Review: Kentucky Peerless Toasted Rye

Kentucky Peerless launched its first Toasted Rye in early 2025 and promptly sold out. A second edition arrived in recent months, made using the same process: Peerless Toasted Rye is aged first the distillery’s standard, level 3 charred new oak barrel, then moved to a second, toasted barrel for finishing. There’s no additional detail on the toasting process for the finishing barrels, nor any data on the amount of time spent in either type of wood.

Let’s give it a spin.

Kentucky Peerless Toasted Rye Review

The nose of the whiskey is surprisingly rich, right away, with notes of dark chocolate and coffee, with plenty of vanilla to continue the dessert-like theme. While a vein of cloves and dried thyme soon evoke the underlying rye grain and its inherent spice, a blanket of silky caramel keeps it all quite soft and inviting — closer to a rye-driven bourbon than a straight rye.

The palate continues the work of blending the two styles — sweet, sugary notes melding well with greener, more herbal fare. As on the nose, the first of these tends to win out more often than not, laying out lots of vanilla and milk chocolate across the tongue before tiptoeing its way into cinnamon and orange peel elements. Those hints of rosemary and thyme — some fresh bay leaf, too — slowly emerge as the finish arrives, though it’s nearly impossible to keep chocolate and a late-game punch of juicy, raisiny fruit out of the picture.

Rarely does a rye come across with this much effusive, dessert-like sweetness, but if that’s your jam, this is a bottle to seek out. (It certainly was mine.) Maybe the mystique of the toasted barrel is worth paying attention to after all…

107 proof. Reviewed: Batch #2.

A / $110

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