For all we’ve learned about the long and storied history of Michter’s over the years, the distillery can’t help but feel like something of a cipher whenever I open a new bottle. Take the new Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye Whiskey release for 2024, for instance–it’s the first since 2022 for the brand, because last year instead got a Toasted Barrel Finish Rye release. But like so many Michter’s releases, the questions start immediately when browsing the label, which says it was “bottled by” Michter’s, but makes no claim to be distilled by them. Perhaps it was, as I was under the impression that most of the baseline Michter’s releases were now products of either the company’s Shively or Louisville distilleries, but you certainly have to wonder. The website, meanwhile, does confirm “Kentucky” as the state of origin, for whatever that’s worth.
At the very least, the relatively low barrel strength proof of 110 (55% ABV) does seem to imply this is Michter’s own rye, given their known method of entering their spirit into the barrel at the extremely low barrel entry proof of 103. Most Michter’s Rye barrels then gain a little proof along the way, exiting around 106-112 proof, though this brand still doesn’t carry a concrete age statement. Regardless, this is essentially the big brother to the flagship Michter’s US1 Rye Whiskey, employ the same toasted and then charred barrels and “signature filtration” technique. Given that the flagship rye is bottled at a very modest 84.8 proof, this is a pretty significant jump. It bears a $110 price tag, though the gouging on this one at package stores in the wild is likely to be particularly egregious.
So with all that said, let’s dive in and check out this latest expression of Michter’s very popular rye whiskey.
On the nose, the immediate impression one gets here is of lots of toasted oak and baking spice–impressions of delicate cinnamon and stem ginger, cassia and fragrant toasted wood. There are somewhat more youthful wood notes of sawed lumber, and some honeyed sweetness, and over time there’s some cedar cigar box coming out. Perhaps there’s also some dark dried fruit to be found here, but overall I feel like the aromatic profile is taken over to some degree by the barrels here, and the one thing you’re not getting a lot on the nose is overt rye spice or rye grain impressions. Not that this is unpleasant–I quite like this nose, but if you gave this to me blind I’m not sure I’d be pegging it as a rye whiskey at all.
On the palate, the rye does begin to arrive in a more expressive way, but it’s joined by a spice profile that is also redoubled, even in comparison with the nose. This is one of the most over-the-top baking spice/toasted oak spice forward whiskeys I’ve sampled in recent memory–whatever Michter’s does with their toasted barrels, it contributes a signature intensity in the dimension of sweet baking spice, as if you’d just stuck it into a French oak grand cru barrel. I’m getting sweet mulled wine-like spices and wood toastiness that doesn’t really very much into the more overtly roasted or charred territory–it’s very firmly on “toasted.” I’m also getting honey candies and a little dark fruit and cigar box, with flashes of herbal and slightly floral rye peeking through, but the star of the show is massive notes of cinnamon, sweet cardamom, pepper, etc. It’s slightly hot at this proof, particularly in the chest, which evokes that particular quality of hot cinnamon candies. If the combination of sweet and spicy oak is your favored profile, then this one is for you. Notably, this doesn’t draw much oak tannin despite the large degree of oak spice.
As has happened to me before when tasting Michter’s ryes, I find myself both appreciative and a little torn with this expression of Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye. I like both the nose and the palate of this in the abstract, but I think they overall push the barrel-derived character very far into the foreground to the point that it’s overwhelming the base spirit to at least some degree–maybe less than the last year’s toasted finish rye, though. The result is tasty, but I believe it’s important to know what you’re drinking with this one, which reads more like a showcase for the barrels than the distillate in my opinion. This could also be a factor of the company’s proprietary filtration technique as well, for all I know.
Still, it is certainly accurate to say that there are very few other things in the market that are at all similar to this rye, and that novelty is a valuable thing. If you’ve never had this barrel-strength expression from Michter’s, there’s no real way to describe it until you have. That makes for an experience many will no doubt seek out.
Distillery: Michter’s
City: Louisville, KY
Style: Straight rye whiskey
ABV: 55% (110 proof)
Availability: Limited, 750 ml bottles, $110 MSRP
Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident brown liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.