Sagamore Spirit Calvados Finish Rye Review

Sagamore Spirit
Calvados Finish Rye Whiskey
Batch 1A
100 proof

I really enjoyed this Sagamore Spirit Calvados Finish Rye when I first opened it and posted about it around 9 months ago. I quickly went through half the bottle. Then something new and shiny must have come along and distracted me, because I am just now revisiting it again.

I have been a fan of Calvados ever since my trip to Europe during my college days, many, many years ago…. So, when Sagamore Spirit announced this rye, I was really looking forward to it. What they did was take their 4 year old rye, put it in used Calvados casks for 11 months, and then put it back into their own rye whiskey barrels to finish for another 9 months. Sounds good – right?

Tasting Notes

Let’s taste it:

🛌 Rested for 15 minutes in a Glencairn

👉Nose: Rye spices are dominant, with apples, caramel, light honey, tart limes, pine, anise & moderate alcohol
👉Taste: Caramel, apple, char, honey sweetness
👉Finish: Apple and oak become more apparent early on in the fairly long finish. Oak, char, apples and some dryness then linger for a long time…

The more I sip on this rye, the more it becomes like a caramel candy apple with baking spices followed by a bit of oak and char after each bite, with a nice warming finish.

Summary

I looked back on my notes from 9 months ago, when I first opened this bottle. My notes discuss similar flavors, although it seems that the spices are now more dominant in the nose compared to when I first opened it, when the apples were more dominant. However in the finish the spices are less dominant. Maybe it is just me, perceiving a different flavor balance now than then. Or maybe the flavors have changed, with some of the fruit-spice balance changing over time. Maybe it is a combination of the two…??‍ Either way, I still really enjoy this rye. The calvados flavors nicely complement the flavors of the rye whiskey.

Have you had the Sagamore Spirit Calvados Finish Rye? Have you noticed the flavors of it, or any whiskey change over time, and if so, in what way? Cheers!🥃

Would you like to read about another Sagamore Spirit finished rye? Check out our review of the Sagamore Spirit Manhattan Finish Rye!

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