Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Templeton Rye – “The Good Stuff”

By: Keith Adams

Templeton Rye
http://www.templetonrye.com/
Templeton Rye Spirits

There has been brief mention of Templeton Rye on this site, which amounted to:


"Surprising. I'm definitely going to try some more Rye."
"Was a prohibition recipe, so this shit must be good."
"I'm buying this."

While these are certainly words of encouragement, the Templeton admittedly came out late in the night of tasting. Not that all things tasted at the end of the night are good.  Someday maybe I’ll tell you about my experience with Crown Maple. Holy shit that was an experience that took days to recover... but I digress.  So anyway, it seemed only fair to follow through, buy a bottle and give Templeton a fair review.

The history of Templeton Rye is enough to make you want to give it a chance. It was made in Templeton, Iowa throughout the prohibition era, later adopted as a favorite of Al Capone and then disappeared until the recipe was resurrected in 2001. While still based in Templeton, it is distilled in Indiana and trucked to Iowa for bottling. I don’t know how much of the back-story is true but who really gives a shit. It’s a compelling story that brought out the rave review above, "Was a prohibition recipe, so this shit must be good."

At first smell, I sense the overwhelming scent of candy red hots/cinnamon followed by a stronger vanilla. The vanilla carries into the first drink which is followed by a cinnamon/red hot finish, with a little bit of pepper thrown in to heat things up.  That said, it isn’t really what I would consider “hot.”  It’s actually a pretty mild whisky that is easy to drink neat. For a whiskey that bills itself as “The Good Stuff,” I’d have to agree.  They have a good product that I’d definitely recommend.  

I mentioned in my Bulliet Rye review that I wasn’t a huge fan of that one.  Templeton definitely holds it’s own when comparing them side by side. For me, the clear winner is Templeton and it's opened up an interest in trying more rye.

Taste: Vanilla/Candy Red Hots
Price: $30-$40
Purchase Again: Yes