Bulleit Rye Bourbon Review

My relationship with Bulleit goes back to the beginning of my bourbon journey, when I was making the transition from Irish and Scotch whisky into American whiskey. Bulleit Bourbon became one of my daily drinkers, although I couldn't give you some profound reason why I initially picked it. As far as I remember, I thought the bottle looked cool.

There may have been someone who pointed me toward it along the way, and I'm not trying to erase them from history, but that's the story as I remember it.

What I do remember is that Bulleit Rye wasn't an option when I first started drinking Bulleit. My earliest recollection of seeing the rye is around 2013, but for whatever reason, I never tried it. Not at home, not at a bar, not during my travels.

That's somewhat surprising in hindsight, because I've noticed Bulleit becoming something of a go-to American whiskey internationally, at least in the places I've traveled throughout Mexico and parts of Latin America. My experience in South America is limited to Peru and Colombia, so take that observation for exactly what it is — personal experience rather than a survey of the continent — but I've encountered Bulleit with surprising regularity.

And it's not as though I've avoided Bulleit rye altogether. I've had the 10-Year Rye and absolutely loved it, especially for the price. If you see that bottle available, buy it.

That's not the bottle we're reviewing today, though.

Tom Bulleit has called the standard rye "a culmination of a seven-year dream" — the brand took the better part of a decade to bring a rye to market after Bulleit Bourbon launched, and even then it leans on grain sourced well outside Kentucky, pulling rye from Germany, Sweden, and Canada in addition to the U.S. A 95% rye mash bill, it turns out, is a harder recipe to source domestically than people assume.

Somehow, after all these years with Bulleit — and all the time it took me to eventually develop an appreciation for rye whiskey — I'd never actually sat down with the standard Bulleit Rye.

So I figured it was finally time.

The Bottle

Distillery: Distilled by MGP of Indiana for Bulleit

Release: Ongoing

Classification: Straight American Rye Whiskey

Proof: 90 (45% ABV)

Age: NAS

Mash Bill: 95% rye, 5% malted barley

MSRP: Approximately $30 (750mL)

First Impression: Herbaceous from the start, with green apple and an unexpectedly buttery character underneath. There's plenty here to tell you you're nosing a rye, but the softer fruit and buttery notes make the first impression considerably more inviting than expected.

On the Palate: Green apple arrives before the rye spice, eventually moving toward something closer to applesauce — perhaps a callback to that buttery quality from the nose. The rye eventually makes itself known, followed by a lingering baking spice that adds some needed structure.

The Last Sip: Leather comes first, followed by grass, apple butter and finally cracked black pepper. It's an unusual progression, but the finish becomes more interesting the longer it sits. There's a surprising amount to unpack for what otherwise presents like a younger rye whiskey.

Final Thoughts

I don't think everyone starts out loving rye whiskey.

I certainly didn't.

It probably took me close to a decade of mostly ignoring the category before I finally found a rye that gave me a baseline I could appreciate. From there, I started understanding what rye could actually do and eventually developed a genuine love for it.

I don't think Bulleit Rye would have been that bottle for me. And for a bourbon drinker who's only beginning to explore rye, I'm not convinced it will be that bottle for them either.

Where Bulleit Rye succeeds is in showing some of the complexity that makes the category interesting once you've developed a taste for it. Rye can sometimes come across as astringent, aggressively herbal or simply offensive to a palate accustomed to sweeter bourbon. Bulleit doesn't eliminate those distinctly rye characteristics, but it surrounds them with enough sweetness and fruit to make the whiskey considerably more approachable.

The finish is where it really earns my attention. Leather, grass, apple butter and black pepper shouldn't necessarily make sense together, but the progression works — and it continues developing instead of simply disappearing after the sip.

That may also help explain why I've encountered Bulleit so often while traveling. Availability certainly matters, especially internationally, but there's something useful about a whiskey that can showcase what rye is capable of without pushing any one characteristic so far that it overwhelms everything else.

After all these years of drinking Bulleit, I finally understand the standard rye a little better. I just wouldn't necessarily make it someone's first lesson in the category.

Recommendation

🟡 Try at a Bar or Bottle Share