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Brook Hill 8 Year Old Single Barrel Rye Whiskey Review

Brook Hill 8 Year Old Single Barrel Rye Whiskey Review

Rare Character is a brand I’ve often lambasted in my other reviews and articles. Even in my Bourbon Brown Book I give a warning about paying secondary values on their bottles. My message is clear: don’t pay secondary values for Rare Character bottles. The reason is twofold: first, because there are many gatekeeper groups involved with the brand that try to dictate values. Second, the prices on most of their bottles are artificially high to begin with (probably to deter secondary market sales).

But don’t take this as me saying that Rare Character doesn’t bottle some good stuff. I’ve previously reviewed and enjoyed some of their bottles. But I also believe there are a number of Non-Distiller Producers (NDPs) which are bottling whiskey from the same sources as Rare Character with the same quality for lower prices. What I’m trying to say is Rare Character does not have a monopoly on exceptional barrels, so if the price seems too high you can always shop around.

Brook Hill – the newest label in the Rare Character line of whiskies

The Rare Character family of whiskies includes labels like “The Exceptional Series,” “Pride of Anderson County,” “Fortuna” and of course their namesake. Brook Hill joined the lineup in 2024. This name has been revived from a whiskey wearing the same name which was last bottled during Prohibition.

If you’re unaware of what makes them all different, I’ll do my best to explain it. The Rare Character label primarily bottles bourbon and rye whiskey from Indiana (MGP) and Kentucky (Bardstown Bourbon Company). Some have been finished in a secondary barrel. The Exceptional Series originally focused on bottling 10 year old malt whiskey distilled at Heaven Hill. Now it seems like they’re putting older stocks of rye whiskey in some of them. Pride of Anderson County sources barrels from Wild Turkey that David Jennings over at Rarebird101.com helps select. Fortuna is the only batched whiskey (bourbon) of all the labels. Brook Hill offers single barrels of bourbon and rye whiskey with much greater age statements than a typical Rare Character release.

1789b picks a single barrel of rye whiskey

The bottle I’m reviewing today happens to be a Kentucky Rye Whiskey that’s been aged for 8 years and bottled at just over 124 proof. This particular bottle was picked by the group 1789b which you may recognize me talking about in a review of Cask Strength Rendezvous Rye. From my understanding, 1789b worked with the popular California Liquor Store K&L Wine Merchants to bring this single barrel pick to market recently.

The source of the rye whiskey is undisclosed, but all signs (price, age and taste) point to it being distilled at Bardstown Bourbon Company and possibly relocated to a warehouse at the Green River Distillery (which is also owned by BBCo) for additional aging. And while BBCo makes a lot of different recipes, my money is on the mash bill using 95% rye and 5% malted barley.

For those of you who might not have known that Bardstown Bourbon Company was making a 95/5 rye like MGP, let me take a minute to give you the backstory. Larry Ebersold, the former Master Distiller at Seagram’s (and still during the Pernod Ricard years of ownership), started his own consulting company after he left in 2006. He’s advised producers like New Riff, Bardstown Bourbon Company, Sagamore Spirits, Rabbit Hole and Green River on how to make this style of rye whiskey. So if you ever find yourself drinking 95/5 that was not distilled in Indiana, just know it probably has his fingerprints on it.

I also want to add that there could be a small chance that this rye whiskey was sourced from Willett. The guys at Rare Character go absolutely nuts about Willett labels, so there’s always that option in the back of my mind. However, in the conclusion of this review I reveal the price that this was listed at on K&L’s website and how that doesn’t exactly line up with the price premium that Willett distillate fetches. If it did happen to be made there, then these guys got one helluva deal.

So how does this bottle taste? Thanks to my friend Eric, I get to find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: This is a very rye-forward nose with scents of pumpernickel bread, Golden Grahams cereal and cinnamon powder. Sweetness comes from Flan and saltwater taffy (which contributes to this underlying savory note I keep smelling). There are heavy oak notes (which are a treat to find in rye whiskey) and spices/aromatics like cinnamon powder and a hint of camphor.

Palate: Each sip is spice-forward and very rich in body and flavor. Sharp cinnamon notes pair with peppermint, clove and anise. The anise pairs with fruit flavors like cherry and reminds me of Twizzlers. Other fruit flavors in this dram include baked orchard fruit and (oddly) a hint of ripe banana. There are semi-grainy rye notes like toasted pumpernickel bread and a little bit of Grape Nuts cereal, but they bring the experience up rather than reduce it. Herbal notes take a while to recognize due to the impact of the proof, but they’re there. The whole experience stays balanced with a little help from molasses for sweetness. Barrel char gives a boost to the tannins. There are two flavors that subtract from everything I’ve found so far; a hint of shoe polish and a little bit of cardboard. Both of them kind of hide in the background so unless you’re really studying this, it shouldn’t impact the experience.

Finish: After the sip is complete, tannins (like the barrel char from the palate) move in to add some maturity to the finish. I still feel like there’s a decent amount of residual heat from the impact of the proof, but it’s not that distracting. Other notes on the finish include York Peppermint Patties, cacao nibs and spiced honey. Rye flavors linger through various herbal notes, citrus peel and lemon drops. There’s even some menthol cooling at the end, too.

Score: 8.2/10

This is a fantastic rye whiskey whose powerful flavors are equally as seductive. The heat takes a minute for even an experienced enthusiast to get used to, but once you do you’ll be rewarded with an array of fantastic notes. The heat/proof sting is one of the few things I found a little off about this rye and it brought the score down an extra tenth or two. Otherwise, this is a top-quality whiskey with a dark and delicious character.

Final Thoughts

If you look this bottle up on Google, you’ll see K&L had this exact single barrel pick listed for a little over $91, but they show it being out of stock. Other similar bottles of Brook Hill can run upwards of $200. It seems like it’s dependent on the retailer, the group and the whiskey type that dictate the price you’ll have to pay. With that said, if I saw this bottle being sold for this price, it would be an automatic buy. It has everything I’d ever want in a rye whiskey and then some.

I know that I cautioned you early on in this review to be weary of Rare Character bottles, but if the price was right like this one appeared to be, I’d say go ahead and pull the trigger. You won’t be let down.

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