I visited the Fort Hamilton Distillery the other day and the owner/distiller, Alex Clark, gifted me a bottle of this whiskey. It is what Alex believes to be a New York style rye – a rye made in the style of 19th century rye from New York. It is a 90% rye, 10% malted barley whiskey. I enjoyed the tasting of this whiskey when I sat down with Alex and Amy, his wife and distillery manager, so I was looking forward to tasting this bottle with Matt. We sat down and tasted it and here are our tasting notes.

Fort Hamilton Barrel Proof Rye Whiskey

Proof: 126.4

Age: Four Years Old

Nose:

  • Mike: Rye grass, rich caramel, apricots, baking spices and oak wood.
  • Matt: Rye grass, vanilla, cane sugar, lemon citrus, oak wood.

Taste:

  • Mike: Rye grass, caramel, apricots, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and a white pepper joins the other spices. Tasted with a pecan and a chocolate note comes through and the spice is mostly pepper.
  • Matt: Rye grass, vanilla, cane sugar, citrus and oak wood. The dried cranberry brought out notes of strawberries, lemon tart and vanilla cake. The pecan brought out a note of peppermint, vanilla, lemons and oak.

Finish:

  • Mike: Medium long with oak and spice. The dried cranberry made the spice in the finish white pepper. The pecan made the finish very long and dry with oak and black pepper.
  • Matt: Medium long with oak, peppermint and lingering citrus notes. The dried cranberry made the finish a bit shorter with oak, lemon citrus and pepper jelly notes. The pecan made the finish longer with oak and peppermint.

I would pair this Rye whiskey with a cigar that has a lot of cedar spice notes in the smoke. I would reach for a NUB Habano wrapper cigar.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller