Whether from Scotland or America, whiskeys finished in wine barrels are old news by now. Nevertheless, I was curious how an American straight rye would act in a wine barrel, specifically a sweet wine. I contacted America’s greatest dessert wine maker, in Napa Valley, for some help with the barrels. Their top quality French oak barrels, inflected with their splendiferous botrytized dessert wine, conferred a terrific amount of flavor to my single barrel of rye, yet the whiskey charges through with its signature spice notes.

Price: $59.99

This experiment grew out of a wish to explore the soft textures of wheated Bourbon. Wheated Bourbons can pick up a unique wood spice note from the new charred oak barrel they are aged in, but they lack the specific spiciness of the rye small grains found in most Bourbons. What would a wheated taste like with the spice from rye? How could we accomplish that? Wheat On Rye is the answer, a sandwich of fabulous whiskey between two hardworking barrels.

Price: $59.99