Review #328 - Peerless Single Barrel Rye 'Mixed Berry Tart'
Peerless is a relatively small, yet widely known distillery located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. They produce a range of bourbons and ryes, and they're especially popular in the 'double oaked' realm. In addition to their standard small batch releases and their finished whiskies, they also produce single barrels.
Like the rest of the Peerless products, this single barrel rye is not age stated, but we can find a distillation year (2017) and a bottling year (2024), so we can figure out the approximate the age: 7 years. It comes with a barrel proof strength of 59.7% ABV (119.4 proof), which is relatively high for the distillery - their lower barrel entry proof generally means that their whiskies have an final proof in the 108 to 115 proof range.
Peerless Single Barrel Rye 'Mixed Berry Tart'
USA - Rye
Price Paid: USD 124 (2024)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 124 (2024)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 59.7% ABV
Details: Not chill filtered, distilled 2017, bottled 2024
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 3 months; bottles at 80%, 100%, 80% (blind tasting), and 70% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Rich and sweet, with strong toasty oak notes. There are nice baking notes and spices, like vanilla, soft pepper, spearmint, hints of cinnamon, and molasses; leathery notes increase with time and show more maturity, and there are fruit notes in the background: prunes and figs. Occasionally, there were accent notes of demerara sugar, pie crust, and chocolate.
Palate: The mouthfeel is medium-thick; strong barbecued wood and char up front, a dark complexion overall, and cherry cola, sassafras, and black pepper are all strong flavors. Brown sugar and soft leather arrive, and there's smoke from both wood and tobacco. Oak continues to get stronger; hints of banana and orange zest add fruit.
Finish: Medium-long, full of mature flavors: tobacco, strong oak (which can be a little tannic), leather, smoke, and brown sugar. Hints of cinnamon and caramel add more baking notes, but there isn't much fruit at this point - just a whiff of orange zest.
Final Note: This is a very nice rye - packed with flavor, and much more mature than most whiskies of its age. The mix of smoky oak, leather, dark sugars, and subtle fruits is a great combination; the nose especially was excellent.
Like most Peerless bottles, this is not cheap - at the distillery, where we purchased it, this bottle costs over $120. Value isn't outstanding, then, but it really isn't too bad; with the level of flavor you get, it can be worth paying a bit of a premium.
Our Average Rating: 7.8 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.22
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other barrel proof rye reviews:
Review #321 - New Riff Malted Rye Sherry Finish
