The Colonel Taylor line came out right after I had finished reading a book on bourbon and American whiskey. One of the more prominent figures in the book was Colonel E.H. Taylor. Taylor brought about legislation to control the production of American whiskey. Have you ever noticed “Bonded In Bond” on a bottle? You can thank Colonel Taylor for that. Before his legislation went through, anything and everything could have a label with bourbon slapped on it. People were passing off alcohol with anything from caramel to formaldehyde in it to give it color.
Of course, Taylor may have had a vested interest given his ownership of the Old Fire Copper Distillery which is now where the Buffalo Trace Distillery is. This leads us to Buffalo Trace putting out a whole line of product in his honor. There were 6 products in the line originally with 2 being very limited and 2 being released annually.
The Taylor Rye is one that is going to be released annually. The one I’ve been sipping on lately is beautiful. There’s the classic spice that belongs in every good rye, but the mid-palate finds the barrel coming through. There are nice notes of toffee and general sweetness which rounds back in to the spice we all know and love from rye whiskey.
We have plenty here at Fiola. Come by and enjoy a great example of what rye should be.
Cheers,
Jeff
