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Bourbon Review: Southern Star The Standard High Rye Straight Bourbon Whiskey

We review Southern Star The Standard High Rye Straight Bourbon Whiskey, distilled in North Carolina from a mash bill of 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley.

OVERALL RATING

6
$43
  • Nino Kilgore-Marchetti, founder of The Whiskey Wash, is an award-winning whiskey journalist, expert, and judge
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Southern Star The Standard High Rye Straight Bourbon Whiskey review

Tasting Notes

About:

Bourbon is distilled from 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley and aged at least two years in new American oak before bottling at 45% ABV. $ 43.
Appearance:
You see what you get with a very prototypical amber-golden color in glass matched with moderate legs and viscosity.
Nose:
It is very much a high-rye style bourbon on the nose, reflecting those subtle vanilla and black pepper aromatics one would expect. This is joined by a dash of oak, a little bit of baking bread, sour apple, some leather, and some caramel.
Palate:
This plays stronger to the palate’s sweet vs spicy side, dropping more vanilla and caramel considerings than black pepper and coriander. Beyond that, it is pretty muted, with some notes of oak, dried cherries, toffee, and a hint of shitake mushroom.
Finish:
This drifts on the finish, ending with a quiet thud on the back throat as it fades out quickly.
Comments:
If you’re looking for complexity from this bourbon, move on. It isn’t really designed with that in mind, seemingly. It is a decent entry point for the Southern Distilling Company’s whiskeys, but otherwise, it doesn’t really stand out in any particular way.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is the founder of The Whiskey Wash, an award-winning whiskey lifestyle website dedicated to informing and entertaining consumers about whisk(e)y globally. As a whisk(e)y journalist, expert, and judge, he has written extensively about the subject, been interviewed in various media outlets, and provided tasting input on many whiskeys at competitions.

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