Oh My Poison – Minor Case Rye

It is nothing new, that the trend of barrel finishing has caught on with American whiskey. Of course, this practice is a sin in the eyes of bourbon and rye purists. In my personal opinion, I am fine with it as long as it is clearly stated and done to enhance the taste of an American whiskey in a natural way. The Minor Case Rye whiskey checks both of the boxes mentioned above. So, let us see how it can be used in cocktails.

Similar to the Yellow Stone Bourbon, the Minor Case Rye is sourced whiskey bottled by the Limestone Branch Distillery. They take a two-year old MGP whiskey with a mash-bill of 51 % rye, 45 % corn and 4 % malted barley. On top of that, the rye gets a finish in cream sherry barrels. In the end, the whiskey is non-chill-filtered and not coloured, as it is the case with Straight American Whiskies. The Minor Case has an ABV of 45 %.

Young, but good

Obviously, with such a young rye whiskey, you cannot expect too much complexity. Nevertheless, the Minor Case is tasty with typical glue and grain notes. Apart from that, you also taste the sherry with gooseberries and hints of dried fruits. In the end, the sherry finishing keeps the whisky from being too rough or boring. This also means that for what it is – a young rye – this bottle is well worth checking out.

Blackcurrant flavoured Smash

The first cocktail that comes to mind when thinking about rye whiskey, of course, is a Manhattan. However, with the hot temperatures of the last days and my mint basically exploding, I was more in the mood for a fruity and refreshing Smash. Additionally, I also had the Mühle 4 Johannello liqueur on hand. This great blackcurrant liqueur just seemed perfect for a float on the drink.

Whiskey and blackcurrants in harmony

Even with the trick of placing a regular tablespoon on top of the drink and pouring the liqueur into the spoon, the liqueur sank to the bottom of the cocktail instead of floating on top. Nevertheless, the “Oh My Poison” still tasted excellent. The almost classic Whiskey Smash combination of whiskey, lemon, sugar and mint is pretty great on its own. However, if you add blackcurrant liqueur to it, the drink gets another level of flavour. Furthermore, the fruity liqueur also perfectly fits the sherry cask notes of the rye. If you are looking for a summer drink which uses whiskey for a change, look no further and try this delicious combination!

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The rye was provided by Perola GmbH and the liqueur by Mühle 4.