Sugarlands Distilling Has A Straight Rye Whiskey On Its Hands

Sugarlands Distilling out of Tennessee is known to those who are fans of it mostly as a producer of moonshine. They also make their own aged whiskey, however, including a rye whiskey known as Roaming Man. The distillery is now out with the second batch of it, and it has proved so popular it is already sold out.

Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey, according to the distillery, is a straight whiskey, meaning it is at least two years old. It is bottled at a cask strength of 123.4 proof and aged in new, charred oak barrels. Limited official tasting notes from Sugarlands suggest “a classic rye spiciness of black pepper and hints of tobacco and oak” that’s “well balanced with the sweetness of vanilla and caramel along with hints of apple and pineapple.”

“We’re excited to enter the aged whiskey arena with Roaming Man,” said Sugarlands head distiller Greg Eidam in a prepared statement. “From the beginning, we decided not to source an aged whiskey and have patiently distilled and aged our own unique expressions.”

The first edition of Roaming Man was released for presale in November 2016 and sold out within hours. The second batch, as mentioned previously, looks to be sold out already after a pre-release sale back in May. The company plans to expand its aged whiskey operation in 2017 by continuing to create unique mash bills and traditional whiskeys. This expansion likely plays into experimental offerings, which we brought you word of a few years back. What’s not clear is if this includes the use of rapid aging technology, which Sugarlands was looking at in late 2015.