Month 7 - Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey

Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey
Classification: Straight Rye Whiskey
Country: United States of America
Region: Kentucky, Heaven Hill Distilleries: Louisville (Distillery): 38.2448, -85.7815, Bardstown (Maturation): 37.7948, -85.4661
Mash Bill: 51% Rye, 35% Corn, 14% Malted Barley
Strength: 55.0% ABV (110.0° Proof)
Color: Natural Color
Filtration: Unknown (Most likely Chill-Filtered)
Maturation: 6 years in 100% New Charred Oak
Price: $56.99 (Total Wine)

Overview

Why it had to be Rye in July! In addition to the linguistic flair of the phrase, what better whiskey to send during the month of America's Independence than what is widely considered to be the very first whiskey variant produced in the good ole US of A.

While bourbon, by law, contains at least 51% corn, rye whiskey must contain at least 51% rye. The rye percentage in rye whiskey varies a great deal across labels, some ryes even boast 95% rye content. For the best illustration of what rye brings to the whiskey experience, think about bread. Specifically, think about the experience of smelling and tasting cornbread and now think about smelling and tasting a slice of rye bread. Rye brings a pungent spicy punch that can be polarizing to some when featured on its own. In moderation however, rye, like a well placed splash of hot sauce, can complement a corn whiskey wonderfully. It's no surprise that the vast majority of bourbon contains a percentage of rye, typically between 10 and 25 percent, but I digress, this month is not about bourbon, it's all about the rye.

From its earliest days, rye, both as a crop and as a whiskey, was a huge component of Maryland's history. Pikesville began life in the 1890's and quickly became known as *the* Maryland whiskey. Pikesville's label changed owners as well as producing distilleries a few times through the years, but one thing remained constant - it was always produced in Maryland. It was a cult-favorite for its bold taste, higher proof, and best of all, its bottom-shelf pricing. Sadly however, Maryland's rye industry began to falter in the 1960s. By the 1970s, Maryland's rye industry was practically extinct and in turn took its rye whiskey industry with it. The last barrel of Maryland-produced Pikesville Rye was filled in 1972 with the final bottlings occurring in the early 1980s.

In 1982, Kentucky's Heaven Hill Distilleries purchased the Pikesville label and resumed production of the fabled whiskey in their Bardstown, Kentucky distillery. The much-loved Maryland whiskey lived on in name, but was no longer produced in Maryland.

While bourbon's terrific resurgence began in the 1990s, rye whiskey was much slower to regain popular demand. It was said back then that major distilleries dedicated only one mash and still house production run of rye whiskey a year. That all began to change in the 2000s however as prohibition-era and 'Mad Men' era cocktails began to spread through bar culture with wild hipster-fueled abandon. Rye quite literally went from zero to hero in the span of a few months. Virtually all major distilleries radically expanded their rye production and portfolios, but Heaven Hill never lost faith in rye whiskey and was prepared to meet the new demand.

In addition to Pikesville, Heaven Hill also produces Rittenhouse Rye. What Pikesville represents to Maryland, Rittenhouse represents to Pennsylvania - a regionally iconic whiskey with nearly a century of brand-recognition pedigree that died when Pennsylvania's whiskey industry died in the 1970s. Also like Pikesville, Heaven Hill scooped up the Rittenhouse label in the 1980s.

Today, Heaven Hill separates their two rye whiskey offerings in both price and overall presentation. The mashbill, production specifications, and maturation barrels for both Pikesville and Rittenhouse are identical, but Rittenhouse is offered as a Bottled in Bond, 4-year, 100-proof whiskey while Pikesville is offered at a more upscale 6-year, 110-proof whiskey. The price difference is typically around $20 to $30 with Rittenhouse retailing in the $30 neighborhood and Pikesville in the gated community of $50(ish). Tasting each side by side, you can easily tell these two whiskeys are closely related brothers, but the extra two years and 5% more ABV do deliver a more interesting and powerful experience. Is Pikesville worth the price premium over its younger brother? That is an exercise left to the reader, but I will offer one opinion - a price premium is easily justified if your primary use-case is sipping neat or with a splash of water or ice. If a cocktail is the most probable final resting place for a rye whiskey in your cabinet, then no need to spend the extra cash.

