Walk into almost any liquor store and you'll find 1792 Small Batch sitting quietly on the shelf. It isn't allocated, it doesn't come in a fancy bottle, and it rarely dominates bourbon conversations. Yet year after year, it continues to earn a place in one of the most competitive price ranges in whiskey.

Unlike most bottles that land on my shelf, this one doesn't come with decades of history or a long list of previous releases to compare it against. In fact, 1792 Kentucky Straight Rye is the first-ever straight rye whiskey to join the brand's permanent lineup, making it one of the newest additions to the 1792 family. Rather than simply putting a rye mash bill into production, Barton 1792 took a thoughtful approach to developing this whiskey. Master Distiller Ross Cornelissen