Brandy-soaked cherries | Honey | Malt | Mixed nuts | Mint | Oak | Light grain

Plum | Red raspberries | Malt | Ritz crackers | Sweet & fruity

Cranberries | Rye grain | Rye spice | Roasted malt | Black pepper

Liberty Pole Spirits is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, 25 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. The family-owned and operated distillery was founded in 2016 and produces a number of standard whiskeys along with special releases such as this single barrel rye. Liberty Pole isn’t shy from trying unproven things when it comes to whiskey making, as they were an early producer of a rum-finished whiskey before it became in vogue.

Likewise, their rye whiskey is far from traditional. Produced with only 61% rye, it fills out the rest of its mashbill with a unique combination of red winter wheat and a high percentage of malted rye and malted barley. First and foremost, including wheat in a rye is fascinating, and that’s before you get to its malted part. As a result, the rye is complex and full of big flavor (which its proof also helps out with). There is a light grainy aspect to its sip, but this is an example of it adding to the sip rather than subtracting from it. The big red fruit notes are the star here, but they are supported by the rest of the whiskey’s flavors. Overall, you may not have heard of Liberty Pole Spirits, but from where their whiskey was 4 years ago to the big gains they've made since then, color me impressed.

The whiskey in review is bottle number 29 of 147. Please note, the media bottle we received had a classification typo.