Very Olde St Nick Summer Rye

A little background

Preservation Distillery out of Bardstown, KY has been putting out some incredible barrels of whiskey. Very Olde St Nick (VOSN) was the very first brand to take quirky, odd lot barrels of whatever they could find that was good. It wasn’t long ago that no one really wanted old barrels of whiskey, besides the international market VOSN was now appealing to. The barrels of rye whiskey for this release were selected before the heat of the summer could get an even larger angles’ share. From that came the name “Summer Rye”, a play off of “Samurai”. This barrel proof expression is bottled at 117.9 proof and can be found at an MSRP of $169.

(Tasted neat from a Halo Glass)

Color

Golden Honey

Nose

I loved the nose immediately. It is full of robust flavors such as caramel, strawberries, vanilla, and sugar cookies. It is almost sugar-sweet, like if you were caramelizing and reducing strawberries in a pot. This is followed up by cherry and orange notes, both being on the sweeter rather than tart side. Based off of the nose, I would honestly not have pegged this for a rye had I been doing this blind. It is sugary sweet, and I get almost no rye spice off of it. It has an extremely complex and amazing nose.

Palate

The palate has a dry, medium-thick viscosity to it. Toasted dark caramel and spice bursts on the mid-palate, while managing to coat the entire rest of the palate. Dark, stewed fruits such as strawberries, cherries and raspberries are present on the mid and back palate, as well as freshly baked biscuits. It is like you just woken up in the summer and are eating a warm biscuit smothered in homemade jam from your garden (but you are at your grandma’s house and she puts a little drizzle of caramel on top, because why not). It has a little bit of that sugary sweetness to it, but the caramel is the biggest sweet factor in it.

Finish

The finish is medium-long with lingering notes of biscuit, caramel and hints of rye spice. The mid and back palate are covered fairly well, with not a whole lot of love for the front palate. Towards the end of the finish, those dark fruits start coming out on the back palate. I think it’s a great way to wrap everything up.

In closing

This was a great whiskey! The nose was out of this world, and the palate and finish were both pretty stellar. The only thing that would make me think twice about buying a bottle would be the price point, but that is completely subjective. Preservation did a really good job with this, any time a whiskey takes me back to a time in my life, I truly admire it.