A.D. Laws
San Luis Valley Single Barrel Rye
Barrel #159
Distilled: 12/31/2013
Cask Strength, NCF
133.4 Proof
95% San Luis Valley Rye, (50% unmalted, 50% malted), 5% Scarlet Barley

Damn this rye is so KILLER, we had to go with a martial arts theme. Meet Karaté Hotté, a deadly gherkin with serious punch!

Sometimes you just get a barrel that comes out of left field and nails it. The kind of thing you just can't not snatch up. This is one of those. Check out our podcast with AD Laws. These dudes are just doing everything right. They created a Colorado distillery. They use only "heirloom" grains and totally hand-pick every ingredient. And most importantly they put out well-aged product just how we like it: cask strength, unfilitered, straight from the barrel.

We tasted like 15 barrels from them and they're doing really interesting stuff with cask finishes, different mashbill bourbons, and all kinds of stuff. But this straight rye just slaughtered it. 133.1 proof, seven years old, the nose lights you up with massive rye spice. Baking bread, vanilla, cloves and nutmeg, brown butter, and spice spice spice with chiles, garden herms - mint, thyme, red peppercorns. Then it moves into some tree bark, leather notes. It opens up in the glass with all kinds of different layers, combining the sweets, wood, and spices in all these really unique directions.

The palate is widly thick & oily, going into candied oranges, big wood influence, more of those killer spices, and some white chocolate. The finish is simply dangerous, very smooth for the massive proof, rolling together the oiliness, wood and spice, and leaving a sweet aftertaste of citrus, spice, and oak.

This is a serious beast at 133.4, but the incredible attention to detail and hand-picked ingredients really create an incredibly drinkable spirit with heat but little burn. We hope you are just as blown away by this one as we were!