Thomas H. Handy 2020 Sazerac Rye Whiskey 750ml

Thomas H. Handy honors the New Orleans bartender credited with first using rye whiskey as the base spirit for the Sazerac cocktail, widely considered America's first cocktail. Distilled and bottled by the Sazerac Company at the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery, this rye has appeared as an annual limited release since 2000, forming one of five whiskeys in the highly allocated Buffalo Trace Antique Collection released each fall.

The 2020 batch was distilled in the winter of 2008 and drawn from barrels aged six years and two months in Warehouses K, M, and N, using a sour mash bill of Minnesota rye, Kentucky corn, and North Dakota malted barley. True to the release's identity, it is bottled uncut and unfiltered straight from the barrel at a formidable 129 proof, with no dilution softening its cask strength character.

The nose offers brown sugar and baking spice alongside vanilla, mint, and a touch of dark fruit, while French vanilla and custard round things out with hints of pear. On the palate, baking spice and raisin meet star anise and cinnamon, developing an almost Mexican hot chocolate quality as cocoa joins the mix. The finish is long and warming, closing on cinnamon, oak, and a persistent trace of licorice that lingers well after the glass is empty.