Graham cracker | Fresh-baked bread | Stewed apple | Citrus zest | Spicy hard candy

Grounded citrus | Stone fruits | Pie crust | Brown sugar | Full-flavored

Nutmeg | Brown butter | Graham cracker | Maple syrup-soaked raisin | Long

Walleye Run is a sister brand to Dragon’s Milk, and both are part of the growing New Holland Distilling Co. family. While the Dragon’s Milk brand has a specific mashbill and even more specific marketing angle, Walleye Run is meant to encapsulate the feeling of all things Michigan, New Holland’s home state. It also captures a variety of whiskeys, from American single malt to malted rye and bourbon.

Like Walleye Run Whiskey Very Small Batch 2026-02: Cigar Batch, before finishing the whiskey, New Holland blended their 7 year old in-house distilled malted rye whiskey with a 7 year old rye from Journeyman Distillery. The resulting whiskey is a dynamic, full-flavored pour that leans toward the sweeter side of the flavor spectrum, with a grounding graham cracker/pie crust foundation throughout, which may be due to the inclusion of Journeyman Distillery’s whiskey in the blend. On the nose, notes of stewed apple and citrus zest layer with a spicy hard-candy scent reminiscent of spiced old-fashioned Christmas candy. The quintessential New Holland citrus note appears up front on the palate. Stone fruits and brown sugar push it towards the sweeter side, all of which is full-on flavor. A hint of spice in the form of nutmeg develops at the start of the finish, but then sweet flavors take over, with brown butter and maple syrup-soaked raisins giving way to a long ending.

Having tasted through a growing number of Walleye Run Malted Ryes, the underlying flavor profile maintains a consistent thread throughout each release. Given New Holland’s citrusy distillate, it seems to take quite well to applejack with accented fruit notes. The maple is subtle, but likely contributes to the graham cracker/pie crust notes and syrup-soaked raisin on the finish. Overall, Rye Whiskey Finished in Maple and Applejack Casks is a whiskey true to Walleye Run’s increasingly more established flavor profile and has a nicely integrated double finish.