More to Enjoy
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Intro:
Peerless is a newer distilling operation. This is a single barrel of their rye whiskey. It is aged for 24 months and bottled at cask strength. It commands a rather high price tag, which has been the source of near universal consternation, and discussion, so lets dive in and see how it stands up. Please take a moment to remember that price is not factored into my scoring on reviews. It is also important to consider that Peerless does not use a sour mash process at any point in their production.
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Nose:
Honey, fresh baked bread, and toffee. Light citrus, maple and brown sugar. There is some faint sourness here, some baking spice, and a faint musty note.
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Taste:
Medium mouth feel. No real heat despite the proof. Toffee, caramel and vanilla cream. Faint mustiness, though. Wet cardboard. Its definitely young. Mildly lactic. Musty. Some clove and honey, baking spice and light tobacco.
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Finish:
Short and a bit hot, and the youth is much more prominent here. The mustiness is undeniable, the wet cardboard and spent grain note is equally present. The sweetness is still here, and there is some nice baking spice to balance, though.
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Overall:
This is absolutely a young product, and it shows at some points and others. But honestly, its a good young product. I am surprised, though, because I expected it to be far worse. This isn't a terrible product, and at only 24 months old, I think Peerless is showing a ton of promise. In 3-5 more years, I think they will have stellar bottlings available if they keep on their current quality focused tear. As it stands, though, right now - I think they need more time in the barrel. They're working on a solid foundation, and I look forward to seeing what they can do when they are up past the ground floor. This is no TerrePure, folks.
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Score:
4
- Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources