Alright, we’ve got 25 days til Christmas, so you know what time it is again: shopping list season. Whether you’re buying for others or treating yo self, I aim to provide my thoughts on available to kinda-available quality bottles. As usual I try to keep this list at $100 or below, but there’s a few on here that might ram into that ceiling.

Today and tomorrow we’re hitting rye, then doing Japanese whisky to finish the week. Bourbon gets center stage starting December 6, and we’ll conclude with Single Malt Scotch.

Our leadoff hitter to this celebration of burning the monthly budget on high proof, high quality juice might be the most Christmas-y tasting one of the entire lineup: Angels Envy Finished Rye.

While I’m uncertain if Angels Envy is still using MGP distillate or has switched to their own in-house spirit yet, what you’re getting here is a Lawrenceburg-style 95/5 Rye finished in Caribbean Rum casks and bottled at a healthy 100 proof. That all equates to a parade of gingerbread, molasses, and dark berries supported by just a hint of spearmint that is 100% bottled Yuletide cheer. I’m not sure if this was conceived as a Christmas-specific release initially, but it is the bottle I most strongly associate to Christmas dessert flavors. And make no mistake, this is a dessert whiskey — if you served this in a rum blind tasting, it’s a dead ringer for an aged Appleton Estate or other Jamaican molasses-and-funk elder statesman. That sweetness seems to also resonate with even non-whiskey drinkers; I’ve found AE Finished Rye to be a huge crowd-pleaser, even among family and friends who dislike strong whiskey flavors. This all said, I also find the Finished Rye much beefier and more complex versus the standard AE Bourbon.

So, if you’re someone who loves the earthy vegetal and herbal notes of the classic MGP 95/5 rye mashbill, understand that the rum barrels have gone full Borg on the rye and ruthlessly assimilated those flavors. However, if you’re looking for an outstanding dessert pour equally adept as serving as a fireside sipper, this might be your bottle. And if this is a gift, hard to beat the Angel’s Envy bottle design for the pizzazz.

Image courtesy of Jon who also writes on Low Class & High Proof.

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