Castle & Key’s Restoration Batch 3 Review

Castle & Key Distillery is a place that seems out of a fairy tale for those not into whiskey. For those that are it is almost hallowed ground where Colonial Edmund Haynes (E.H.) Taylor Jr. literally started whiskey tourism. Obviously, his name sake whiskey’s produced by Buffalo Trace are much revered but now we will see if this place has some magic left as I review the 2021 Restoration Rye Batch 3 whiskey.

Make sure you put in the comments any bottles that you would like me to review.

NAME – Restoration Kentucky Rye Whiskey 2021 Batch 3

PROOF – 105

AGE – 3.5 years

COLOR – Harvest gold (1.3 russet muscat on the Whiskey Magazine Color Chart)

NOSE – Sugary cereal like Captain Crunch, lemon zest, slightly floral and maltiness

TASTE – A lemon herbal tea with honey is immediately what I think of. There is a fair amount of rye spice bite in the back of the throat and the maltiness is weaved throughout.

FINISH – I would call this a medium finish. I might even be stretching a bit to call this a medium finish. The rye spice and maltiness stays and whiffs of lemon zest at the very end.

REVIEW – This rye whiskey is summer in a glass. The lemon zest makes it bright and vibrant without be obnoxious. There is just enough sweetness, rye spice and malt to balance out the citrus. I absolutely could see me sitting out on a late July evening and having a pour of this. Maybe even putting it in some 7-Up or ginger ale. Really a pleasant pour that doesn’t even drink at the 105 proof. If I didn’t know I would guess it more in the 90 proof range.

FINAL COMMENTS – I am an unapologetic E.H. Taylor fan boy. If he would be alive today, he would absolutely be THE rockstar in this whiskey craze. He was 100 years ahead of his time as he was thinking distilleries should be more than a barn with a still in it. Back when the distillery where Castle & Key is now attracted tourist and people would come to picnic where they were given complimentary “tenth pint” bottles of Old Taylor. This was in the late 1800’s and he was already doing what almost every distillery on the bourbon trail and off of it (for that matter) is doing. Distilleries today are shrines to their brand and they realize that the distillery can add to the attraction of the whiskey. Today, people have their weddings there as I personally saw one time when I was there.

If you are ever in Frankfort area, it is an absolute must stop even if the people you are with aren’t into whiskey, they will respect and be awed by the whiskey castle.

To find out more check it out here – Castle & Key

You can look at all the past Sunday Evenings Reviews and I would still love to hear what your personal reviews are from each of the whiskies reviewed.