Still Austin High Rye Bottled in Bond Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Still Austin High Rye Bottled in Bond Bourbon
(Credit: Richard Thomas)

Texas’s Still Austin Whiskey Company (I shouldn’t need to tell you where in Texas they are from with that name) has a range of bottled in bond whiskeys, based on their standard straight whiskey line. It’s a now commonplace arrangement among small distillers in America, and many plan their initial, full scale production runs with an eye on releasing an initial volley of straight whiskeys, followed by the bonded versions two or three years later. That line currently consists of the Red Corn and Blue Corn bourbons, their rye whiskey and the High Rye Bourbon.

The Still Austin High Rye is mashed with 70% white corn, 25% rye and 5% malted barley. The industry lacks a standard definition for what “high rye” or any high grain proportion actually is, leaving distillers from Still Austin to Heaven Hill to call anything a high rye if they want to. For my part, I draw the line at 30% and therefore would not actually call this a high rye. Nonetheless, the whiskey comes across with an extra helping of spiciness, which I suspect comes as much from the choice of yeast or white corn as it does from the only slightly elevated proportion of rye.

Past that, it sits right on the statute of the 1897 Bottled in Bond Act: 100 proof, four years old, single distilling season, one distillery.

The Bourbon
The pour has an amber coloring with heavy red accent. In fact, I’m struck by just how much that pour from last night looks like the cup of roobios tea I’m sipping on as I type this.

The nose smacks of pine needles, orange zest peppermint, nutmeg and vanilla. Sipping yields a silky texture with notes of cinnamon, more mint, orange zest and nutmeg, and a base of candy corn. The silky mouthfeel carries right over into the finish, plus a dash of black pepper.

I rate Still Austin’s bonded high rye bourbon above the other, better known examples of high rye whiskeys, such as Basil Hayden, Old Granddad or Bulleit. The whiskey is spicy, but balanced, and lacks the dryness and lightness that sometimes accompanies whiskeys in this class. That combination makes it superbly easy-drinking. To anyone looking for a good craft whiskey buy or a good high rye bourbon buy, I heartily endorse this one.

The Price
Officially, this is priced at $83 a bottle.