Distillery: Starlight Distillery
Proof: 92
Age: 5 Years
Mashbill: 85% rye & 15% malted barley
BACKGROUND: 20 minutes outside of Louisville, Kentucky Starlight, Indiana is the home to the family owned Starlight Distillery. Running back 8 generations, currently run by father Ted & his two sons who have been making quite the name for themselves over the past few years. Known for their “sweet mash” technique, with barrels dry aged for a minimum of 2 years, up to 4. Each small batch is made with roughly 20 barrels of bourbon.
NOSE: Quite a young sweet feel on the nose loaded upfront with caramel and vanilla carrying a sweet brown sugar rye spice. As the sweet spice grows stronger, the flavors marry into a sweet cinnamon apple with some floral notes on the back end. (21/25)
PALATE: Very close to the nose, again leading off with that spicy caramel vanilla, as the smooth oily whiskey coats the inside of your mouth. This time the sweet floral notes become much stronger giving a sweet granny smith apple taste which pairs delightfully alongside with the cinnamon rye spice. (31/40)
FINISH: Quite an impressive finish for a 92 proof. Light sweet notes of caramelized sugar, apple, and sweet vanilla, dance around your tongue accompanied by a toasty caramel spice leaving your mouth tingling. (21/25)
VALUE: For $35, Starlight Small Batch rye is a delicious bottle worth every penny. If you’re a fan of sweet ryes this is the bottle for you. (7/10)
Overall: 80/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: It is no surprise that Starlight is gaining more and more traction as their whiskey ages and releases older and older barrels. After trying this I will definitely be on the lookout for some of their single barrel & BP releases in the future.
Slightly Better Whiskey: Heavens Door Rye
Equal Whiskey: Few Rye Whiskey
Slightly Worse Whiskey: Rebel Straight Rye Whiskey
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away
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