Sagamore Spirit is a five-acre waterfront distillery located in the Baltimore Peninsula neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. The company was founded in 2013 by Kevin Plank, executive chairman of the sports brand, Under Armour. In September 2023, Illba Saronno Holding S.p.A., an Italian company known for the Italian liquor, Disaronno, purchased a majority stake in Sagamore Spirit.

‍‍The company focuses specifically on rye whiskey, working with local farmers to grow and harvest grain. Releases include a range of ryes, including a Bottled in Bond, 9 year old, various finishes, and various proofs. Historically, the distillery has blended their own distillate with sourced distillate; however, this Cask Strength Rye release was distilled entirely by Sagamore Spirit.

‍‍The year 1909 is displayed numerous times on the bottle, which signifies the year the Spring House on Sagamore Farm was constructed. The Spring House is the source of the limestone-filtered water used in the company’s rye whiskey.

‍‍The bottle in review is bottle number 1050 from batch 1A.

Big rye spice is accented by bouts of black pepper and leather. A subtle toffee note, along with dark chocolate, brings a mellow sweetness. Dark cherry is also present, but fleeting against the spice notes. It’s a rich, spice-forward aroma that suggests a big, flavorful pour lies ahead.

Ample rye spice upfront gives way to dense honey and caramel, which provide a mellowing effect to the spice. Dark cherry rises to the surface and is contrasted by dry leather and brown sugar. Spice continues to push through, with waves of allspice and black pepper popping on the tongue. It’s a bold, spicy midpoint that delivers its 120+ proof points in a big way, but does so with rich flavor to back it up.

Rye spice tapers slowly, leaving caramel, dark fruits, and a hint of aged seasoned oak in its wake. There’s a touch of brown sugar, a little honey, and hints of graham cracker. It’s a long, solid finish for a bold rye whiskey that dials up flavor immensely.

A decade ago, there were very few rye whiskeys in the marketplace to choose from. Fast forward to today, and the space is growing dramatically with a wide range of expanding options and styles. Sagamore Spirit focuses specifically on rye, which is unusual for a whiskey maker, as bourbon brings a much bigger market and is a far more popular buzzword. That is until you realize that Sagamore Spirits is based in Maryland, and Maryland has a long heritage of rye whiskey distilleries. Not only does this give a nod to the distillery’s home state’s rich history of rye whiskey, but leaning into the rye category also presents an opportunity, as the big distilleries and large brands remain predominantly bourbon-focused.

Sagamore Spirit has traditionally blended their own distillate with MGP distillate for their Cask Strength Rye, however, in this case, they blended two of their own distillates: a high rye distillate and a low rye distillate and bottled the resulting whiskey at a higher proof than previous versions. The result is a decidedly spicy rye, but also one that is full-flavored and doesn’t veer too far down the path of familiarity, instead putting forth a flavor profile that carves out its own territory, albeit to a moderate extent. It reminds me of the more unique pours we recently saw from Lost Lantern, which include rye from Far North, Frey Ranch, and Corbin Cash than it does a major Kentucky distillery or MGP. That is not to say it tastes like any one of them, but rather that it leans heavier into new territory, and does so with a high degree of flavor intensity, rather than repeating what has already been done.

Considering Sagamore Spirit’s Cask Strength Rye delivers a similar experience as some of Lost Lantern’s releases, it speaks towards value, as it comes in at $70, which is $30 less than most of the bottles in Lost Lantern’s most recent Summer Collection. Granted, most of Lost Lantern’s are single barrels, and they need to account for the fact that they are an independent bottler, however, Sagamore Spirit is bringing a solid whiskey at a reasonable price point to market nonetheless.

Going back a few years, Pinhook’s 7 Year Tiz Rye Time, which was released as part of their Vertical Series, retailed for $78 and came in at a lower proof. That series has represented some of MGP’s better ryes in my opinion, and Sagamore Spirit stands toe to toe at a better price point. All considered, if you are interested in a slightly non-traditional, bold barrel proof rye, Sagamore Spirit Cask Strength Rye delivers.

The growing number of ryes in the American whiskey space has reached an exciting level. With few to choose from, a relatively tight flavor band, and many of the new entrants offered at a young age as the category has grown, recently we have been seeing ryes from a wide range of distilleries offered at higher ages and spanning a wider range of flavor profiles. Sagamore Spirit has been sourcing and distilling, and this batch of Cask Strength Rye is entirely their own distillate, released at cask strength, and aged for 7 years. While it doesn’t veer too far off course in terms of flavor profile, it does carve out its own territory to a satisfying degree. This is subtle, as the whiskey’s individual flavors remain familiar, but delivered with great intensity. When taken together, they offer enough to get consumers’ attention.