I lived through the craft beer years (pumpkin, hemp, rye grass, plums(!!), etc., whatever MIGHT ferment and create a wort) and weathered the spotty resurgence of rye whiskies (whatever happened to Pennsylvania ryes???? Dad's Hat excepted, of course). My basement stash is cluttered with "finished" American whiskies, beers, wines, and brandies. Is why I came back to bourbon, classic rye, and well-known brandy/cognac/armagnac. The majors have been making the basics for several hundred years collectively. There's a reason they've endured. I'm too old to hunt for unicorns. Oak aging gives me caramel, some dark fruit spice (think Bing cherries, cinnamon, Allspice), and a soft sweetness that I miss when I order sweet tea which just hits me in the face. No wonder the other distillers are trying to capture the depth and complexity one finds in a bourbon/rye aged eight to ten years. My mouth is "Pavlovaning" as I type this.
I lived through the craft beer years (pumpkin, hemp, rye grass, plums(!!), etc., whatever MIGHT ferment and create a wort) and weathered the spotty resurgence of rye whiskies (whatever happened to Pennsylvania ryes???? Dad's Hat excepted, of course). My basement stash is cluttered with "finished" American whiskies, beers, wines, and brandies. Is why I came back to bourbon, classic rye, and well-known brandy/cognac/armagnac. The majors have been making the basics for several hundred years collectively. There's a reason they've endured. I'm too old to hunt for unicorns. Oak aging gives me caramel, some dark fruit spice (think Bing cherries, cinnamon, Allspice), and a soft sweetness that I miss when I order sweet tea which just hits me in the face. No wonder the other distillers are trying to capture the depth and complexity one finds in a bourbon/rye aged eight to ten years. My mouth is "Pavlovaning" as I type this.