Russell's Reserve Rye Whiskey earned the Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, where it was named "Best Rye Whiskey," and earned a score of 96-100 points from Wine Enthusiast. In addition, it was rated one of the top six rye whiskies by Drink Spirits, which said: "If you are looking for the best expression of rye in a whiskey, Russell's Reserve 6 Year Old Rye is the rye for you."
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.