Tasting Notes

Group Impressions

With Pikesville containing the legal-minimum amount of rye, it will be the most 'bourbony' of rye whiskeys. Reading through the impressions, most assumed Month 7 was indeed a bourbon but if you read closely, everyone noted classic rye hallmarks - spice, heat, punch - so well done to all, your noses and tongues did not betray you. Also Pikesville is the highest proof sample sent to date but no one was fooled with multiple comments regarding the proof punch and the slow, long legs in the glass; a tip of my hat to each of you!

A few contributors noted that Pikesville worked well in cocktails and indeed, that is for me the primary use of rye - poured into sazeracs, old fashioneds, and manhattans. Thanks to all for another fun month, we shall raise our glasses and toast Month 8!

Apollo
This one was notable right off the bat because of its dark color and very long-lasting legs. After swirling it around in the glass, it seemed to basically just stick to the sides. Eventually, it dripped down but it took longer than any whiskey I've ever sampled.

Nothing in the aroma really jumped out at me. It smelled like whiskey, but it didn't singe my nose hairs or anything.

Upon sampling it, however, I noticed a very strong alcohol burn. So much so that I wondered if it might be a cask strength whiskey, which is something I've never sampled before. As far as the flavor, I had trouble picking out individual tastes, as usual. At one point I thought I detected a bit of butterscotch and possibly spice, but it wasn't clear enough to be certain.

Overall, I thought this was a fairly enjoyable whiskey. The added alcohol burn made it a little more challenging than most, but that's not a bad thing. I would definitely try this one again.

Jonathan Quayle Higgins
Appearance
Medium copper in the glass. Nice long, slow legs with tiny tears. You gotta love ‘Murican boldness in bottling their whiskey at high proofs.

Nose
Sweetness right off the bat. Rye and corn quickly follow the sweetness. Subsequent sniffs and cherry, cherry-vanilla, and Twizzlers come charging out. Amazing, as once you smell the cherry and twizzlers, its all I could smell. Great sweetness on the nose. Rye spice is present too. Dare I say a bit of wintergreen/spearmint. A bit of mustiness, very faint on the tail of the nose. The alcohol punch is well contained here, just a small amount of burn on the nose.

Taste
Let a out a Ric Flair WOOOOOO, there is epic spice here. Near zero sweetness up front, pure spice. At first this seems like a dry whiskey but sweetness comes after a few seconds and lasts from mid-taste all the way to the finish. What a wonderful sensation it is. The spice and rye dominate the first two-thirds of the taste but the cherry returns during the final one-third of the taste.

Neat this is drinkable to me. Yes there is an alcohol punch but not what I would consider harsh, certainly stout, but not harsh. A splash of water helps tame the alcohol.

Finish
Medium length finish. There is a rye bitterness on the finish for me. Some sweetness is present, but overall, I would say this finish is more dry than sweet. My grandmother loved rye bread. As a child, I hated rye bread, yet when staying with my grandmother while my parents were out on the town, I had to eat rye bread. The finish of this whiskey flashes me back to the aftertaste of that bread. Come to think about it, my grandmother also loved rye whiskey - she used to pour what had to be three fingers but in a mason jar, not a normal glass. She would toss in a cube of ice and that jar would get her through the night. I wonder what she would think of Pikesville - I bet she would like it but would be absolutely mortified at spending sixty bones on a bottle of hooch.

