Oregon Spirits Distillers Straight Rye Whiskey Review & Tasting Notes

 

Founded in 2009, Oregon Spirit Distillers is the vision of Brad Irwin, who was already passionate about distilling. The distillery is situated in Bend, Oregon, and it claims to have one of the state's largest inventories of whiskey aging in barrels. It is also one of the first grain-to-glass distilleries in Oregon.

 

Brad served as its head distiller for a decade before passing the reins to Tanner Tisdel. Tanner started on the distillery’s bottling line, then worked up to production distiller and then head distiller.

 

“Our mission is to distill with a commitment to local agriculture and Oregon’s bold independent personality. To bring quality, premium spirit brands which are unique, interesting, and outstanding in their class to the world market.” – Oregon Spirit Distillers

 

Oregon Spirit Distillers uses only locally-grown grains and water from the Cascade Mountains. According to Lead Blender Steve Denfeld, the distillery produces a dozen barrels of whiskey at a time. After maturation, all but one are blended for bottling, with the twelfth going to its Bottled-in-Bond series.

 

The distillery has won many awards over the years. One of those spirits is its Straight American Rye. It was distilled from a mash of 100% Oregon-grown rye grains and rested in new, charred white oak barrels for four years. It is packaged at 45% ABV (90°). A 750ml has a suggested price of $49.99, but per wine-searcher.com, it sells closer to $40.99, providing an affordable opportunity.  

 

I purchased this 50ml for $4.99 from a Total Wine & More store in Phoenix. Per Oregon Spirits’ website and wine-searcher.com, Total Wine appears to be the only retailer outside the distillery carrying its products. Let’s #DrinkCurious and discover what it is all about.

 

Appearance: I poured this Rye into a Glencairn glass to sip neat. Inside, the liquid was a darker gold. A thick rim formed, releasing slow, wide tears.

 

Nose: I smelled floral rye, wintergreen, eucalyptus, apples, and bubblegum. When I drew the aroma into my mouth, I encountered what I could swear was mint jelly.

 

Palate: This whiskey’s texture was creamy. My first impression was that I had just eaten a Certs breath mint. There was eucalyptus and spearmint at my palate’s front. The middle was slightly chalky with almonds and pecans. Oak and rye spice were at the back.

 

Finish: The short finish included spearmint, chalk, eucalyptus, and oak. Its duration was 38 seconds, leaving a slight tingle on my hard palate.  

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: I’ve had plenty of 100% rye whiskeys over the years. Being mint-heavy isn’t all that unusual; however, it is also not my favorite thing. The more I drank, the more it tasted like Scope mouthwash.

 

For those of you who really love that taste, you’ll be thrilled with Oregon Spirit Distillers’ Straight Rye Whiskey. It definitely wasn’t something that I would look forward to drinking again. I can’t recommend this. Unfortunately, it is a Bust. Cheers!  

 

 

My Simple, Easy-to-Understand Rating System

• Bottle = Buy It
• Bar = Try It
• Bust = Leave It

 

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit but begs you to do so responsibly.