Rye "Raw", Coppersea, 750ml

Critic tasting note: "Coppersea uses New York grain (75% rye, 25% malt), mashed in wooden tanks and distilled in direct-fire copper pot stills. This unaged spirit is highly aromatic: hay, sunny meadow, hints of lavender and tansy, honeydew melon. Brilliantly herbal flavors, sweet grass, gobs of white pepper, lemon balm, and a long-lingering sweet heat. Almost more like an eau de vie than a whiskey, with layer upon layer to discover. Heretical thought: this might be wasted on a barrel." - 87/100, Whisky Advocate

Most distilleries release an unaged product to have something to sell as their other distillate ages. While the folks at Coppersea also have something aging in the works, their Raw Rye is actually a style that's meant to be this way. It hails back to a time in late 1800s America when ordering a "whiskey" meant exactly what this is, not moonshine, just well made unaged rye, before aging in wood became fashionable.