Hillrock Estate’s Double Cask Rye is a good example of taking old-style distilling and using new techniques to create a bigger, bolder rye spirit. When a spirit is double-aged, it sits in an oak barrel for some amount of time before it’s then transferred into a second, freshly charred barrel to re-invigorate the flavors of the oak and bring out interesting oak and char notes in the whiskey itself. The result is often a unique, bold expression like Hillrock’s Double Cask Rye. Starts with quite a bit of sweetness, figs and candied ginger. Butterscotch, lavender, clover and other herbal notes taste like the smell of flowers in a gorgeous country field somewhere, and I feel like that has a lot to do with the terroir of the region. On the back end, flavors unfold into cinnamon and bitter charred oak notes, with tingling rye spice in the background throughout. The mouthfeel is oily, and complements the dichotomy of bitter and sweetness. The finish gradually, pleasantly mellows into cinnamon and rye spice.