Templeton 10-Year Reserve Rye Whiskey is a new, single barrel offering from the Iowa-based whiskey label, joining a line-up that includes Templeton 4-Year and Templeton 6-Year. Like those other spirits (which have just seen their packaging refreshed), the 10-year-old rye whiskey is distilled in Indiana before being bottled in Templeton, Iowa.
The whiskey pours a ruby bronze and presents a sweet nose typified by vanilla, toasted brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, cinnamon and barrel spice. It’s warm with a velvety texture, and provides initial flavors of apple slices covered with brown sugar, which meet with caramel at the center to uncannily mimic the effect of biting into a candy apple at a state fair. That fruity caramel is accompanied by darkly sweet flavors of maple syrup, all while the rye’s already lush texture takes on further gravitas, resulting in something like a pleasant tongue massage.
It’s at the back of the palate that the rye spice bomb we’ve been expecting goes off, which reveals itself to not quite be a bomb but rather a controlled demolition. It provides barrel spice, cinnamon and nutmeg in a relaxed, prolonged delivery that never overwhelms the palate but extends the deliciously spiced sensation. This all makes for an ultra-satisfying conclusion you can really chew on, which taps out to the tune of Nilla wafers covered in syrup and a hint of butterscotch.
A lush, tongue-coating texture matched with the round flavors of syrup, caramel, and deep apple fruitiness make Templeton’s 10 Year a ride worth taking. It’s fruity and syrupy in all the best ways, capped off by that full-bore blast of rye spice you showed up for in the first place.
★★★★
Stats:
— 52% ABV
— $85
