Review: Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye

It’s lately become fashionable to take bourbon and rye and blend them into a new product. And hell, why not? Two great tastes that go great together has been an American mantra since the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ad campaigns of the 1970s and beyond.

With the appropriately named Bourbon x Rye, Knob Creek is very transparent about what’s in the bottle: 30% 9-year-old bourbon and 70% 7-year-old rye. Bottled overproof at 56.5% abv. And that’s all there is to it. We got a sample, so let’s give it a whirl.

The nose is instantly curious: quite beefy and savory, but also sweet, with honey notes and a touch of maple syrup behind it. Underneath, the whiskey is laden with earthiness that approaches a creamy mushroom soup (an aroma that becomes impossible to ignore once you catch it). Breathe deep and it’s salty, slightly sweaty at times.

The palate continues the savory theme, with a combination of roasted corn, mushroom, and Marsala wine elements all percolating. There’s a certain oxidized quality to the whiskey, something which feels particularly decadent given the high abv. The finish sees a return to sweeter and more rye-driven qualities: toasted almonds, baking spice, and ample pepper. It’s green and slightly weedy in the way that many modern rye whiskeys can be, with sustained barbecued beef elements hanging in there.

What then to make all of this? It’s one of the strangest whiskeys I’ve encountered in recent memory, as it doesn’t come across anything like the sum of its parts. I don’t particularly like it, though it has moments where it shines, and it’d be fine in a tall mixed drink. That said, I hate to suggest that this product is the result of a Beam having a bunch of barrels sitting around that didn’t make the cut in either its bourbon or rye products so it came up with this plan to dispose of them, but stranger things have certainly been done in the whiskey world.

113 proof.

B / $45 / knobcreek.com

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