Whiskey Review: Goldrun Rye California Whiskey

Hits the tongue with a honey flavor with mellow, non-citrus fruit flavors with just a hint of earthy nuts. That grows into a semi-sweet spiciness of cloves and freshly ground pepper, but the spiciness intensifies and gains a rye flavor as it sits in the mouth. Once swallowed, the mouth is blanketed by a slight burning sensation, particularly and almost overwhelmingly in the corners of the mouth, with a bit of honeyed rye flavor. Final Thoughts and Score: To be honest, I had to pour myself several glasses of Goldrun Rye as I tried to discern if it was just bland or I was missing exceptional subtlety in the times when the spiciness wasn’t overwhelming. While yes, there is some subtlety and flavors that I find unusual in a whiskey, I personally appreciate a whiskey that’s firmly guiding the taster while still leaving some room for individual interpretation. Unless you’d like to get drunk in order to find its complexities, I’d classify Goldrun Rye as the minimum baseline of what a whiskey should be: it starts out sweet, gets spicier and leaves a spicy-sweet tingle in your mouth as it goes down – not much more.