I have quite a few bottles to review acquired by various means in December. But I decided to put this one at the top of the list because Hokus Pokus still has some of these left, and I wanted the blog’s readers to know to pick one up before it is gone: Hokus Pokus’ “Rye not?” Single Barrel pick of Knob Creek Rye.

This is an approximately six year old rye whiskey bottled at 115 proof. Now, I am a fan of Knob Creek Rye, even though I am more of a bourbon than rye guy. Nostalgic even as the first ryes I ever tried were from Jim Beam.

On the swirl, a lovely viscous film with thick legs, with a beautiful honey amber color. On the nose, corn and herbal notes mingle with mild oak. On the palate, this whiskey has an elegant medium thick mouthfeel, with some slight corn sweetness in the background of a wonderfully spicy rye, and the taste reminds me a good bit of the Handy from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Really buttery spice cake on the palate, with a very nice lingering finish.

My buddy, Tom Spencer who is much more of a Canadian and Rye whiskey guy really liked this one. So much so that he said he was going to pick up a bottle.

It’s a great whiskey. And one, I think, I am going to keep on my bar to have folks try who are into Canadian and Rye whiskies to demonstrate how great high proof American ryes are, and also to show bourbon fans they should say “Rye not?” to rye whiskey.