Mint leaf | Light rye grain | Baking spices | Gentle oak | Creamy caramel

Vanilla cream | Caramel sauce | Bold rye spice | Baking spices | White peppercorn spice | Oak | Dab of Leather

Mint leaf | Rye spice | Oak | Baking spices | Cinnamon stick | Dash of leather | Lingering rye spice

Musician Neil Giraldo founded Three Chord Bourbon, and the company’s focus on bourbon and music takes his background and fuses the two together. According to the company, Volume 2 represents a new look for the brand, with an all-new bottle design being deployed. They go on to state, “Each bottle of the new release features energetic concert photography of musicians who embody the spirit of the liquid within, and the album-like design reflects Three Chord's commitment to and heritage in music.”

For RIOT Double Bonded Rye, the company features punk group The Darts on its label. The company states that this release “is meant to inject something totally different into the whiskey aisle. Its hot pink and black artwork stands out against a sea of green labels in the Rye whiskey section.” To create RIOT Double Bonded Rye, sourced bottled in bond ryes from Bardstown Bourbon Company in Kentucky and Ross & Squibb Distillery in Indiana are blended together, resulting in a blend of straight bottled in bond ryes. Steel Blending Spirits goes on to state that RIOT Double Bonded rye is “the first-ever Double Bonded Rye, meaning a blend of two Bottled-in-Bond ryes from two different distilleries, MGP and Bardstown Bourbon Company.” Notably, while each component may qualify as bottled in bond, the resulting blend does not qualify as it blends multiple distillates from different distilleries, states, and likely distilling seasons.

Three Chord Bourbon RIOT Double Bonded Rye does a nice job of allowing the sourced spirits to play well off of each other. The nose kicks off with scents of mint leaf, baking spices, gentle oak, and creamy caramel. Much like the delivery of the aroma, the palate is gentle yet defined, delivering creamy notes against various spices and oak. These spice notes crescendo in the finish, which pulls mint leaf and oak back in before fading away to a lingering rye spice. The resulting flavor profile, along with its reasonable price point, results in Three Chord Bourbon RIOT Double Bonded Rye being a nice option for rye lovers looking to add something new to their rotation.