FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bill Straub
Email: [email protected]
Four Gate Whiskey Company Announces Release #7
“River Kelvin Rye”
LOUISVILLE, KY, June 2nd, 2020 – In late June of this year, Four Gate Whiskey is releasing its first ever Straight Rye Whiskey. This Rye was distilled in Indiana to a mash bill of 95% rye, 5% malted barley. It is age-stated at 7 years old. It is non-chill filtered and bottled at its full cask strength of 113.2 proof. The batch has been dubbed “River Kelvin Rye.”
Previously, Four Gate Whiskey Company’s releases have all been either straight bourbon or barrel finished bourbon. This marks the first expansion of the company’s product line into a new spirit since its launch in 2018.
“We’ve always been on the lookout for barrels of great rye,” said Chief Barrel Officer Bob D’Antoni. “We tried all sorts of barrels that weren’t quite up to our standards before we found these.”
Four Gate Whiskey Company is releasing this whiskey without barrel finishing for a reason. The company plans to offer the same base whiskey in at least two different finishing styles over the next 12 months, and they wanted their customers to be able to taste the base spirit as well as the future finished products.
“That’s something I was interested in doing form the start,” Said Chief Blending Officer Bill Straub, “I wanted to show a progression, or a before-and-after. We pride ourselves on only using the highest quality whiskey we can find to barrel finish rather than taking a flawed spirit and trying to cover up its flaws with barrel finishes. This way, our customers can buy this first bottle of rye and then the finished releases over the next year or so and compare them side-by-side.”
Though the company did not collaborate with Kelvin Cooperage on a barrel finish, the Four Gate Whiskey Company was sure to pay homage to the cooperage in the batch name.
“River Kelvin is the river that flows through Glasgow, Scotland,” Said D’Antoni. “Kelvin Cooperage was founded in Glasgow and took its name from the river. We named this batch after the same river as attribute to Kelvin.”
Tasting Notes from the Chief Blending Officer:
Appearance: Medium Amber
Nose: Mint, candied citrus, lemon zest, black pepper, dill.
Taste: A splash of refreshing mint hits the tip of the tongue and is followed by candied oranges and lemon zest on the mid palate. The rear palate is greeted with spicy black pepper and sweet citrus.
Finish: Medium in length, the black pepper, spice, and lemon zest coat the mouth with a pleasingly refreshing finish.
Straub and D’Antoni run the company as the Chief Blending Officer and Chief Barrel Officer, respectively. With their roots in Louisville, Straub has leveraged his knowledge of bourbon and the industry as founder and Editor-In-Chief of ModernThirst.com since 2014. As a successful local entrepreneur, D’Antoni has used his connections to establish relationships to get his hands on some terrific bourbon.
A local collaboration like this feeds into the Four Gate Whiskey Company philosophy: if you start with the best whiskey, and leverage some of the best-regarded experts in the field on the effects of barrels, you wind up with an amazing whiskey that both connoisseurs and collectors alike will appreciate.
There are 1,484 bottles of this release available in late June in Kentucky, Tennessee, and online through Seelbachs.com at a MSRP of $174.99
Four Gate Whiskey Company’s products have been released since 2019 to critical acclaim, with batches 1, 2, 3, and 4 receiving Whisky Advocate scores of, respectively, 93, 92, 93, and 91 points respectively, and various well-regarded writers and online reviewers naming batches 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 amongst the top 10 whiskeys of 2019 and 2020.
Four Gate Whiskey Company started in 2018 with the goal of releasing several unique batches of whiskey products each year. With its first product launch of 11-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in sherry-rum casks in April 2019, the team is excited to unveil the other small batch products with unique finishes in years to come. Learn more at fourgatewhiskey.com, like us on Facebook.com and follow us on Twitter @four_gate.
Kelvin Cooperage, founded in Glasgow, Scotland in 1963 and now based in Louisville, KY, is a full-service family-owned cooperage supplying new and used barrels to wine, spirits, and beer producers around the world. For more information, visit Kelvincooperage.com
