Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey

I happened upon Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey at NCABC and figured I should give it a try. The 90 proof rye was 40 bucks so it didn’t seem like there was much to lose with the purchase. I like the story behind Redwood Empire and thought I had something nice after the first pour, however sometimes first impressions aren’t correct. Let’s discuss what I perceive. The aroma has always had a nice brown sugar backbone, rye spice, black pepper, and cinnamon. Also present is a spearmint note which I just don’t love. It has a fusel alcohol note accompanying it which seemed to increase the further I got into the bottle. The flavor was much like the aroma with brown sugar, rye, black pepper, and cinnamon. Unfortunately that same spearmint character was far too prevalent for my taste. The finish was pepper, cinnamon, brown sugar, and spearmint into the finality of the aftertaste. The alcohol was restrained with only a bit of warming present post consumption. Had it not been for the spearmint this would have been a good bottle, but for me it was too much and too strong. Once I realized it was there I just couldn’t steer my palate away from it. So this is a one and done for me. If you like/appreciate spearmint then this bottle will probably be your cup of tea. Rest assured I’ll leave it on the shelf for you to find.