Starlight Distillery Bottled in Bond Rye Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Having examined the background of Indiana’s Starlight Distillery at length in my review of their bottled in bond bourbon, I will focus exclusively on the whiskey-making. The whiskey is made from small batches of 15 to 18 barrels (these being 53-gallon American Standard Barrels or ASBs), but small batching is typical of craft distillers, who lack the inventory to make mass market products from dumps of several hundred barrels.

That stock is drawn from two different distillates: one made from a 90% rye, 10% malted barley mash; and the other from an 80% rye, 20% malted barley mash. This is reflective of the high rye, no corn Pennsylvania approach. While I am sure some croakers out there will read that and say “then it cannot be a bottled in bond,” I suggest they read the 1897 Act again. It specifies the whiskey must come from one distillery and one distilling season, but says nothing about using two separate distillates within those parameters.

Starlight double distills those mashes on a Vendome-made 500 gallon pot still. As a bottled in bond, the whiskey must be at least four years old, and is bottled at 100 proof. The whiskey is matured in varied ASBs, fashioned from staves receiving between two and five years of air drying and charred across the spectrum, from the scarcely torched char #1 to the alligator char of level #4.

The Whiskey
My clear, middle amber pour had a scent that delivered a thick current of caramel, balanced by spear mint, orange zest and baking spices. The flavor, however, jinked hard into a different direction. The sweet aspect turned to cinnamon stick and honey; the spices turning to rye, caraway seed and oak shavings. Toffee arose on the back end and carried over into the finish, but once that faded the lingering part turning to vanilla and oak.

The Price
The pricing for this whiskey is pretty wild. Some online retailers have it marked at $60, but Seelbach’s is listing it for $30! At the latter, lower price, you would be a fool not the buy it, because frankly it is on par with many ryes priced at $50.