Peerless Single Barrel Nicholas Selection Rye Whiskey

This is one of my absolute favorites. The brand itself has been around since before prohibition with a Distilled Spirts Plant number of 50. What the hell does that mean? Well it means the distillery has been around forever. In comparison Michter’s & Bullet are 20003 & 20026 respectively. That’s a lot of distilleries in between!

Peerless is one of the few distilleries that uses a sweet mash over a sour mash & never chill filters. This gives their whiskies a richer, creamier mouthfeel that helps express the sweeter tones of the spirit. I can explain the difference between sweet verse sour mash but you would fall asleep. The key is sweet mash is much harder to deal with for big distilleries but gives the master distiller much more freedom & control over the final product. Peerless is a labor of love for sure.

I sat down with Peerless’ master distiller Caleb Killburn to taste 10 barrel samples that he pre selected for me to pick from. As is the norm for my tasting, there is very little talking. He laughed at me and said “you are super serious but I can’t believe you don’t take notes”. I said why take notes, I only need to find the best one . Caleb smirked & said one barrel stood out amongst the rest. I told him to write down his favorite & I would write down mine. I said if they match then he would have to sell me a single of barrel of bourbon too. I was so sure I was right that I threw in a kicker of who had to buy dinner on my next visit. I won the bet 😉

This Barrel was born in July 2016.
Proof- cask strength 113.2
On the palate it will smack you in the face with vanilla, pancake batter & maple. The finish is long & shockingly smooth for 113 proof. I would guess no more than 100 proof. I always think that’s the mark of a great barrel. Good luck, act fast & buy more than one because it will be gone for sure when you try to get another later.