Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey is rumored to be made from a mash of 51% rye, 39% corn and 10% malted barley. Following distillation, the whiskey is aged for a minimum of six years in the Kentucky heat, before a small batch of barrels are married together. The whiskey has a copper-bronze color, along with an aroma of rye, malt, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. The aroma gives way to notes of chewy caramel, vanilla, spicy rye and candied citrus on the palate, and ends with a touch of dried fruits and rye. Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey earned a score of 94.5 points from Jim Murray's Whisky Bible, and a score of 95 points from Wine Enthusiast, which called it a "Best Buy." In addition, it earned the Best American Rye Whiskey Award at the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition, and the Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
What you smell and taste in a whisky is highly subjective.
Even the pros do not always agree on the tasting notes. Therefore, we have combined the tasting notes from several sources into a cross-section Nose, Palate, and Finish to find the commonalities between two whiskies. We use the Aroma Wheel with its concentric circles of increasingly specific tastes and smells (general in the center; more specific the further out you go) to find Exact, Secondary, and General matches between two whiskies. We also take into account other important factors like mash bill, barrel type(s), ABV, region, ratings, price and more. We then weight each factor based on what we believe to be the approximate importance it has in determining whether two whiskies are similar.
We're all different.
Again, we cannot stress enough that what you smell and taste in a whisky is likely going to be different than the person you're drinking it with. Whisky Mates is meant to be a guide to help you find what you like drinking, using the best methodologies available. In the end, rely on your own palate to tell you what you like and don't like.