Peerless Pursuit! Peerless 3 Year Rye vs. Peerless Single Barrel Double Oak Rye

Note: This review was original posted on r/bourbon in May 2022

Background

Let’s start with some Peerless fun facts! Most of these are courtesy of Clay Risen’s book Bourbon: The Story of Kentucky Whiskey, which has quickly become an essential field guide for me as I taste and write reviews.

• Peerless uses a sweet mash, rather than a sour mash. Sour mash involves adding some portion of the last distilling run to the current one. This helps prevent bacteria growth during fermentation. By forgoing this process Peerless claims a more neutral PH off the still leading to a less acidic result into the barrels.

• Peerless also barrels their whiskey at a fairly low, 107 proof. This leads to both of these offerings coming in at a very drinkable, 107 & 110 barrel proof. They also seem intent at staying a fairly small distillery, producing roughly 12 barrels a day.

• Less specific to the distillery and more to these two offerings, this review will cover a 3 year Single Barrel Rye selection, and a NAS Single Barrel, Double Oak Master Distiller's selection (hot damn that's a lot of qualifiers). Don’t let the non-age statement fool you though, as I am sure many of you know, label rules dictate that anything under 4 years must have an age statement. This means the Double Oak must have been aged at least 4 years. 

And with that, let’s taste!

Peerless Single Barrel Rye Cork n’ Bottle Pick (3 Years, 107.6 Proof)

Nose: Citrus (sometimes orange, sometimes lemon… slightly more lemon), lemon pound cake, a hint of mint.

Palate: Brown sugar, ginger, some delicate floral notes and root beer. A nice oily feel on the palate.

Finish: Rye bread and butter, a bit of black pepper and a delicate lingering lemon.

6/10

Overall: Peerless calls its rye a “bourbon drinker’s rye” and it’s easy to see why. I think it is fair to assume that is code for closer to a 51% rye, higher corn mashbill, and the sip does nothing to dissuade me from that notion. It’s sweeter and more floral than, say, a 95/5 MGP style rye. All in all for a 3 year rye it’s pretty damn delicious.

Peerless Single Barrel Double Oak Rye (NAS, 110.6 Proof)

Nose: Toasted oak and marshmallow nose, campfire the morning after, the occasional whiff of lemonhead candies.

Palate: Burnt caramel, BIG brown sugar and a chewy marshmallow alongside mesquite chips.

Finish: Cinnamon, campfire logs, and candied citrus.

7/10

Overall: The best overall descriptors I have here are more scent memory triggers. Like a campfire with toasted marshmallows in a glass, or the finish occasionally reminds me of how my clothes smell after grilling. I’ve had roughly 8 glasses of this so far and I still feel like my opinion on it has oscillated a lot. Just when I think it’s too oaky/charred, a punch of sweetness comes in. My first impression was that this was a failed experiment, but then I just keep reaching for it off the shelf. If you told me you absolutely hated this pour, I’d get it. I have made peace with considering this “charmingly unique.”

1 | Disgusting: Sagamore Spirit Tequila Finish

2 | Poor: Black Maple Hill Oregon Straight Bourbon Whiskey

3 | Bad: Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

4 | Sub-par: Blade and Bow Straight Bourbon

5 | Good: Old Forester 1910

6 | Very Good: Willett 4 Year Family Rye

7 | Great: Little Book Chapter 3

8 | Excellent: Russell's Reserve 13 Year

9 | Incredible: A Smith Bowman Cask Strength (Batch 1)

10 | Perfect: George T Stagg 2020