor astringent feeling but nothing out of place for something that's 50 percent ABV. Sure, there's a warmth that sticks to your chest when you're done, but nothing here will make you wince.
Sweet and fruit and the headliners here, though it's a bit of a moving target. Sometimes I get citrus. Sometimes I get... peach? Apricot? Cherry? Either way, it brings a depth to the spirit that reminds you you're drinking something a little bit extra. In a good way.
State Line Distillery
This one is a bit of a cheat. State Line is relatively new to the scene and available mostly in its home state of Wisconsin. The rye isn't yet available in bottles -- legend has it ownership is still tweaking the recipe. But it's become a staple of mine every Thursday for trivia night, leading me to order a glass despite a deluge of incredibly tasty high-effort cocktails across the distillery's menu.
The smell off the top, even in my preferred rocks form, is gorgeous spicy rye. You get that heavy wheat and pepper, with just enough vanilla clocking in at the end to balance things.
Even with a touch of water from the ice, State Line's offering brings a medium-heavy mouthfeel that lingers on your palate. This would be a problem if there was any burn or sour notes. But nope, you get a little of that warmth up front before a light sweetness clocks in, balancing that oaky vanilla with a little bit of licorice.
The balance here is lovely. You get the strength of a rye but the gentle finish of a nice little bourbon. It's not perfect -- a little more barrel time would smooth out some of the rougher edges -- but it's an awesome sipper at the end of a long, arduous night hassling nerds at trivia (I'm kidding. My job is awesome and the folks at State Line are delightful).