Oregon Spirit Mini Tasting -- Wheat, Bourbon, & Rye

 

The photo above was taken by my father in his hotel room. These are the Oregon Spirits whiskeys. Oregon Spirits was founded in 2009 in Bend, Oregon. This distillery sources locally grown grains for their craft style whiskies. Now, don't let the angle fool you, these are 50 ml bottles. My family did a mini tasting of each to see how they faired. Review of all three to follow. 

We started with a little bit of a bias, having read an article stating a particular order in which we should taste them. Wheated -> Bourbon -> Rye. The idea was to capitalize on the strength of each flavor, and not overpower a lighter whiskey with an extremely spicy one. 

Wheated

The wheated whiskey was sweet and sharp on the nose, initially with notes of Cinnamon bread. On taste, it took a long time to develop. It's light, a little plain, and a bit grassy. This particular whiskey reminded me of a scotch. You get a little bit of a peaty flavor with some maple syrup on the back end.

Bourbon

The bourbon had a rounder nose, with a kind of toffee scent. The taste was still a bit peaty, but it had more depth than the wheated whiskey. It finished with a little bit of caramel and had an overall rounder flavor.  This would be a great bourbon to drink after a meal. It's light but still full, with a balanced finish. 

Rye

On the nose, they rye smelled just like a snowy Christmas morning, with notes of caraway, vanilla, and nutmeg. The taste, however, was different than the scent. It pulls a kind of exotic flavor, not how I would expect a typical rye to taste. It was very light and had a long finish. Notes of cardamom or allspice came through with each sip and became stronger the more I consumed. 

Overall, my favorite was the rye. It was balanced, unique, but still comfortable. However, since rye is my drink of choice, I do have a personal bias towards rye. The bourbon was decent, but not anything I was super impressed with. It had good flavor but did not match up to other bourbon of it's price range. I personally didn't really like the wheat whiskey. It reminded me of a scotch which I'm not a huge fan of. 

Oregon Spirits is definitely worth checking out. They retain a familiar taste in their whiskeys while incorporating their own little spin on flavor.