Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire New to me Texas Rye

Picked up a bottle of Hickory Hill Single Barrel Rye Whiskey the other day. 100% rye at 100 proof. The man at the store said it was new to the area and they just got it in.

Guess it's pretty new all right. I went to the website for Gulf Coast Distillers in Houston which also makes Hickory Hill bourbon. The rye isn't listed at all under product.

Thought that was a little odd so went poking around the website. Found one photo of the Single Barrel Rye but not one single word about it.

Didn't find any reviews on Google. So here's mine. It's not bad as a sipping whisky. I haven't tried many ryes so can't give any kind of meaningful score to it. But I'd buy it again.

Like all ryes it's less sweet than bourbon and has a little pepper to it. "Aged at least 16 MO" it says on the side of the bottle which made me laugh. I'm not going to hold that against it though.

Anybody else come across this whiskey?

So far I've tasted nothing but acetone from TX. Evidently they don't know how to age it or smooth it any. Heck if you can make shine smooth you can with anything else...

So much so with TX stuff that I doubt I'd ever risk Texas whiskey of any kind.

But let us know...

With the whiskey market being the way it is you're seeing a lot of Johnny come lately brands selling young spirit, and older established brands dropping extra aged varieties and dropping statements from varieties they keep.

Weller Antique 107, Jim Beam Black no more age statements

Old Charter and Ancient Age had extra aged versions that were quite nice

Even well aged spirits, American and Scotch, aren't what they once were either.

I like good whiskey!

Pabst has a “whiskey” out that brags that it is “Aged 5 Seconds”. Nephew had some last weekend - it has an interesting flavor. Primarily acetone, with nail polish remover undertones and just a hint Burma aftershave.

Any top notes of hair spray?

Not that I could detect. But there was a mouth quality that made such subtleties difficult to notice. It was kind of like shaving your tounge with a rusty straight edge.

Early Cuyler review:

"It's like the untamed wilditude of Nature exploding in the space where your brain used to live."

"Take a sip, you'll see. But not for long ..."