Rabbit Hole Starlino

RABBIT HOLE SHOWDOWN Rabbit Hole Heigold Kentucky Straight Bourbon Rabbit Hole Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon Rabbit Hole Dareringer Straight Bourbon Finished In Px Sherry Casks Rabbit Hole Starlino I first encountered Rabbit Hole at an event a few years ago. I’d noticed their distinctive bottles but hadn't purchased any. Often, striking packaging is just a marketing tactic, but that's not the case here. I'm genuinely impressed by the distillery's quality, meticulousness, and openness with information. Rabbit Hole Heigold This bourbon has a bright orange amber hue. The aroma offers chocolate-covered cherries, a hint of peanut brittle, buttery pancakes, apple cider, balsam, and a touch of spearmint. The mouthfeel is pleasantly thick, with orange oil and clove emerging, followed by a mild warmth on the finish, featuring more chocolate-covered cherries and oaky vanilla, reminiscent of a woody orange creamsicle, concluding with a lasting spice. It boasts great flavor depth, sweetness, and smoothness. Rabbit Hole Heigold is available for under $65. I would definitely purchase it again. 4.25 out of 5 stars. Hopefully, Rabbit Hole won't increase prices significantly with future age-stated releases. 95 proof. No Age Statement. Non-chill filtered. Mashbill: 70% Corn, 25% Malted Rye, 5% Malted Barley Rabbit Hole Cavehill This bourbon shares a nearly identical orange amber color with Heigold. The aroma presents caramel apples, Honey Nut Cheerios, balsam, and some ethanol. There's a faint dusty scent often found in Wild Turkey. The texture is similarly light and viscous. The palate brings notes of peanut, some oaky woodiness on the backend, cinnamon red hots, vanilla, and again, chocolate-covered cherries. The heat is more pronounced than its 95 proof might suggest. Rabbit Hole Cavehill is very good, smoother than the high-rye Heigold, but lacks its complexity. It's a solid choice, priced between $55-60. I would buy it again. 4.0 out of 5 stars. 95 proof. No Age Statement. Non-chill filtered. Mashbill: 70% Corn, 10% Malted Wheat, 10% Honey Malted Barley, 10% Malted Barley. Rabbit Hole Dareringer This bourbon is a dark amber with a subtle rust tint. It smells of chocolate fudge, cocoa powder, Cocoa Puffs cereal, raisins, honey, and spearmint, almost like a mudslide cocktail. The palate is both broad and deep, with more intensity than the nose. The ethanol, which was subtle on the nose, appears on the finish. While Angel’s Envy was an early adopter of the sherry cask finishing trend in bourbon, Dareringer executes it much better. Rabbit Hole Dareringer costs around $80. I would absolutely buy it again. It's excellent. 4.5 out of 5 stars. 93 Proof. No Age Statement. Non-chill filtered. Mashbill: 65% Corn, 25% Wheat, 10% Malted Barley. Rabbit Hole Starlino This rye is a shade lighter amber than Heigold and Cavehill. It distinctly smells of rye, with sweet red grapes, rosemary, sage, baking chocolate, cut grass, and a cooling menthol. The chocolate and herbal notes dominate the palate; a pleasant rye spice emerges on the finish. The higher alcohol content is well-managed, leading to a sweet, medium-length finish. Rabbit Hole Starlino is finished in Hotel Starlino Rosso vermouth casks. I received this bottle as a gift at the aforementioned Rabbit Hole tasting a few years ago. Only 2112 375ml bottles were produced and were exclusively sold at the distillery. It doesn't appear to be available online, and I have no recollection of its price. I would buy it again, provided the cost was reasonable. It's very good. 4.0 out of 5 stars, a slight decrease from my previous rating of 4.25. 105.6 proof. No Age Statement. Bottle #446 of 2112. These four Rabbit Hole bottlings are distinct. Heigold is a "high rye" bourbon; Cavehill is a four-grain bourbon; Dareringer is a sherry-finished bourbon; and Starlino is a Kentucky rye finished in vermouth casks. I favor Heigold over Cavehill due to its sweetness and complexity. Dareinger offers a different profile, perhaps even more complex than Heigold, with significant flavor depth. Starlino, being a rye, is in its own category. These comparisons are intended to highlight the different aromas and flavors detectable when juxtaposed, offering a clearer perspective on their relative qualities compared to tasting them individually. When Rabbit Hole was established in 2012, they sourced whiskey from New Riff. However, they have been producing their own spirits since 2018 (I believe Starlino was the first fully distillery-produced release). The company markets its products as "super premium," and I concur. They are very good, and I anticipate that Rabbit Hole's bourbons and ryes will continue to improve as their aged stocks develop. Note: All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

