Review: Templeton Midnight Rye
While Iowa’s Templeton began making (and bottling) its own distillate a few years ago, it’s also — slightly unusually — still putting out sourced products, including this, Templeton Midnight Rye. Even more unusual is what’s actually in the bottle — not just a blend of sourced whiskey made from the iconic 95% rye/5% barley mash (the distillery, and even the state of production, are not disclosed), and also a “subtle touch of premium dark Port wine.” It’s not a finished whiskey, mind you, it’s actually a whiskey with some Port added to the mix.
It is for sure one of the strangest whiskeys I’ve sampled in the last year or so, kicking off with a nose than melds that classic, grassy-and-peppery 95/5 rye with a bold layer of sweetness. What first presents as chocolatey eventually fades into a mix of brown sugar and cotton candy. In time, this sweetness fully dominates, pushing the base spirit into the background. Breathe deep and a winey quality, slightly gummy in tone, becomes evident — though it’s an aroma I usually associate more with red wine cask finishing.
The palate is, as expected, quite sweet, though here the Port quality is more obvious. Chocolate-covered raisins and a layer of spice kick things off, followed quickly by that aggressive, gummy quality that again evokes wine barrel finishing. Here the underlying rye gets more than a little lost, muddied by elements of toasted sesame oil, anise, waxy drugstore chocolates, and a slight petrol bent. That unctuous “old wine” character all but dominates the finish, pairing fitfully with the candylike attack — and cementing the whiskey’s status as an oddball mixer.
90 proof.
B- / $40
Templeton Midnight Rye
$40
