Dry Fly is a relatively recent distillery founded in the state of Washington, USA. It says it uses local products in their whisky production process and for this particular wheat whiskey bottling, "100% local soft white wheat. Then it is aged minimum  3 years in new 53-gallon American Oak barrels with a no.3 char." The South Korea distributor did a good job, as I've seen it in most bars here. However, every bar owner has said it was very expensive. I'm willing to try new things and I like wheaters, but I understand wheat whiskies are perhaps the hardest whisky category to make as wheaters need age and extremely well managed "condiments" for it to be tasty.

Nose: some sweet aromas between grapes and raisins, light lemon drops, dried apples.

Palate: dry, smooth, good body, sweet, like whisky water mixed with yuzu-lemon concentrate, minor toasted oak/old steamed lotus leaves going on. The fruity aspects disappear after one sip with the "wheat" aspects amplified and it keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.

Finish: moderate, spicey. My mouth was cold after this one.

Overall a spicey bourbon accompanied by some sweet fruits. Didn't feel like a 120 proof whiskey and didn't really feel like the previous wheated whiskies I've had. It's not bad, but it's not very good overall. Even though I say some "nice" things in my tasting description, I don't think I'm going to revisit their wheat again... unless there is a drastic change. Funny thing is that every bar owner I've talked to in South Korea say it's not selling and are mad since it cost them a lot to get them, usually 3 different types. Additionally, I've noticed some bartenders try to tell the Dry Fly locally sourced approach to customers in the US and Asia, but let's face it, the Dry Fly locally sourced philosophy only works in some parts of America, if it don't taste good, no story can save it. As a relative comparison, no one really cares how Kilchoman made their juice, it just tastes good. Seems like Dry Fly made some bad decisions in the Asian market though.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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