Chicken Cock Cotton Club 20 Year Old Rye Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

Grain & Barrel Spirits, the company behind the revival of the Chicken Cock brand, and some of the sourced releases under that title have been quite excellent. In particular, I was quite fond of the Chicken Cock 15 Year Old Bourbon. The news that the company was bringing out a Canadian-sourced 20 year old rye was consequently very exciting.

Canada has developed a formidable reputation for its rye whiskies over the last decade, many of them being 100% rye or very close to it. Arguably the best known example is the 10 year old stock that went into forging the Whistlepig brand, found and cultivated by the late Dave Pickerel. This stuff is 90% rye, and bottled at 100 proof. As for the Cotton Club part, that is a nod to the days when Chicken Cock was the choice brand at the famed Harlem nightclub where Duke Ellington (among others) got their proper start.

The Whiskey
Unfortunately, I found Chicken Cock Cotton Club to be an example of how a high age statement doesn’t necessarily lead to a great whiskey. This is not to say this is a bad bottle, far from it. However, one expects to pay a dear price for an ultra-aged whiskey, Cotton Club is no exception, and the contents just aren’t good enough to justify that.

A clue lies in the coloring: this 20 year old whisky has a pale gold coloring. Even in Canada, if even part of the batch had been aged in new oak, it would be much darker. I suspect that the part or all of the stock used in batching was aged in very spent barrels, so the oak was little more than a vessel and not a contributor to the flavor profile. On the one hand, that choice of barrel stock (if that was the case) would certainly avoid over-oaking in a long aging period; but it would also subtract the flavor contributions of the wood.

The nose was spicy and fruity, full of lemon zest and sandalwood. On the palate, the whisky morphs to orange and spices, and would be slightly reminiscent of Bigelow Constant Comment were it not for the modest note of vanilla. The finish rolls out on the now familiar citrus and spice character, but is faint and short lived.

The Price
The 1,595 bottles released are officially priced at $499.99