Still Waters New Make Rye [Aging Experiment]

Hey /r/worldwhisky[1] , it’s experiment time again!

So I started off with a an experiment in my mini cask. All of this was completely experimental, I had no idea what I was doing, and I bought 3 different new makes to age. After asking around, I planned out my aging and went ahead.

The first one was a Guadaloupe overproof rum. It turns into a nice dark rum, and I was happy with the results (the link is below).

Up next, I went forward immediately after with Still Waters New Make Rye. Still Waters is a new distillery doing some very interesting, fun things up here in Ontario. They’ve launched the first ever single malt made completely in Ontario (reviews to come… eventually). They’ve also launched brandy, vodka, and corn whisky. While they wait for each of their different whiskies to fully mature, they’ve sold new makes.

Now I’ve argued before about treating new make as a whisky, and I’ll do so again: If you sell me an alcohol, I’ll review it and compare it to the other alcohols I drink. Same with candy (no, I’m not going to start reviewing candy, I’m already out of shape enough).

To avoid a long, long post, I’ve cut down my usual comments.

Aging Process: This was aged for 3 days in my one room with a humidifier, then taken up north with my parents who took care of it for 17 days. It stayed in a room with a shower (yup, I grew up in the woods during my teenage years) and then stayed back in our side room. The air conditioning has been turned off, so the angels ended up with more than usual.

Don’t blink.

Still Waters New Make Rye

Region: Canadian, eh

Starting Abv: 50%

Price: $39.95 (CAD)

Distill date: 4/15/13

Bottle Number: 4

Day 0

Colour: Clear

Nose: Spicy Windex, sweet parsnips, dry cleaner, roses, grapes, indiscernible spice, orange rind

Taste: Sweet onion, fake grape, cocoa, nutmeg, cinnamon, flowers

Finish: Cocoa, wheat, old gum, green beans, sour grapes, nutmeg

71/100

Day 3

Colour: One drop of pee in the pool

Nose: Fresh bread, nutmeg, anise, sour plums, molasses, aerosol, bad lemon

Taste: Hot, pine, tamales, faint anise, oak, slight vanilla, orange rind

Finish: Plum, rain, dry, bitter candy, sand

69/100

Day 20

Colour: Unpopped popcorn

Nose: Banana, vanilla, cinnamon, oak, molasses, orange

Taste: Cinnamon, vanilla cupcake, banana, brown sugar, pear

Finish: Stewed vegetables, old candy, stinky cheese, mineral water, nutmeg, orange

76/100

Day 23

Colour: White peaches

Nose: Banana, pine, chocolate, peach, mint, moss

Taste: Mint, burn, stewed vegetables, lemon rind, sourbracht, cheap vanilla

Finish: Chocolate, oak, pine, light orange, basil, sour

76/100

Day 27

Colour: Burgundy

Nose: Pine, iodine, grapefruit, vegetal, vanolla, faint banana, dry lemon, mace

Taste: Banana, cream, nutmeg, iodine, meringue, pine, dry mango

Finish: Pine, dry, peach, mineral water, woody, creasote

77/100

Day 31

Colour: Coffee & Orange (Like orangey-brown)

Nose: Banana, caramel, cinnamon, linen, ocean, candy corn, mango, pine

Taste: Spicy, cumin, smoke, licorice, molasses, rock candy (pink), cardamon, lots of oak/varnish

Finish: Old banana/banana bread, raisin, butterscotch, lime Jell-O, cream, cocoa, pork tenderloin, chemical, pine

78/100

Conclusion: So I’ll start off by saying that this is really, really spicy, and I love spicy rye. I unfortunately can’t tell the Abv. in the final, but it’s still quite fierce.

The Good: It is really spicy, it took to the rum nicely, and it’s just sweet enough.

The Bad: Unfortunately it really has a piney flavour that’s quite evident in Canuck whisky, and it can almost hit a creosote aftertaste, which can throw some people off. I kept trying to remove it by leaving it in the oak.

The Ugly: I left this in the oak a little bit too long, and given it’s a rye, this has enhanced the piney aftertaste. It’s good, but it’s not great. I wish there was a little more influence from the rum, though that’s probably due to the fact that the cask only had rum in it once before.

So all in all, still a good whisky, and I’m willing to swap it and sip it, though I’m more interested in the next one, the Single Malt.

World Whisky reviews #26-27, Canadian reviews #13-14, Whisky Network reviews #140-141