Distillery: Mingo Creek Craft Distillers, LLC
Region: Washington, Pennsylvania
Aging: Aged for 3 Years in New American Oak then Finished for 7 Months in Oloroso Sherry Casks
ABV: 51.2% ABV
Proof: 102.4 Proof
Mash Bill: 61% Rye, 13% Wheat, 13% Rye Malt, 13% Peated Barley
Non-Chill Filtered: Yes
Price: $75
Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish Tasting Notes
Appearance: Dark Amber
Nose: Sweet maple, caramel, toasted oak, vanilla, dark fruits, black cherry, plum, peat, malt, chocolate tobacco
Palate: Caramel, toasted oak, peat, rye spice, black pepper, malt, earthy, grassy notes, black cherry, plum
Finish: Nice long finish with an oily and buttery mouthfeel – leaves you with a nice rye spice finish full of pepper, toasted oak, peat, and earthy grassy notes
Is Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish an Approachable Whiskey?
Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish is a whiskey that most will enjoy.
It has a nice layer of peat flavor that could be a nice introduction to fans of American rye whiskey that are looking to explore peated whiskey.
It also has some lovely rye spice and black pepper notes that really stand out to me.
There is a bit of spice and heat on the finish since it is over 100 proof, but the rye spice and peated flavors really complement the heat well and will certainly wake up your taste buds.
Is Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish Complex?
Liberty Pole Peated Rye finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks has a lot of complexity and depth of flavor to it.
To start, Liberty Pole’s Peated Rye mashbill already has multiple layers of complexity.
It combines rye spice with peated barley which is quite a unique combination of flavors that you won’t find from other distilleries.
Then on top of that, you add the Oloroso Sherry Cask finish and you get an entirely different layer of flavor that adds a dark fruit sweetness to the nose and flavor.
As I sip on this one, I’m kind of fascinated by the combination of flavors I’m tasting while my brain is working on processing exactly what flavor notes it is experiencing.
What are Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish‘s strongest attributes/flavors?
Liberty Pole Peated Rye finished in Oloroso Sherry Cask’s strongest attribute is that I poured myself two additional glasses while reviewing it.
Usually, when I review a whiskey, I pour myself a 0.5-1 oz sample and that is often enough to review.
When I find a whiskey that has a ton of flavors, I often need another sample to determine what I’m tasting and get a full profile of the flavors.
With this bottle, I did a third taste and I am enjoying the pour more each time.
Is Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish a go-to whiskey?
This is Liberty Pole’s first release of an Oloroso Sherry Cask Finished whiskey so it was only a release of 260 bottles with a 2 bottle limit per person.
It sold out on day one, so this is a bottle I will be reserving for special occasions or to share with friends who are looking for a completely unique whiskey.
If I could get more bottles of this, I could see this being a regular pour for me.
Is Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish priced accurately to its quality?
Since this is a special release from Liberty Pole, it costs $20 more than their normal Peated Rye Whiskey and I think that $20 is absolutely worth it.
The Oloroso Sherry Finish adds a nice sweet dark fruit flavor to the whiskey.
This sweet dark fruit flavor layered on top of the already complex and interesting combination of peated rye whiskey creates a pour you will keep reaching for each time you finish your glass.
Conclusion for Liberty Pole Peated Rye – Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish
I hope Liberty Pole continues to experiment and test new flavors with their whiskey.
I am really enjoying that they are selling these special-release bottles as they experiment and learn what flavors blend well with their whiskey.
I am reviewing this on the special-release day where they released both this bottle and a Liberty Pole Peated Bourbon finished in Orange Curacao Barrels.
I can appreciate what Liberty Pole is doing by allowing us to taste their experiments as they grow and improve their whiskey.
They also let you know well in advance what bottles they are working on and exactly what day they will release.
Today, 50-100 people were waiting in line excited to try the new bottles.
Some places, this could be a bad thing since you have to wait outside for an hour ahead of time.
But with Liberty Pole, there was coffee, a whole community of whiskey fans happy to support the brand, and they even had a Liberty Pole Christmas Santa come out to give everyone samples of the Liberty Pole Spiced Whiskey for the holidays.
Liberty Pole is a fun brand to support and it definitely helps that they are only 30 minutes from my house.
All-in-all, this Oloroso Sherry finished rye whiskey is just fun to drink.
It’s full of rich flavors that complement each other surprisingly well.
I’m generally a fan of Oloroso Sherry Cask-finished whiskeys and I also enjoy my share of Peated Scotches, so this bottle is right up my alley.
I’m very excited to see how they continue to improve and will be happy to review more of their bottles in the future.
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Thanks for reading and cheers!
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