Here’s another entry for “great whiskey just idling on the shelf” — and another absurdly great value bottle to buy at your convenience while everyone else drives halfway across the state to chase unicorn rumors.

For those who don’t know, Rittenhouse is a bottled-in-bond rye from Heaven Hill that traces its lineage back to Continental Distilling’s Rittenhouse Square Rye, introduced circa 1934. The brand eventually found its way into the HH empire in the 1990’s, at which time it converted from a Pennsylvania-style (no corn) or Maryland-style (~60% rye), to a Kentucky-style rye (51% rye mashbill).

Nose: Admittedly, this is the sole weakness in Rittenhouse. It’s more youthful than the assumed age of the rye (4-5 years), with a faint ethanol burn intermingling with a menagerie of baking spices, with background notes of leather. Not bad at all, just a little faint for a BiB rye.

Palate: Immediately, the nose is proven a Trojan Horse. A cannonade of rye spice and honey immediately meets you, before you’re taken on a magical mystery tour of spicy to savory to sweet. The rye spice gives way to cracked pepper, mint, and cinnamon, before finally making way for caramel treacle backed up with light vanilla. It’s stupidly complex for a $24 bottle. While the 100 proof gives a wonderful scaffolding, there is shockingly little burn — it reminds me of Old Tub and FRSB in terms of the balance of heat and flavor.

Finish: Annihilates Old Tub’s finish, which previously was my favorite finish in a sub-$30 bottle. Waves of oak combine with a malty smooth reprise of the rye spice rack, making this a joy to sip neat. Just absurdly good at its price point.

Summary: I had forgotten how stupidly great this bottle is. At $24 it’s a no-brainer purchase for a rye equally adept at drinking neat or mixing (seriously, my favorite Manhattans feature this rye - try it sometime). Personally I think of Baby Saz and this as the quintessential Kentucky ryes, and both share the quality of being hilariously good for their MSRP. So, put down that $700 bottle of Handy, and pick this up instead.

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

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