Overall
Hard to believe there is only 51% rye here, it certainly tastes as spicy as some 95% rye whiskeys I have had. Hard to believe it is 110 proof, it drinks far too easy considering the proof but water definitely helps the experience for me. Water tames the alcohol punch and opens up a bit more of the sweet notes on both the nose and tongue. This whiskey smells fantastic and tastes very good. If assigning letter grades, the nose gets an ‘A’ while the taste gets a solid ‘B’. I doubt I would always ensure a bottle of Pikesville was on my shelf, but I also don’t see myself reaching for this more than a few times a year.

Waldo Norris
Well, I can honestly say you have me stumped on this one.

Nose: The smells from this sample show a ton of vanilla and honey, with some dark fruit. Also picking up on creme brulee smells.

Color: Medium gold

Palate: After two full glasses, on two separate occasions, I am getting some immediate flavors. Very subtle, but it is so instantly shot by the incredible amount of spice. Perhaps a very light oak to start and some dried fruits... but it certainly doesn't linger long. After the initial spice, there is a good amount of heat the follows.

Finish: Strong, and incredibly long. I think i'm still tasting this one about 10 minutes after I finished the glass. The spice over time of course goes away, and the mouth is left with a dry, light oak taste.

Overall: There just wasn't a ton of character on this one. It had heat, it had spice, the nose was quite sweet and pleasant. After that, I just felt like the only thing that stood out in the end with it was the spice. I think I could have paired this well with some vermouth and some bitters and made a very nice mixed drink, but on its own, not for me.

Zeus
Appearance: Dark amber. Very long legs. Persistent legs at that, more so then most samples.

Smell: Very pleasant bourbon like rich woody smell. Smells like a winner so far. Woody smell reminds me of smoked fruit woods from BBQing, but then again I was BBQing meats this weekend with fruit woods so I'm not coming into this clean.

Taste: Son of a nutcracker! This must be very high proof, I was totally unprepared for a harsh burning sensation on initial taste. I was expecting a smooth whiskey based on the smell but it utterly flanked me and smacked me on the back of my head. I didn’t taste much at the first sip. Further sips were far more pleasant and enjoyable. Woody taste that I smelled came through later on, but it was very subtle.

Finish: Very good burn going down. Woody taste lingers for 10ish seconds but as I got more used to it the burn sensation faded and I was left with the nice woody aftertaste.

General Thoughts: This is not an amateur whiskey. Totally took me by surprise at my first sip, but I started to enjoy it on the further tastings. The taste was not extremely complex, which was a total surprise based on my expectations from the smell. I think it’s a bourbon, reminds me of a higher proof Old Forester bourbon that I got.

Keoki
For our July offering we had a bourbon that was not for the faint of heart.

The bourbon looked to be the darkest sample we've had so far. Dark amber is the closest I can say.
I got a lot of sweet notes -- a little maple syrup, a lot of vanilla. One thing that hit me was the alcohol. It really smelled potent!

The sample had good legs on the glass.

I took it neat, as always. My nose didn't deceive me this time. It tasted really strong to me. If I were offered this, it would definitely need to be a sipping bourbon. It's funny how the palate works. I can taste the same alcohol percentage in Scotch and not bat an eye, but if it's a different type of alcohol, it's hard to handle.

I didn't get the harsh taste that some cheap bourbons give you -- you know, the stuff you used to mix with soda in college. It just tasted strong.

Not sure if I'd buy this offering. It may work well for mixed drinks, but if I wanted to drink bourbon straight I'd go with a smoother choice.

Admiral Hawkes
OK, this one kind of threw me off a bit. When I opened the box and saw the dark brown color, my mind went to another double-faced or sherry barreled whiskey.  I opened the cap, and my spider sense said we were due for a rye whiskey. But the nose seemed to say bourbon to me. I take pride in my olfactory sense, but this one made me doubt I had it right. Were those corn notes I detected? It sure didn’t feel like rye. Hmmmm.