RYE SHOWDOWN #2. Sazerac Rye Straight Rye Whiskey. Rabbit Hold Starlino Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in Vermouth Casks. Continuing my recent foray back into ryes (see “High Test Rye Showdown,” 8/17/22): with four left in my collection, I decided to break them up in batches of two. These two comprise, in my estimation and memory, the better half. Sazerac Rye is a Buffalo Trace (Sazerac) product, and as such needs little introduction. Apparently it once carried a 6-year age statement, and is often referred to as “Baby Saz,” ostensibly the younger brother of the BTAC Sazerac Rye 18, and/or the BTAC Thomas H. Handy. The mashbill isn’t definitively known but is believed to be just 51% rye. I’ve had bottles on hand for years, and have regularly had it neat and in a Sazerac cocktail. Deep, clear, honeyed amber color. On the nose, rye is noticeable, but is suppressed with bourbony notes due to the other 49% of the mashbill. There’s also caramel, dark chocolate, clove, anise, vanilla, and a cool lingering spearmint in the background. Fantastic sipper but lacking some rye typicity (due to its bare-minimum rye percentage). Smooth: downplayed ethanol, with subdued rye spiciness on the finish along with some vanilla. Baby Saz isn’t showy. Its biggest attributes are its lack of rye typicity, its smoothness, and its often-less-than-$30 price tag. While I at least try everything neat, with the smoothness and gentle minty coolness, I could see this over a little ice on a hot summer day, or in an interesting nontraditional Mint Julep, and certainly in a Sazerac cocktail. This is one to always have on hand. Rabbit Hold Starlino: I received this as a gift at a tasting event earlier in the year with the founder. Starlino is part of the company's cask strength distillery series, and is the first spirit distilled entirely at the distillery. It is finished in vermouth casks, and as such perhaps isn’t the best side-by-side pairer with the Baby Saz. Starlino was originally available only at the distillery, and does not appear on the website. Only 2112 375ml bottles were produced; mine is Batch 0352, bottle 0446. Color is virtually identical to the Baby Saz, despite the vermouth cask finishing. Nose shows some immediate ethanol in comparison (not detrimentally so), as well as cedar, pine, brown sugar, clove, and a coolness not unlike one would imagine finely ground Life Savers wintergreen candies. There is caramel here too, and a soft roasted marshmallow. The rye aspect on the nose seems a bit subdued here as well: not by the low rye percentage, but perhaps the vermouth finishing. The palate is refreshing, almost fruity, with an apple cider element, some heat and rye spice, and a lingering vanilla finish. Very nice. Would love to have more, but it is apparently no longer available. I’m quite happy to have my single bottle. This rye pairing is less of a showdown than an excuse to drink two simultaneously. Both get high marks for slightly different reasons, and I would always want both in my collection. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in Glencairn glasses.

Just a slight burn, but afterward I detected hints of a tobacco flavor. Personally, it's not my preferred spice for whiskey, but it was cool to pick up that note. It smells sweeter and fruitier than it tastes. Also, my bottle says "Limited Edition" but I'm unsure why.

Very distinctive with strong spice notes

A good amount of rye spice is detectable.