Old Potrero Straight Rye Whiskey. FINALLY, . . .

Joined Sep 2003
9K Posts | 0+
Puerto Rico/NYC
THIS is the one . . .

THE GREAT DUMBONI has been . . .

In Search Of.

Firstly, I finally have cleared up my own confusion regarding Old Potrero products. The one I tasted about a year ago and reported on here was then called Single Malt Spirit, and more recently Single Malt Whiskey, as with the bottle I recently purchased in error. It has now been reworded to read 18th Century Whiskey.

It's all the same thing. It is Old Potrero's version of early American Whiskey, 1700's style, not 1800's as I reported last year. Sometimes I get my year sequences confused with my centuries. The one I had last year was their minimally aged product stored in toasted, not charred new oak barrels. Although they state that this Single Malt Spirit, Single Malt Whiskey or 18th Century Whiskey, whatever you want to call it, has only been aged one year, the age statement in fact says it's more. On the bottle I drank from last year it said two years and four months. This latest bottle showed an aging of a few days shy of two years.

No matter, this is the one that I didn't like last year. A friend said it tasted like grappa. She does tell me that the bottle I bought recently has a different flavor, even on the sweet side. I'll have to try that bottle, since although it's the same product, it's obviously a different batch, and they may have a better tasting product this time around. This 18th Century Style Whiskey is made from a mash of pure rye malt and bottled at barrel proof, which is usually from 124+ to 125+.

I have always thought that I would like the other product, known definitively as I am now aware, as Straight Rye Whiskey. Although it does say Single Malt in small letters above this, if it doesn't say Straight Rye Whiskey in the main body of the label it is the 18th Century style. But this 90 proof 19th Century Style rye by Old Potrero is somewhat different than the weird, harsh, not quite what I was looking for type product I tried last year. Although I've only had one taste, it looks like the Old Potrero 90 proof 19th Century style Straight Rye Whiskey may win a place in my heart and on my Top 10 rye list.

The Bloofy, Doofy jury is still out on this one, but although it's got a bit of that nasty tang at the beginning, it develops into an almost sweet, very rye-like grainy taste at the end, which leaves a long, pleasing finish. This could of course be due to the extra water smoothing the whiskey out, although this one is aged at least three years in new charred oak barrels, according to the modern rules of aging rye and bourbon whiskeys. More to follow as further tastings ensue.

My walk-out price for this was $76.03 at a new hangout of mine, Astor Wines. There is a post on this store and my newly expanded availability and low prices elsewhere on this site.
 
Thoughts from a noob

Hi bloofington,
I tried the same whiskey today. I enjoyed it a lot. Especially compared with the Anchor Single Malt Spirit. There's this strong overpowering taste and aroma (can't put a name to it), with the spirit, that I don't like cause it is so strong. It's also present in the straight rye whiskey but much milder, in the rye it's enjoyable. Before I read your post I thought it might be the toasted oak (spirit) versus charred oak(rye whiskey) . The toasted oak having less flavors and aromas to compete with the strong taste and aroma I mentioned, so that's all you taste. But now I guess it's just because of the proof difference?
 
Interesting....About 4 yrs. ago I picked up a small (50 ml) bottle of the OP Straight Rye Whiskey to sample. It was 125.2 proof. I wasn't aware the bottle proof was now at 90. I remember liking it very much but thought it was way overpriced.

I also have a bottle of the OP Single Malt 'Spirit' which is 124.2 proof and was aged 2yrs. 6 1/2 months. I don't care for it so much...I let other folks try it and watch their reaction. :lol:
 
Actually chickenfried, I've been mulling over the question of whether or not the taste difference is due to the lower proof or also the charred barrels. I've got to think it's a bit of both since I've had my second tasting and I'm finding that the flavor of the Straight Rye Whiskey is quite bold, and yet still pleasant, and I don't think that could come from just having more water.

And tnbackpacker, I didn't know the Straight Rye Whiskey was originally barrel proof. I might have read that in the famous very long transcript of an interview with Fritz Maytag, but the interview doesn't appear to be on line anymore, so I can't check it to find out.
 
:mrgreen:

I love it!!! You're a really cool guy, very knowledgeable, and with a mind like a database. I notice there's still some liquid in that small bottle there. :wink: Do me a favor however, and bring down the size of that picture a bit, because it's causing a "width distortion" which we Moderators are supposed to clean up. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to the point where I have explored that aspect of my duties, so if you could bring down the size by about 15-20% that should do it.

I'd love to know what the ORIGINAL 19th Century Style Straight Rye Whiskey that you have tasted like. I seem to recall Fritz Maytag saying that after a while it became obvious that products needed revamping.
 
Actually, there's none of the OP left in that bottle. I had a tiny bit of Evan Williams Single Barrel (the '89 vintage, I think) and I emptied it into this bottle so I could throw away the larger EWSB bottle. The Old Potrero Straight Rye was much darker than that.

I remember liking the barrel proof version very much and that it was sweeter than I had anticipated.....but I still don't think it was worth the price of admission. For its asking price I'll take two bottles of ORVW 13 y.o. and have change left over.
 
Oh well, if you're going to start talking about Van Winkle Family Reserve 13 year old rye, I'm right there with you!!! I only like one spirit in this world better than that one, and it's more than twice the cost, so when it comes to bang for the buck, you're right, I'm riding shotgun.

Hmmmmmmmm, I think if I'm riding shotgun, you're actually on the left, and I'm on the right. Oh well, if you're really on the left we don't have to discuss politics while we're driving. How about what's going on in baseball? :cryinlaugh: