Whiskey Advent Calendar Tasting: Sonoma Distilling Company Cherrywood Rye Whiskey

This is part of my series on tasting notes from the 2021 Drinks By The Dram Bourbon Advent Calendar.

Whiskey for December 8th, 2021: Sonoma Distilling Company Cherrywood Rye Whiskey

The distillery

This is our second California distillery, the first being Blinking Owl and a relatively young one. Sonoma Distilling Company was founded by Adam Spiegel in 2010 in, yes, Sonoma, California. Sonoma Distilling Company seems to exclusively make american style whiskeys that include bourbon, rye, a wheat whiskey, and some special variations on those.

The whiskey

Tonight's whiskey is the Cherrywood Rye Whiskey from Sonoma Distilling Company. Their website helpfully gives a mash bill of:

80% Rye, 10% Wheat, and 10% Cherrywood Smoked Malted Barley

It's aged a minimum of 2 years but we don't have any other age statement beyond that.

Sonoma gives the following tasting notes:

Dried figs, toasted almonds, brandied cherries, and new leather.

Look

This whiskey is a lovely coppery red. It's quite striking and reminds me of the Few Rye from two days ago, but perhaps even redder than that. When swirled the whiskey makes thin glycerine sheets that take a long time to turn into legs. I almost thought it was super thin and wasn't going to, it took that long. So it's quite clingy.

Nose

Quite unique with a luscious fruit smell that's very prominent and in your face. It's like honeydew melon, grapes, pears, and a little lemony citrus. If you're familiar with the "juicy pear" flavor of Jelly Belly jellybeans, it's actually a little like that, but in a good way. It's very sweet and summery. There's very little overt alcohol smell.

Taste

Again, a very unique flavor. The smell carries over to the taste in some ways, I think that's the "brandied cherries" that Sonoma Distilling suggest. I've certainly smelled brandies that were similar. Dried fruit is in the taste. I think it's more complex than just dried figs. I get dried apples, pears and golden raisins. Maybe that's just "dried figs", I haven't had any in a while. There's lots of spice and considerable alcohol burn through the middle and it finishes long and dry with the leather coming through and the sweetness hanging out in the distance as a reminder.

After water

The nose stays the same after a little water. It's very consistent, hitting all the same high and low notes. In the taste it calms the alcohol burn almost completely and the brandied cherries come all the way to the forefront. The dried fruit taste drops out completely and leaves a tamer rye spice and that leathery finish.

Summary

This is a weird whiskey. I like how unique it is, but I'm not sure if this is what I would expect when I ordered a rye whiskey. Which is fine as long as I knew it would be an odd duck. I think this is absolutely worth trying, and I think a lot of people would enjoy its flavor profile. I expect their Black Truffle Rye is probably similar. So try a pour if you see it out, maybe don't buy a whole bottle.