The new rye finished in angel corner barrels is solid

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The envy of the angel is a brand that focuses on doing one thing and doing it well: do it whiskey. Most of this whiskey is bourbon, but the distillery also releases Rye whiskey At a smaller level, and this includes the latest version of the Cellar collection series – a rye that was finished in additional French oak Añejo tequila barrels, and that's fine.

The new version of the Cellar collection is a mixture of three components, all made in Indiana Distillery MGP Use of its 95% standard /% malted barley mashbill. The first is an aged rye for about 6.5 years which was finished in barrels from Tequila for a year and a half (75%of the mixture), the second is a 7.5 year old rye that spent the same time in tequila barrels (15%), and the third is an unwanted whiskey aged for 11 years in new square oak barrels (10%). The barrels of the tequila in question, as you may have guessed according to the fact that The envy of the angel belongs to Bacardi, comes from Boss. And the specific tequila is Gran Piedra, an additional añejo which spends four years in a combination of American and French oak. Brands often talk about the aging of their minds in barrels used for a specific expression: see Corazon Tequila aged George T. Stagg Bourbon barrels. These are often very good, but sometimes it looks more like marketing. If the same barrels are used for various whiskeys produced in the same distillery, is there really a difference between, let's say, Booter barrels and Basil Hayden barrels?

Well, sometimes there are. I asked for The envy of the angel Master Distilling Owen Martin on this subject, and he said that this was summed up in the duration of the mind in the barrel and the specific type of wood. He selected 150 barrels from Boss which had been used only once to age tequila. They were a hybrid construction, made up of French oak heads and American oak marks, and it noted that the additional seasoning Añejo added notes of grass, sweet spices and that the French oak brought notes of spices to cooking, which, according to him, made them perfect for the rye whiskey. Once the mixture is finished, the whiskey was put back in ex-rys barrels to mingle for a few months before bottling. “We have added only 10% of older whiskey because it softened the mixture-the finished rye gives me this tangy and juicy characteristic, while the unfinished rye adds the body and the finish,” he said.

I have already tried several different whiskeys at Fin Téquila, and some succeed while others … not so much. This new The envy of the angel Rye falls outright in the old category. According to Martin, the majority of the finishing process, with regard to the capture of flavor, occurs in the first weeks that a whiskey passes in a secondary barrel. The rest of the time simply allows flavors to integrate, which has clearly happened here. It is very recognizing an rye whiskey, even if I would be curious to see if I could identify it as a MGP Rye in a blind tasting (a question that Martin asked me). Large notes of juicy fruits lead in the mouth, as well as soft spices, honey, brown sugar, freshly ground black pepper and a little menthol at the end.

To be honest, I'm not sure I can identify this whiskey as having a tequila if I didn't know what I was drinking. I could even report it as a kind of wine or secondary maturation of cognac. Does this count? I do not think, because the purpose of a barrel finish is not necessarily to give the mind the taste of what was previously in the barrel (“the best entry that I obtained on the strength of the barrel was that sometimes, with a finished whiskey, you do not even know that it is finished if you have nailed it,” said Martin). This new version of the Cellar collection looks a little aberrant in the Angel's Envy portfolio, but in a good sense, and it makes me definitively wait for the distillery on the bridge.

Score: 89