Review: Phyllis & Her Walk in the Woods Double Oaked Rye

Listen. I’ve seen weird product names in the booze business in the past. Phyllis & Her Walk in the Woods however may set a new high water mark. The thing of it is, Phyllis also hails from an unusual place in the world of whiskeydom: Vermont.

Here’s the deets: Phyllis is the first whiskey from Caledonia Spirits, aka Barr Hill, which is best known for its vodka and gin, which are distilled from honey. Whiskey, that’s a new thing, and a new name… and if you’ve ever met anyone from Vermont, you know what you’re getting into — I say that out of love — which is what brings us here today.

Phyllis is made from 100% Vermont-grown grains, 84% winter rye and 16% malted barley — and is aged in “Vermont oak barrels, blended with barrels from our Montpelier distillery” then is “finished in a variety of different barrels and techniques.” I don’t have any idea what that means either, but I do know that this first edition of Phyllis is a blend of 20% 6 year old stock, 20% 5.6 year old stock, and 60% 2.8 year old stock. I do not now know who Phyllis is nor anything about her walk in the woods as it relates to whiskey.

So… to set the stage, today’s rye whiskey market is undergoing something of a sea change, dropping the bruising herbal notes and heavy barrel char for sweeter and more floral qualities. Barr Hill did not get that memo. Phyllis is a huge, bold, aggressive rye that will sear your eyebrows off if you linger too long over the glass.

On the nose: Wood above all else, layered with petrol and polished leather. Tar, cloves, and molasses all provide some character, but it wasn’t until I sniffed at the glass for several minutes when the name of the whiskey started to make sense. The woods. I get it.

The nose is aggressive, but the palate is doubly so. Here that wood takes on a well-polished quality, infused with notes of very heavy char, creosote, and torched rosemary. If there’s sweetness here, it’s in the form of burnt marshmallow, chased by anise candies, smudged sage, and old raisins pulled from the back of the pantry. Imagine a stack of yellowed newspapers used for kindling. You with me?

There’s a vague prune-like quality to the whiskey, but it’s well-buried under all the wood, plus a pungent amount of spice — cloves, anise, powdered ginger, and even some curry powder notes — finished up with a touch of menthol. Dark, heavy prune notes emerge with a lot of time in glass.

If you like your ryes big big big, run, don’t walk, to pick up Phyllis & Her Walk in the Woods. No pun intended. Respect, but for me, this is simply too much of a big thing.

100 proof. Reviewed: Batch 1/24.

B / $129 / barrhill.com

The post Review: Phyllis & Her Walk in the Woods Double Oaked Rye appeared first on Drinkhacker: The Insider’s Guide to Good Drinking.