Taste Test: This New Rye Finished in Amaro Barrels Is an Outstanding Winter Whiskey

Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.

It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I was extolling the virtues of Jack Daniel’s rye whiskey (that checks out—it was). But here I am again about to go off about another Tennessee distillery making some really excellent rye, although this couldn’t be more different from what they are doing at the home of Old No. 7. Craft distillery Chattanooga Whiskey just released a new bottle made from an unusual mashbill that was finished in amaro barrels, and the details are as fascinating as this rye is delicious.

Chattanooga Whiskey was founded in 2011 and has been making whiskey for the last 14 years, first in its Experimental Distillery and later in its Riverfront Distillery. Most of the whiskey it makes is bourbon and not rye, but this is not your typical bourbon, it’s a “high malt” version made from a mashbill of corn, malted rye, and two types of malted barley. There’s also a rye in the lineup made from a recipe of corn and three types of malted rye, but this new whiskey, which is part of the distillery’s Experimental Batch series, is something very different.

Batch 042 is made from a five-grain mashbill: yellow corn, two types of pale malted rye, caramel malted rye, and smoked malted rye which the distillery says was custom-smoked at Riverbend Malthouse in Asheville, N.C. After initially aging in new toasted and charred oak barrels, the whiskey spent three months in casks that previously held “German-style” amaro which was also produced at the distillery. This amaro was made from a recipe of 14 different fruits and botanicals, according to founding distiller Grant McCracken, including dried bilberries, sour cherries, star anise, and sarsaparilla, and was sweetened with something called “dark candi syrup.”

I didn’t get to try the amaro, which might have been revealing, but this whiskey is a very interesting and intriguing new release in its own right. There’s a malty core to this rye due to its unique mashbill, differentiating it from most other expressions you’ve likely tried. But the barrel finish has really transformed this whiskey without overwhelming it, and the most prominent note this secondary maturation brought to the party is chocolate. Not like a chocolate-flavored whiskey, but a spicy, fruity, chocolatey theme that drives the overall profile, along with notes of brown sugar, honey, pepper, and some leather and tobacco. And at 110 proof, there’s a nice bit of heat on the finish.

This new whiskey is a great winter dram, but I will be definitely be sipping it in the spring as well, and trying it out in some cocktails (although it’s almost like a Black Manhattan on its own). Only four barrels were released, so Chattanooga Whiskey‘s Amaro Barrel Finished Rye might be a little bit hard to get your hands on, although it is available to order from specialty liquor website Seelbach’s. Most of these Experimental Batches tend to sell out, and for good reason—they are truly some of the most creative and sometimes bizarre whiskeys you can find. And that’s a good thing, so give this new bottle a try if you can find one.

Score: 88