Discerning imbibers that appreciate a good aged straight rye whiskey aren’t the type to shy away from flavor. We don’t want your bowl of plain stodgy oatmeal, your unadorned overbaked potato, or your bland plate of limp spaghetti. We want your spiciest jalapeños, your piquant aged Roquefort, your Tuscan black truffles, your boldest, juiciest Zinfandel. Savor is our friend and we don’t mind holding out for a highly developed flavor profile.
Fortuitously, the kindhearted distillers behind Cooper Spirits’ Lock Stock And Barrel 16-year-old Straight Rye Whiskey have done all the waiting for us, patiently allowing the deeply charred American oak barrels to impart their magic over 16 years of cold weather aging, leaving us with nothing to do but provide the glass. With flavors this pronounced and complex even ice is overkill—sip slowly and allow nuances of roasted acorns, ripe wild cherries, and gently sweet sassafras to roll over your taste buds.
With only 3000 cases released this is truly an exceptional aged rye whiskey for collectors and connoisseurs; a panel of experts at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition agreed, awarding Lock Stock and Barrel a double gold medal, their most coveted accolade. “Lock Stock And Barrel 16-year-old is a rye whiskey crafted for the bold flavor aficionados of the world”, the author declares, nearly unintelligibly, through a large mouthful of rye whiskey and crumbled Roquefort.
