Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey (BTAC) Review

 

Let’s travel to the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1836. The Merchant’s Exchange was constructed on Royal Street. In the alley was the entrance to The Merchant’s Exchange Coffee House, one of the most popular in the area. The coffee house wasn’t just a place to hang out and drink coffee. Sewell Thomas owned it; he was a spirits importer and exclusively sold his inventory at The Merchant’s Exchange. One of those spirits was Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac. At the coffee house, he blended that cognac with Peychaud’s Bitters. It was the only cocktail available at the establishment and a hit.

 

Taylor lost his lease, and in 1849, he sold the coffee house to Aaron Bird. Taylor then opened a spirits retail shop just down the road. Two years later, Bird renamed his business Sazerac Coffee House. Then, in 1860, Bird passed away, and the coffee house was acquired by J. B. Schiller, who also happened to be an importer of Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac.

 

Schiller hired a young man named Thomas H. Handy, who had been working at Taylor’s spirits shop. In 1869, Handy and his fellow employees bought out Schiller. Thomas H. Handy & Co. became the exclusive importer of Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac.

 

But wait… there’s more! Handy was an intelligent businessman but less adept at investing his money. He went broke, and in 1878, he what was left of Thomas H. Handy & Co. to Vincent Micas, who owned Peychaud’s Bitters. So now, Micas had complete control over Sazerac Coffee House, Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac distribution, and Peychaud’s Bitters.

 

As it turned out, Micas wasn’t all that skilled as an investor, either. His business went bust, he lost his lease, and The Sazerac House was razed. That October, Handy rebuilt The Sazerac House on its ruins and continued serving its famous cocktail.

 

You know that’s not the end of the story because everyone knows that a Sazerac is made with American Rye, not cognac. That’s where grape phylloxera makes its grand entrance. The phylloxera is a tiny bug that eats grape vines. It was devastating to French vineyards, and in 1880, the owners of Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac lost everything. It wasn’t just them; the supplies of any cognac dried up.

 

Handy’s solution, with the cooperation of the area’s bartenders, was to substitute the Rye; thus, the famous cocktail was born.

 

In 2006, The Sazerac Company (owners of Buffalo Trace) introduced Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye as the last component of its famous Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. The 2024 version is made from an undisclosed mashbill and spent six years and three months in new, charred oak. It is packaged at 63.6% ABV (127.2°).

 

While its suggested retail price is $150.00, your chances of paying that amount are incredibly slim. Many retailers mark it up to “secondary” market pricing, which, according to wine-searcher.com, is about $600.00 as I write this.

 

My Bottle, Bar, or Bust rating usually considers bang for the buck. When I cover highly allocated whiskeys, that value statement is excluded, and the whiskey is judged solely on its tangible characteristics.

 

I wouldn’t be able to #DrinkCurious today without the cooperation of The Sazerac Company, which provided me with a sample of the 2024 release in exchange for my no-strings-attached, honest review. With that being said, let’s get started.

 

Appearance: I poured this Rye into my Glencairn glass to sip neat. The rust-colored whiskey formed a medium-thick rim that stuck to the wall like glue, eventually producing a few thick, snail-like tears. When I mean a few, you could count them on one hand.

 

Nose: The aroma included caramel, ground cinnamon, sandalwood, maraschino cherries, and vanilla sugar cookies. The sugar cookies became more prominent when I pulled the air through my lips.

 

Palate: Thomas H. Handy’s mouthfeel was creamy with a medium weight. I discovered flavors of cinnamon-soaked toothpicks, black pepper, and baked apples. My mid-palate found honeydew, nutmeg, and apricots. I tasted rye spice, bold clove, and leather on the back.

 

Finish: Sweet tobacco, leather, apricots, cinnamon Red Hots, and clove were prominently featured. It was a gentle start that eventually roared at the 1:33 marker, then immediately fell off. It left a drying sensation on my tongue and in my throat.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: While the flavors of Thomas H. Handy were pronounced, it drank nowhere near its stated proof. I’ve had several vintages of this whiskey, which seemed remarkably different than what I sipped today. I have a bottle of the 2018 Thomas H. Handy release, and I was curious how it compared, so I took a sip of that, too.

 

The 2018 smelled sweet, but the spice notes were easier to identify, and there was noticeable oak. There was also no mistaking cinnamon, ginger, rye spice, clove, and freshly cracked black pepper. The fruity notes from 2024 were there but didn’t steal the show, and there was a healthy dose of dark chocolate to boot. The finish had a longer duration and was a continual building of warmth, hitting its crescendo at 3:04, a hair under twice as long as the newest incarnation.

 

Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye was underwhelming. I’m glad I had a previous version on hand to compare because otherwise, I would have been driving myself bonkers wondering if something was wrong with my palate today.

 

I’m likely shooting myself in the foot by saying this, but I owe you nothing less than my complete honesty. I would have been disappointed if I paid $150.00 for this. It lacks the impactfulness that Buffalo Trace has consistently delivered in the past with Thomas H. Handy. I recommend trying this at a Bar before you spend gobs of money trying to hunt one down. 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.