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Blue Run arrived loudly onto the whiskey scene in 2020. They were the new brand on the block with premium pricing, eye-catching packaging (with changing butterfly logo colors) and a cascade of awards earned shortly after launch. The reaction was understandably split: casual drinkers appreciated the modern aesthetic while seasoned enthusiasts rolled their eyes at the post-modern styling.
Once the run of 13-14.5 year-old sourced bourbon (from Barton, no doubt) dried up, Blue Run began to release new labels that contained whiskies that they had more of a hand in guiding their distillation, maturation and blending. Blue Run brought on Jim Rutledge to oversee the contract distillation of barrels while Shaylyn Gammon was brought on as the “Whiskey Director” for the brand. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because she’s the one who blended the very first batch of Russell’s Reserve 13 – the one that many considered “Whiskey of the Year” in 2021.
A very brief history of Blue Run’s rye whiskies
In 2021, Blue Run rolled out with “Golden Rye” – a rye whiskey that served as an early test bed for their younger barrel inventory. The source of this whiskey was never revealed, but I have to believe that its origin was from Bardstown Bourbon Company. I say this because a couple years later in 2023, Blue Run rolled out with a second rye whiskey called “Emerald Rye” which they fully admitted was contract distilled at Castle & Key Distillery. This leads me to believe that if Golden Rye was distilled at C&K, then they would have said so.
Emerald Rye’s makeup
Here’s where things get weird. Blue Run claims that Emerald Rye is a rye whiskey that is made up of three different mash bills that are blended together as a final product. No recipes or blend ratios were given, we’re just left in the dark about it all. Blue Run is maddeningly secretive with the simplest specs of their whiskey and transparent about the things we couldn’t care less about. That has made me uninterested as a consumer and is the reason why I have only ever purchased two bottles from them.
This past spring, a friend offered me the chance to buy the first single barrel of Emerald Rye Whiskey. This barrel was apparently the product of a micro blend of those three undisclosed rye whiskey mash bills into one barrel. It’s likely that the three mash bills were individually matured before entering into one barrel, but it’s unknown how much longer they were allowed to mingle before being bottled up.
The group that received this first pick was Gotham Barrel Club which is headed by Four Roses #1 fanboy Andrew Bacon Goodman. His followers on social media are affectionately known as “Baconites.” Yes, that’s a real thing and no I won’t expand on it anymore.
Anyway, Andrew told me he is also in the dark about many of the finer details about this barrel. What he could reveal was that the barrel had an outturn of 206 bottles (at cask strength – 120.4 proof!) and that Jim Rutledge hinted that the final mash bill makeup is around 84% rye.
So if we’ve learned nothing else about Blue Run’s single barrel rye whiskies, it’s that they operate a lot like Maker’s Mark Private Selections in the way that they literally fill the barrels all the way up during the final sequence of maturation and that their rye whiskey is nowhere near being a “barely legal rye” like the majority of Kentucky rye whiskies on the market. Amen to that!
So how is the first single barrel release of rye whiskey from Blue Run? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: The nose starts off with a mix of punchy herbal scents, earthy tones and slightly underdeveloped sweet notes. Aside from a general scent of “green,” I can narrow it down to mint and tarragon while olive oil seems like the appropriate way to describe the earthy tones. It would also go a long way in explaining why I’m smelling some kind of savory herb scent that I can’t quite put my finger on. Sweetness comes from vanilla frosting and molasses. Cinnamon gum mixes with a wood that I would actually describe as “hickory” rather than oak (weird, I know) only because there is something about it that reminds me of the smoke my smoker produces. Please note, I am not saying this rye whiskey is smokey, just that there is a singular note that kind of pulls me in that direction. Fruit notes are hard to come by with the two most noticeable being apricot jelly and citrus.
Palate: Most 120 proof whiskies don’t sizzle on my tongue like this one does. It’s not uncomfortable, but makes itself known with the full gamut of Cinnamon Red Hots candies and peppercorns. There is some sweetness with a little bit of molasses and some Fruit Stripe gum that holds the spice at bay just enough. I find a lot of herbal and floral flavors (like hibiscus) which sort of blend with the baking spices to where I get clove and Cherry Twizzlers. The oak is lightly charred and adds a bit of complexity.
Finish: Lingering rye spice and heat mingle with cherry syrup, cinnamon oil and some stone fruit preserves. I’m surprised by how long the finish lasts. There are herbal notes that hang around as well including more mint, tarragon and a nice menthol cooling sensation when I open my mouth.
Score: 6.8/10
I’ve sampled this bottle off and on since the Spring and have noticed a transformation occur. For the first couple months, the rye whiskey was somewhat harsh and uneven. The green notes overwhelmed any fruit notes and it came off as slightly young to me. But the more I kept drinking it, the less harsh, youthful notes I found. Eventually, it grew on me and became quite delightful.
This single barrel of Emerald Rye doesn’t have the grainy, caramel sweetness of a Kentucky rye (made with lots of corn) and it doesn’t have the beautiful brown sugar/citrus notes of an Indiana rye – it’s kind of in its own league. If anything, it reminds me a little bit of the rye whiskies that upstart distilleries in Pennsylvania are trying to revive. It’s going to be a fascinating future for these barrels as they continue to mature.
Final Thoughts
I paid right around $100 for this bottle which (probably) makes it around $20 per year aged. It’s also about $20 more than a standard bottle of Emerald Rye. Without mincing words, that makes it a terrible value. I could understand if Blue Run was a new distillery and was trying to recoup their sunk costs, but they’re not and having this whiskey contract distilled at C&K distillery should have resulted in some cost savings if only because it was produced to scale – but I digress.
Edit: After I published this review, I was told that this rye whiskey was actually 7 years and 3 months old. So my opinion has changed about the value proposition. That would make it about $13.80-per-year-aged which is pretty close to the $10-per-year-aged that I consider to be around the industry average (for cask strength whiskies). I feel better about my purchase now!
Recommending a single barrel of this Emerald Rye (which the Gotham Barrel Club still has a couple cases remaining) isn’t as easy as “buy it or don’t buy it” because you are buying a little bit of history here. It’s the first single barrel of this rye that they produced and I would guarantee that it will continue to get better as the years pile on. Still, I do not feel like it was a bad purchase to make. I love rye whiskey and this is one that gets brought out to my adventurous whiskey friends to get their opinion. So if you want to play it safe, wait for an older version of this rye to come out in the future. But if you like to live on the edge, picking up a bottle to try for yourself could be one of the more exciting purchases you’ve made this year.