Age: 8-Years 6-months

Proof: 117.9 proof

Bottle Count: 174 bottles

Mash Bill: 95/5 Rye/Malted Barley

Tasting Notes: Warm rye spice and baking spices on the nose are accompanied by a pleasant green tea note. The palate is sweet for a rye, with juicy pear, fig, caramel, and brown sugar enveloped in a developing baking spices note that washes into the finish. The spice lingers, and is met with accents of green grape, caramel, and a touch of apricot. Light aged oak accents the spicy-sweet mix as it fades. Overall it’s a well-rounded, nicely balanced rye with a cascade of sweet notes against its rye spice backdrop.

Story: If you read our story a few months ago, then you already know the importance of this pick. Breaking Bourbon was the first outside group to visit MGP in person and go into their rickhouses to thief barrels for our three upcoming picks. Though it took a little longer to get you these picks than we expected, the first of the three barrels is rolling out this week and it's certainly worth the wait.

That first pick would be none other than Rossville Union Barrel Proof Rye. With Mike Paladini and Danny Polise, founders of Penelope Bourbon, and Blake Riber, founder of Seelbach’s alongside us for this barrel selection, MGP Master Distiller Ian Stirsman had selected a few rye barrels that he felt were on the level we were looking for. If you’ve followed our coverage long enough, then you know our love of rye. High aged MGP rye has begun to roll out into the marketplace, and it offers tremendous quality for its price. We didn't know if we were going to do a rye pick before our visit to MGP, but with Stirsman particularly proud of the company’s rye they are producing, we dove into the barrels he selected with much excitement and anticipation.  

The barrels all hit around the same age, and we ultimately decided on one because of its balance. With rye, it's easy to go all in on spice, or all in on baking spice, or all in on fruit notes. We thought, why not all of them? That’s precisely what we decided on, and this particular barrel is very well-rounded and balances its sweet and spicy notes with class, and offers just enough age notes, to not overpower rye’s typical bright flavors.

We are thrilled to finally offer the first of three MGP club picks and our first ever Rossville Union pick. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.