OLD POTRERO SINGLE BARREL RESERVE
Barrel #E14/6 (2024)MASH BILL – 100% malted barley
PROOF – 115.84
AGE – 17 years 6 months
DISTILLERY – Hotaling & Co.
PRICE – $272
WORTH BUYING? – Despite the sticker shock, very much yes.
There was no way I was going to pass this one up. When it came out in early May 2024, one month before the end of my Year of No Buying, I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t get bought up overnight—or over four weeks! It didn’t, and so it was my first purchase the day my thrifty year ended.
I’ve long been a fan of the Old Potrero Single Barrels, from back when they hovered near 6 years of age on average upon their initial release in 2017. They can vary widely from fruity to starkly malty. Though not always easy, they are always at least interesting and at best an intense and fun flavor rollercoaster.
In recent years, coinciding with a packaging redesign, the SiBs have been aged in the 8 and 9 year range on average. I’ve tasted a couple of these and found them malty in a bitter way that mixed with the intense rye spice (and often equally intense proof point!) such that I quite missed those sweeter fruit and candy notes that can give an Old Potrero SiB its special magic. So I’ve not been picking them up of late.
Then without warning or fanfare, suddenly Old Potrero pulls this trick! Such a high-aged product has only ever come out of Old Potrero under their Hotaling’s label, an annual-ish release of 100% rye single malt whiskey, aged in once-used barrels like a scotch. I’ve had 11 Year, 17 Year, and 18 Year Hotaling’s releases. They are peculiar and entirely unique, and I enjoy them.
But this 17 Year bottling is not a Hotaling’s release. It’s a genuine, law-abiding American Rye, aged in a new charred oak cask from start to finish. For an Old Potrero fan this is a no-brainer buy…
…Unless one pauses at the price, which I did. I knew I’d succumb. But I’ll admit to feeling a bit disappointed. Then again, I paid a similar amount for the Sherbrook 14 Year Rye, an excellent bottle of sourced MGP whiskey. And Wild Turkey has just released a merely 10-year rye in their Master’s Keep series for $275 before tax! They call it “Triumph.” 🙄 It’s a marketing triumph, for sure.
Very few distilleries or non-distiller producers are putting out good American rye aged anywhere in the teens. It’s far less common than bourbons aged that long, and likewise much more expensive when it does turn up. So in terms of the current whiskey market, $250 for a single barrel release of cask strength 100% malted rye aged 17+ years is not surprising. Still $250 is $250, and even more so once the tax man adds his fee.
But I paid it. Am I glad?
Here we are, just over a week after uncorking and four pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using both Canadian and traditional Glencairns.
COLOR – dark russet cherry reds and fiery oranges, with aging brass and gold highlights
NOSE – both strong and reserved, with bright dry malt, rye grasses, old polished oak wood, leather, the caramelized cap of a crème brûlée, all on a deep undercurrent of sweet dark cherry
TASTE – very like the nose, syrupy, with that sweet dark cherry as the foundation on which the drier malt, rye, and oak notes play
FINISH – more cherry and malt, now some chocolate, the leather again, and a fine numbing prickle from the substantial proof, everything lingering and lingering and lingering….
OVERALL – with its wonderful balance of sweet and dry aspects, it’s almost like a well-aged Armagnac.
Yes, I’m glad I bought this. Very.
It’s decadent, old-fashioned, sweet, dry, refined, rustic. All the things. The depth and breadth of the cherry note is extraordinary. That it’s the foundation of the whiskey and not an accent is unexpected, and key to making this rye a special experience.
The proof hints at singeing things without really going there. But I tried adding a splash of water anyway. On the nose the cherry now brightens up substantially, and a creamy candy note wafts forward, like something out of an old-fashioned candy shoppe with its generous mounds of caramels and taffies and licorices and cinnamons. The taste is likewise brighter, with the same cherry and candy shoppe notes taking the lead. The finish follows suit. The Armagnac feeling has shifted more toward some other fruitier brandy, still well-aged and syrupy but brighter and livelier.
The more I sip it, the more the bitter malt notes show themselves in the finish. A very subtle touch, like a thin but careful line drawn under the rest. Still the cherry note dominates. With or without water, this is definitely a brandy lover’s rye. It tastes very much of another time, and of a much more refined place than my humble apartment’s kitchen.
I’d buy a second bottle of this, and therefore have spent twice as much, over a single bottle of that Wild Turkey Master’s Keep 10-year “Triumph” any day. In fairness, of course, I’ve not tasted that Wild Turkey release. I have zero doubt it’s excellent. I’m a longtime Wild Turkey fan and know what to expect. But come on now. I can’t imagine—and nothing I’ve yet read suggests—that Master’s Keep Triumph could possibly offer the unique experience I’m having here with this singular one-off from the modest Hotaling & Co. Despite my genuine fondness for Wild Turkey, if I’m going to $plurge I’d much rather give my money to the little local outfit and its unique rarity rather than further stuff the pockets of the big boys with their annual “limited releases.”
Well done, Hotaling & Co. Cheers!
The Right Spirit 