Distilled By: Rabbit Hole Distillery
Location: Louisville, KY
Parent Company: Pernod Ricard (as of June 2019)
Class: KY Straight Rye Whiskey
Proof: 95 (47.5% ABV)
Age: 3+ years
Mash bill: 95% Rye, 5% Malted Barley
Boxergrail rye whiskey was named in celebration of Louisville’s rich boxing heritage. Rabbit Hole says this Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey is bold and unexpected like the prize fighters that have emerged from Louisville’s neighborhood gyms.
Boxergrail is aged in #3 wood-fired, toasted and charred new American Oak barrels from Kelvin Cooperage and has a barrel entry proof of 110. It is aged just under four years and is non-chill filtered. This rye whiskey has a SRP just under $50 per 750 mL bottle.
BSG REVIEW:
Color: Caramel
Nose: Vanilla, baking spices, oak, leather
Palate: Baking spices, oak, light caramel, lemon zest
Finish: Medium-long, lemon tea and baking spices
Boxergrail starts with an aroma that is mostly spices and leather. The vanilla is there up front, but subtle. Not at all unexpected for this 95/5 mash bill. When it hits the palate, those baking spices are dominating with hints of oak and the lightest of caramel flavor coming through the mid-palate. It then pulls in some lemon zest at the end before going down. The finish is medium-long and stays on the baking spice note before fading away into a nice lightly refreshing lemon tea. As with the Heigold high-rye bourbon from Rabbit Hole, I experienced almost no Kentucky hug with this finish, which made for an extremely easy sipping rye whiskey.
I enjoyed the familiar “95/5” baking spice notes from the nose to the palate. That is exactly what I would expect from just about any rye using that mash bill. However, the lemon tea finish was a nice way to round this one out that I don’t normally get on other rye whiskeys of the same 95/5 mash bill. This is a solid rye whiskey in the Rabbit Hole lineup and puts a nice little spin on the typical 95/5 flavor profile for me.
Buy/Try/Pass?
BSG Recommendation: Buy
BSG Score: 84/100
Disclaimer: Rabbit Hole provided this product in exchange for an honest review with no strings attached.
BSG Reviews: Scoring Explanation
BSG BONUS TASTING: Rabbit Hole Bespoke Gin
On April 27, 2020 Rabbit Hole announced that Bespoke Gin would be the newest addition and first non-American whiskey spirit added to their lineup. Bespoke Gin is 89 Proof (44.5% ABV) and it has a SRP of $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle.
I’ll be the first to admit that gin is not my forte when it comes to tasting spirits. However, this one grabbed my attention because of how it’s finished. I regularly venture into the realm of barrel finished whiskeys, but have recently been jumping in to see what other spirits can gain from being finished in whiskey barrels. I love beer aged in whiskey barrels, so why wouldn’t I try spirits aged in whiskey barrels, too?
Bespoke Gin starts its life as a London Dry Gin made using botanicals of angelica, coriander, juniper, lemon peel, licorice, orange peel, and orris root. Rabbit Hole imports this gin into Louisville and puts it to rest in thier Boxergrail rye whiskey barrels for 9 to 12 months. Anyone who has read my past reviews or heard me speak of my flavor preferences and dislikes will know that licorice is one note that turns me off of a whiskey faster than any other note. After reading the recipe for the London Dry Gin, I had a preconceived notion that this might not be the right barrel finished spirit for me.
I won’t pretend to be a gin expert, so there will be no full scale review of the spirit like I have done with the whiskey, but I will give you my thoughts from the perspective of a whiskey enthusiast.
The time in the rye barrel gives the spirit its golden color and imparts some very non-gin flavors into the spirit that seem to make it fit down my alley for the flavor profile. Surprisingly, I did not get any licorice notes, nor an overpowering juniper note that I had really expected to have dominated the flavor profile. I did get those citrus zest notes on both the nose and the palate, but also some honey and baking spices that undoubtedly were thanks to the Boxergrail rye barrel. So, what would my recommendation be for the Bespoke Gin from a whiskey drinkers perspective?
Buy/Try/Pass?
BSG Recommendation: Try
If I’m going to imbibe a gin-based cocktail or even a rocks pour, I would say give me this barrel finished gin all day over another non-barrel-aged London Dry Gin. Try it out in a bar first before jumping in on a whole bottle. You never know, maybe barrel aged gin is just what you need to open up another door in your journey.
Disclaimer: Rabbit Hole provided this product in exchange for an honest review with no strings attached.
BSG Reviews: Scoring Explanation
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