Review: Rossville Union Straight Rye Barrel Proof (2022)
Review: Rossville Union Straight Rye Barrel Proof (2022)
Rossville Union is a straight rye whiskey in Luxco’s growing category of house brands is and produced out of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. If this makes you think MGP, you would be right. Luxco recently renamed the producer of its house branded spirits Ross & Squibb Distillery, formerly included under the overall MGP distillery umbrella. (MGP continues to produce under contract for other brands.) Drew provides more of the backstory to the renaming in his review of Alias Straight Rye Whiskey, so let’s just jump right to the latest offering.
Rossville Union’s Barrel Proof Rye is an annual, limited release and un-diluted expression of their core straight rye whiskey. The 2022 Barrel Proof features “a medley of straight-rye mash bills” from 82 selected barrels, clocks in at 117.2 proof and features a 7 year old age statement for the first time. Drinkhacker first explored the barrel proof in 2018 and found the whiskey hard to put down. Let’s see how 2022 compares.
The nose is a luscious mint-accented, rum-drenched, raisin bread pudding. On the palate, a juicy explosion of more mint and cherry cola, as semi-sweet chocolate-covered almonds unfolds and finishes with what can only be described as a movie-theater mashup of Junior Mints and Raisinettes. The references may suggest a confectionary level of sweetness to the experience, but the right touch of oak throughout the palate and finish keeps the drink from becoming oversweet and brings some gravitas to the spice level.
On reflection between the 2018 and 2022 releases, Rossville Union Rye Whiskeys are showing themselves to be an exceptional and formidable collection of ryes, with consistency in the richness of its baking spice and vanilla characteristics, while offering different dials of the component sweet and spice base notes to make it an engaging pour from start to finish, and certainly one to watch out for annually. All told, it’s a really delightful and masterfully blended pour all around, and an incredible value at $70 to $80 a bottle.
117.2 proof.
A / $80 / rossvilleunion.com [BUY IT NOW FROM CASKERS]
Rossville Union Barrel Proof Straight Rye Whiskey Barrel Proof (2022)
$80
