Colonel EH Taylor Straight Rye 2022 750mL

This is E.H. Taylor, Jr. Straight Rye from a 2022 bottling, a bonded Kentucky rye from Buffalo Trace made without any corn in the mash. That gives it a drier, spicier build than most Kentucky ryes, which usually lean on some corn for sweetness.

About This Whisky

The mash is simply rye and malted barley. Buffalo Trace uses a separate, lower-rye recipe for Sazerac Rye and Thomas H. Handy, so this Taylor rye has a character of its own within the distillery. There is no age statement; the bonded rules guarantee at least four years, and the amount of oak in the glass suggests the barrels are older than that. Recipe and strength are the same across bottling years.

Tasting Profile

• Nose: Raisin and dried apricot, cracked black pepper and a green, dill-like herbal note.
• Palate: Sweet and savoury in turn, with dark spice, rye bread and a light layer of caramel.
• Finish: Dry and oaky, holding for a good while before fading to clove.

Serving & Food

Pour neat at cellar temperature into a Glencairn, or over a single cube if the spice feels sharp. A classic Manhattan or Sazerac is where it earns its keep. Pair with pastrami on rye, Sichuan peppercorn beef or a salty blue cheese.

How to Enjoy

Rye drinkers who like it dry and peppery, and cocktail makers after a bonded rye with backbone.

Product Details

About the Distillery

Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, Kentucky, is run by the Sazerac Company and makes a wide spread of whiskey, from the flagship Buffalo Trace bourbon to Sazerac Rye and the Antique Collection, with Harlen Wheatley as master distiller. The Taylor range honours Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., the distillery's 19th-century owner, and the range is built mostly on bonded bourbon: Small Batch, Single Barrel and a series of one-off experiments.

A further Taylor release, Distiller's Council, appeared in 2025. The rye is the odd one out in the regular line.