I moved straight to the neat pour. This one felt quite hot to me, and I did not really like the mouth feel of it. I routinely gulp 100 proof Knob Creek, and don’t feel the heat from that like this baby delivered. The heat made it tougher for me to detect taste notes. I really wanted to figure out what drove the dark color, but could not. I plopped an ice cube in and felt some aromas release, but just could not put a word on it. Strange.

My next taste was a healthy pour as part of a Manhattan. The vermouth and bitters definitely took the heat off, and I would say I enjoyed it much more in a cocktail. I started to wonder if this was perhaps a wheated whiskey, something I have not tasted before… perhaps that was what threw me. But I would not bet on it.

This was my least favorite dram of the bunch so far. Definitely worthy as the base for a whiskey cocktail at the right price, but not something I would enjoy straight.

Michael Doheny
These foolish things remind me of you.

House rules are as follows, first sample, straight. Second sample, splash of water to keep you honest, and lastly on the rocks, as God intended.

Sing Hallelujah, come on, get happy I was jazzed to receive this month’s sample. As soon I liberated the libation for its cardboard sarcophagus the color struck me as familiar as red on the roulette wheel. That was the perfect shade of God’s own nectar, Bourbon. I broke out a bottle of Elijah Craig for a side by side, and like two showgirls, you could barely tell them apart. Bea-u-ti-ful.

Cracked the seal and it sure smells like good american Bourbon. This is why we fight those dirty commies, for the god given right to let great institutions like this to exist. Freedom condensed into a Glencarin glass.

Throwing caution through the wind, I took a hearty bolt of the corn mashed masterpiece. The rich warmth scoured the inferior liquids from my mouth and settled into a warm bath full of subtle vanilla lotions and that echo of chard oak. I closed my eyes, swallowed deeply and let the vapors escape from my mouth. I tried the second sip with a little more tenderness. (Hey, I think I’ve heard that someplace before.) It was wonderfully balanced, letting the mature sweetness melt into my taste buds as the heat ebbed.  The flavor lingered, like a couple who don’t want the dance to end. It held that strong caramel color all the way to the last drops. Should I confess I love you?

The water from sample two took a little starch out of the smell of the drink and eroded a bit of the lovely color. The flavors were relaxed and opened, but this time the sweet was scorched from my tongue from the heat. Totally the opposite of drinking it straight. The hits of oak or wood aren’t there and the drink seemed more mellow, like drowsy morning sunlight. This was too easy to sip and before too long it was gone; now I'm alone with only a memory of that happiness.

Last came the ice, and just seein’ those cube there, I wink to nobody but the open mouth of the glass and whisper, “who loves ya, baby?” I pour the last precious ounces, and now drops, over the ice and watch the reaction. The water is soiling the once vibrant color, pulling the richness from it, until it is just off color gold. I put my lips to the glass and could feel those icy fingers up and down my spine. Brother, this did not mix well, it was like bottom shelf something that they’d serve to the rubes at Jilly’s in the wee hours of the day. I gave it the ol’ Dean Martin swirl with my finger and sipped again. The balance was back, much like the water round there was a subtleness to everything, the heat curtailed, the vanilla just a whisper. God help me for saying this, but it was better straight.

I think this is bourbon, ain’t no doubt in this foolish heart of mine. It will be as delicious tomorrow as a hundred years from today. Sweet surrender, You came, you saw, you conquered me and, I can't break away I must have you everyday.

Carol Baldwin
Appearance: Deep amber color, slow to develop legs

Smell:
At the top, caramel, butterscotch and vanilla. Wood, and then sharp alcohol deeper in the glass. Smells like a bourbon.

Taste:
Vanilla, caramel, and a sharp alcohol burn that lingers

Finish:
Bitter and astringent, with the warming sensation from the alcohol.

General Thoughts:
I enjoyed this bourbon. Nothing too surprising, it has the expected bourbon flavors; however the astringent alcohol finish does lead me to believe that this month's pick has a higher alcohol content than some of the others we have sampled.