Leiper’s Fork 7 Year Old Bottled In Bond Rye Review

By Randall H. Borkus

Rating: B+

On my recent visit to Leiper’s Fork Distillery, I had the good fortune to meet Sir Paul Bisset, Director of Tour Guides and Brand Ambassador, and pick up a bottle of their 7-year-old Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskey. Paul Bisset was gracious host, as well as an entertaining guy that had us rolling in laughter.

Leiper’s Fork Distillery is a craft distillery in Williamson County, Tennessee, producing 25,000 gallons annually on their pot stills. Operating on that scale gives them greater attention to detail and flexibility, and they filled their first barrel in the Spring of 2016. The distillery is housed in a beautiful log cabin style building that makes for a great visitor’s environment. Their whiskey is made using the sweet mash process (no backset; each batch starts from scratch), and they have a somewhat low barrel entry proof of 110.

My bottle of rye whiskey is from Batch #01 at the mandated bonded strength of 100 proof. The whiskey is 7 years old, with a mash bill of 55% rye, 30% corn and 15% barley malt.

The Whiskey
The whiskey was incredibly dark in my Glencairn. The nose bursts with a candied grassy-herbal essence leading to hints of creamy caramel, molasses, prunes, nutmeg, cinnamon, and oak. The palate is chewy and full of rye grass, raisins, vanilla pudding, nutmeg, minty mocha, cinnamon spice and more oak overtones. The finish is long with complex flavors of a minty brown sugar, baking spice and oak dryness melded together.

I really enjoyed imbibing this 7-Year-Old Rye Whiskey. It drinks smooth, complex and chewy. The corn and malted barley grain influences in the whiskey truly makes for a unique flavor profile. It is a terrific rye whiskey.

The Price
The retail price at the distillery was $89.00 and they sold out of the 7-Year-Old Rye Whiskey.  I did see a couple of bottles on shelves in Tennessee during my travels!