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Jim Rutledge's latest project is an estate grown bottled-in-bond rye whiskey under the Cream of Kentucky label. This whiskey is mashed with 100 percent “estate” grown Rymin rye, and distilled, aged and bottled at Kentucky Artisan Distillery in Crestwood, KY. Limited to only 70 barrels, this Kentucky rye whiskey is supposedly 6 years old and retails for $70. Here are my first impressions and review.
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0:00
Hey everybody, welcome to Bourbon Bites. My name is Clifton and today I'm reviewing
0:03
Cream of Kentucky Estate, a bottled and bond rye whiskey from Jim Rutledge
0:10
So you may be familiar with the name Cream of Kentucky. It's typically reserved for a line of
0:16
sourced premium bourbons. So they've had like 13 years, I think like a 12 year. I have not had a
0:22
chance to try any of the other Cream of Kentuckys, but when I saw this pop up at my local store
0:27
I had to pick up a bottle. So the funny thing is there's very little information out there about
0:31
this bottle. Fred Minnick posted an article less than a week ago from the day I'm recording this
0:36
to give us a little bit of insight into this bottle, but other than that, I know absolutely
0:40
nothing about it. Like I said, this is a project by Jim Rutledge, who if you don't know was the
0:45
master distiller for Four Roses. He has kind of earned legendary status into the world of whiskey
0:50
He's done a lot of different side projects under the name of JW Rutledge Distillery
0:54
most of which like I said cream of Kentucky is the most famous but they also did another rye whiskey
0:59
I think it was like a couple years ago called high plains rye whiskey but that one was sourced and
1:05
it was blended and that was released at about $55. This one however is 100% estate grown so this rye
1:13
whiskey is a mash of 100% rye it's distilled aged and bottled at Kentucky Artisan Distillery
1:18
which I had to look up I've heard that name before but it's the it's the company that
1:22
does Jefferson's. So they are based in Crestwood, Kentucky. But I think it's pretty cool that this rye whiskey is all 100% local to this estate
1:30
So this is a bottled and bond whiskey So it 100 proof There not an age statement on it We can assume it at least four years old The article that I looking at says it six years old but there nowhere on the bottle that actually says that So I going to assume it probably between four to
1:44
six, but there's no age statement. And according to the bottle, this was limited to only 70 barrels
1:50
It says it is a tribute to Stephen Thompson of the Kentucky Artisan Distillery. It seems like he
1:56
unfortunately passed but he was a friend of I assume Jim Rutledge and the bourbon industry so
2:01
this was created in his honor. This was $70 by the way so a little bit higher than the High Plains
2:06
rye that I was talking about earlier but this is 100% estate grown so you would expect you know
2:11
instead of sourcing from like five different rye whiskeys this is only one rye whiskey in this glass
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so let's go and get it poured. Color wise I'm very impressed for only 100 proof this does have a lot
2:20
of richness in color it does have some nice legs on it it is sticking to the glass I have a feeling
2:25
it's going to be a very rich whiskey just on looks alone. Let's go ahead and give it a nose. Okay, it's a bit unexpected as a rye whiskey. It's very grain forward. I've had a lot of really
2:34
young craft rye whiskeys that have a similar nose. It's almost like actually going to the farm
2:39
smelling those grains being milled, a little bit of the dust in the air. I'm getting a little bit
2:43
of that on this on the nose. Yeah, it's really interesting on the nose because it does smell
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pretty young. But again, we know it's at least four years old. So let's go ahead and give it a
2:51
taste to see how it holds up. Cheers guys. Whoa, totally different than most other ryes I've ever
3:01
had. It does reminiscent of something I've had before. Just like the nose, this is very grain
3:05
forward It not like the spicy typical rye where you see from like some Indiana ryes or things like that You know it not necessarily screaming rye to me It just screaming grain to me It almost reminds me
3:17
you know, even though it's 100% rye, I'm getting a little bit of sweetness that I typically associate with like a corn whiskey, like a bourbon or something like that. But it's really
3:24
interesting. It's so different from what I've had lately. And then once you get past that initial
3:30
grain note, there is a honey sweetness there that's absolutely delicious. I love a honey
3:35
note on any whiskey. That's one of my favorite notes. If I could ever find it on a whiskey
3:39
I'm here for it. This whiskey has that honey note, but it's a very like earthy honey. It's
3:44
almost like honeycomb, you know, a little bit of the grittiness and the grain is like raw honey
3:48
versus like a very processed honey. It's got a lot of that characteristic that really feels like
3:53
the soil. I mean, we hear a lot about the term terroir, especially in like wine. Some Irish
3:58
whiskeys have been focusing on that, but this one, maybe I'm a little bit influenced by the fact that
4:02
This is a state grown, but I really do feel like you can get the taste of, you know, the
4:06
land, the raw, like actual rye grains they're using for this, which sometimes, you know
4:10
could be seen as a bad thing to me, though. I think it makes it more interesting and it makes it a very unique rye whiskey, something
4:15
I've never had before. Coming back to it after it's been sitting in the glass a bit, I am getting a little bit
4:19
more depth to it. You know, it's not necessarily all that young grain up front
4:24
It does have a nice body to it. Mouthfeel wise, I really feel like it does live up to the name cream of Kentucky
4:29
It is thick. It is viscous. It is creamy. and it does complement that honey sweetness at the end. It's very dessert-y but not in like an
4:35
overly sweet kind of way. It's more of like a very decadent dessert. Price-wise, $70 does seem
4:41
a bit high It does seem a bit like they are relying on the Cream of Kentucky name to kind of you know boost up the price a little bit This is a very solid rye whiskey I a fan of it I think it deserves a place in my collection Plus I mean the bottle is pretty sexy This looks very prestigious So I think a
4:55
lot of that, the cream of Kentucky name and the bottle is kind of driving up the price a bit. I
4:59
think if it didn't have that, like I said, the High Plains rye was about 55. I could see this
5:04
being similarly priced if it didn't have the cream of Kentucky name. So I think you're paying
5:09
a little bit for the label as well. For that reason, I feel like, you know, I don't think I
5:13
would pay $70 for another bottle of it. It's my first cream of Kentucky, so I assume that the
5:18
bourbons that they're sourcing for this are a lot more premium, a lot more deserving of the price
5:22
point. I do think this is a little bit overpriced. It's very, very good. I do enjoy it quite a bit
5:27
I just think $70 is a bit too much for what this rye whiskey is at this point. Now, I'd love to see
5:32
this, you know, with an age statement at some point, you know, maybe seven, eight, nine years
5:36
old rye whiskey, then of course you can, you know, justify the 70 plus price point. Um, but I do think
5:41
I did feel like I overpaid a little bit for this now that I've tasted it, but I am curious to hear
5:45
what you guys think. If you had a chance to try this, let me know. Like I said, there is no
5:49
information on the internet at all about this bottle. Maybe if you stumbled across this video
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it's because this is the only video at the moment that, that existed this. Um, but I am curious to
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hear what you guys think. If you picked it up, um, if you think it's worth it, let me know in the comments below. But if you did enjoy this video and you found it informative, make sure to leave
6:03
me a thumbs up it really does help out the channel and subscribe if you want to come back for more
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whiskey reviews but until next time this has been bourbon bites cheers and i'll see you guys next video
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