rye SNAP! heat SNAP! light tarragon SNAP! oak SNAP! and a warm wrap-up finish SNAP! Full house, flavors over sensations.
Few Spirits Rye Whiskey 46.5% ABV.
Solid, chunky bottle with idiosyncratic whiskey inside. Straightforward rye crisps out of the glass in no-nonsense style; dry grain, sweet grass, and light but insistent anise almost wholly drown out the barrel character. The mouth is as dry and spicy-medicinal as the nose hints at, laying down character like a winning hand: rye SNAP! heat SNAP! light tarragon SNAP! oak SNAP! and a warm wrap-up finish SNAP! Full house, flavors over sensations. Clean and interesting. Nicely played.
89 points Lew Bryson, Advanced Whisky Advocate.
Reviewing craft-distilled American whiskeys is still a matter of degrees, especially when the craft distillers venture into the stylistic territory staked out so strongly by the established traditional distillers. The benchmarks of bourbon and rye are well-known, and to openly declare your competition with them is to invite direct comparison. I call it the “Evan Williams Test”: is this craft whiskey good enough that I’d buy a bottle of it instead of yet another $14 bottle of the reliably well-made Evan Williams Black? Only the very best craft whiskeys can stand up to that.
By that test, Few Spirits Rye is clearly in the top tier of current craft whiskeys.
Although it’s young, the whiskey is well-made and clean in character, not funky and flawed, which still counts for a lot these days. As I said in my review (an 89 score), “Straightforward rye crisps out of the glass in no-nonsense style; dry grain, sweet grass, and light but insistent anise almost wholly drown out the barrel character.” It’s backed up on the palate, where you’ll get more rye, some tarragon and dry mint spice, and then some oak in the warming finish.
That light barrel character is hardly surprising in a young rye, and we’re not going to see much but young whiskey out of craft distillers for a while yet. So high marks to Few Spirits for making a very good young rye, one I’ve been using as a benchmark ever since I tasted it. — Lew Bryson
Bear witness to the revival of rye. Born of the hearty grain, our generous rye content is married with the sweetness of corn for a genteel interpretation of the venerable spirit. Aged in air-dried oak barrels, its spicy character transcends mere resurgence. This is the renaissance of rye. FEW Rye Whiskey.
Let yourself linger in our world a noble time where old souls don evening attire and drink in good company. Complex flavors from a simpler period, nothing brings the world into focus like the silky depths of a hand-crafted, small-batch spirit. Travel back and take a stroll through the streets of a city’s fair.
As the Temperance Movement approached boiling point, America’s most beloved liquid vice found itself under heavy siege. While connoisseurs saw abstinence creep across the country, the city of Chicago began its preparations to host the most elaborate of fairs.
Only a few miles North, Frances Elizabeth Willard and her league of temperance supporters had turned Evanston into a stronghold for their cause.
Founded as a dry community, Evanston was home to many influential advocates for Prohibition who effectively kept the city free of alcohol for more than one hundred years.
Though the city legalized drinking in the late Nineties, it took the perseverance of our Master Distiller, Paul Hletko, to reverse the antiquated liquor laws. With roots going back to some of Europe’s fabled brewing families, Paul and FEW Spirits have marked the end of Evanston’s Prohibition and given the city its very own craft distillery.
Get your bottle today!
Few Spirits Rye Whiskey – $62.99
