Southern Distilling Hunting Creek BIB Straight Rye Whiskey

Msrp 50

Proof 100

Mashbill 51% rye, 39% corn, and 10% malted barley

Location distilled in Statesville, NC

Age NAS but BIB a minimum of 4 years old.

Nose: bright & sunny in a glass, lemon peel, rye, chocolate, grass, vanilla cookie

Palate: nice rich viscous mouthfeel, a bright sweet pour, lemongrass, chocolate malt, rye, peach ring gummies

Finish: medium/long, minerality, earthy/soil like profile, continuing down the fruity side of things with some more citrus shining through & some wonderful oak.

Final thoughts: my wife & I went to visit the distillery in Statesville, NC recently. I desperately wanted to go since trying their Paragon Wheated cask strength bourbon that was phenomenal as well as their Double Rye which was fantastic. Both are awesome pours for their price range. The distillery was beautiful and full of their large lineup of their own juice they distilled along with a fee offerings they sourced from MGP. I had a flight of a few different offerings which included this Hunting Creek rye & it blew me away. So I went home with a bottle and their great story about this Legacy spirit. Back in the late 1800’s in Asheville, NC JC Somers & Co. Produced Old Hunting Creek rye which remained popular until 1903 when the prohibition shut things down in NC. The owners of Southern Distilling acquired the trademark of Hunting Creek hoping to share the NC heritage of long forgotten whiskey produced in the state. Another cool note is that the design of the logo & stopper are incredible. The painting on the front is a classically styled hunting scene of a young woman hunting pheasant. The young woman is non other than the owner’s daughter who is a championship pheasant hunter. And to boot the stopper is the backend of a shotgun shell. Now onto the taste & nose. This surprised me because for a rye whiskey. It’s bright, fruity & earthy but in a light way. Not typical for most ryes I’ve tried. It has heavy lemon peel & grass/earth tones to it. Which makes it so rich yet light on the palate with a fantastic mouthfeel that lasts a long time. I’m definitely going to try this out in an old fashioned it should make for a very interesting one. The soil/earthy notes I got I’ve had a few times before. Mainly a High West double rye pick as well as basil haydens dark rye. It reminds me of Jelly Belly bamboozled jelly beans. The ones that occasionally are nasty flavors like booger & toothpaste etc. In those beans they have one that is dirt. And all I can describe it as is the way potting soil smells, but you can taste it. Even more interesting is as a woodworker professionally I also get that same smell when sanding walnut wood. It’s super unique and distinct. And I love it when I find a rye with it. Not many have it. All in all this is a fantastic pour and way up there for a favorite rye of mine. No wonder Fred Minnick 18th best rye of 2023 in his top 100 whiskies of that year. I would rate it higher though imho.

Rating (using Tequila Matchmakers rating scale): 91/100