This is the second part of a two part post. The first being the story of how I got the bottle and a reminder that you don’t know what’s in a bottle of whiskey until you open it and take a taste.
Well. I’ve spent two weeks with this whiskey. It’s half gone and now I think I can talk about it. I’ve turned the bottle over and over in my hands looking at what is said and what is not said on the label. And I noticed a few things.
- The most obvious is that it is a blend of bourbon and rye. The back label says: “Our original, time-honored recipe, perfectly blended with the rebellious spirit of rye.” From that I’m guessing it is the normal Rebel Yell wheated bourbon mixed with rye.
- “Distilled and aged in Kentucky and Indiana.” So I’m going out on a pretty sturdy limb and saying that rye is from MGPi.
- This is a two-year age-stated whiskey. Remember, that’s the youngest whiskey in the bottle, there might be older whiskey in there. In fact I would guess there is since the flavor has a depth I wouldn’t expect from a two year whiskey.
- Though it is two year, nowhere does it say “straight.” We’ve learned from Templeton that you can add minute amounts of flavoring to whiskey that isn’t labeled “straight.” Just throwing that out there. Though it is very possibly not applicable, I get a little nervous when a whiskey doesn’t say straight when it could.
I’m breaking format and telling you my thoughts now since this is such an odd situation. I can find next to nothing about this online aside from the Rebel Yell website, the COLAs and Chuck Cowdery’s blog announcing it back in February. I can’t even tell if it is for sale yet so I have no idea if this is a good value. I’d say if you get it for free in a regifting situation, the value is excellent. If you pay more than $20-25 you are probably over paying. It’s tasty but not on par with many other widely available whiskeys at that price point. Some even sold by Luxco, the company who makes this.
Rebel Yell American Bourbon
Purchase Info: Didn’t I just say I got it in a regifting situation?
Details: A Blend of bourbon and rye whiskey, 45% ABV
Nose: Cedar, mint, white sugar, leather and hints of vanilla
Mouth: Thin in the mouth, but it has a nice tingle to it. Oak, cloves, dark chocolate and a nice earthiness.
Finish: Fades quickly. The mint is back along with chocolate and cedar.
Thoughts: As detailed in the previous post, I went into this expecting something terrible. As such, it exceeded expectations. As a two-year age stated whiskey, I’m very impressed with it’s depth of flavor. Overall, for what it is, this is an impressive whiskey. I just don’t think I’d pay more than $25 for it.
Who knew all you needed to do to make Rebel Yell bourbon drinkable was add some MGP rye? So we've learned that.
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