Kentucky Owl Rye Batch #3 has hit shelves across the country, and is available now in more markets than ever.
The historic brand was first founded in 1879 by Charles Dedman, but died off in 1919 due to Prohibition. It was brought back to life in 2014 by descendant Dixon Dedman. Dedman blends each batch of Kentucky Owl as a one-time-only release, and Rye Batch #3 is no exception.
While their early releases were available only in Kentucky, their bottles have been making it further and further from their home state since the brand sold to Stoli in 2017. The new release has a 10-year age statement and is bottled at a barrel strength 114 proof.
“There is a lot of older juice in Rye #3, but it’s the 10-year old stocks that really give it the richer, thicker, syrupy mouthfeel, and bring the blend forward,” said Dixon Dedman, Kentucky Owl Master Blender in a press release.
“This batch was a fun process because you have to look at it for what it will become, not what it is at barrel strength. I experimented deeply to find the right profile while adjusting the proof through blind tastings, but kept gravitating back to 114-proof – almost exactly where I started,” he explained.
The distillery tells us to look for “citrus, orange juice, grapefruit, oak, anise, and barbeque spice on the nose,” a “combination of barrel sweetness, caramel candy, creamy vanilla, toffee, and hazelnut coat the palate” and a “finish of licorice, absinthe, nutmeg, and a mild flash of cayenne pepper.”
Kentucky Owl Rye Batch #3 is on shelves now in 37 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, and Wyoming) for a suggested retail price of around $200.
