WILLETT FAMILY ESTATE BOTTLED RYE
Single Barrel #3611 (2019)MASH BILL – Unstated (likely 74% rye, 11% corn, 15% barley)
PROOF – 114.8
AGE – 6 years
DISTILLERY – Willett
PRICE – got this in a bottle trade (the bottle I traded cost $193 tax and all)
WORTH BUYING? – Now 7 years later? No. But, too late, so, might as well enjoy it…!
Well here we are, my last bottle of Willett Rye—the rye that made me love rye.
When I first tried Willett Rye in 2016, it was the then standard 3-year small batch release. I found it brash like a fragrant field in spring, blown about by wild winds. Soon the standard age bumped up to 4 years, and that wild herbal assault was paired with deeper caramel and chocolate notes. I was a fan.
I picked up this 2019 single barrel release in a bottle trade. Bottle trades can feel like no money was spent. But of course whatever bottle you trade away, you paid for. So effectively I paid $193 for this Willett. The bottle I gave away was a Lock Stock & Barrel 18 Year Rye, a brand featuring too strong a rubbery creosote note for my tastes. Considering my fondness for Willett, and given $193 was not far off from the average cost of their single barrels around that time, the trade felt even to me.
The last time I actually bought a Willett Rye release of any kind was also in 2019, and for that bottle—another single barrel—I paid $163. When I eventually opened it in 2022 and wrote up some tasting notes, it didn’t excite me as much as other past releases had done. Add to this the brand’s ever-escalating price tags, and I knew my Willett days were likely winding down if not over. I’ve not picked up another Willett since.
And so like other brands that marked the early days of my whiskey journey (Henry McKenna, for example) so too do I now bid Willett farewell with this, my final bottle.
Here we are, five days after uncorking and two pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using both a Canadian and traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – medium russet oranges
NOSE – a swirl of herbaceous grassy rye around bright vanilla, caramel, tart apricot, buttery brioche, a subtle stone note like granite
TASTE – very like the nose, emphasizing the candy sweetness over the fruit, with a slick syrupy texture, and added peppery grit and warmth from the ABV though not enough to overwhelm the sweet and herbal notes
FINISH – warm, lingering, with oak leaning forward from the herbal aspects; sweetness from the candy notes remains while the fruit note recedes
OVERALL – a familiar blend of savory and sweet rye whiskey notes, tilting toward the savory
The particular blend of herbaceous rye and candy sweetness at work here is very Willett. Having enjoyed a great many more rye whiskeys since 2019, and certainly since Willett first wowed me in 2016, it doesn’t make as unique an impression now. It’s good. But no longer worth the price tag, for sure.
The specs on this bottle are nearly identical to those of another 2019 SiB I had. That one, single barrel #980, also aged 6 years, had a cask strength proof of 114.2, just 0.6 degrees cooler than my current bottle. Looking back at my notes on the #980, there are key similarities—the grassy rye, apricot, rich caramel. That bottle also featured prominent walnut and chocolate notes, which added to a sense of refinement not quite achieved by #3611, which leans a touch grittier.
I will enjoy this bottle. It might not offer the unique experience for me it once did. But it’s a good match for the long dry days of mid and late summer. Back in 2019 I wasn’t at all into cocktails. Now I’m drinking my whiskey in cocktails almost as often as I drink it neat. No doubt I’ll put some amount of this Willett to use in Manhattan variations that call for rye specifically, like the Diamondback, Fanciulli, or Black Lodge. (Look’m up, they’re fun!) And sipped neat against the summer sunset after a long day, I’m sure it will do very well.
So cheers, Willett. It’s been a good ride.
The Right Spirit 