Ethan Prater

Rating: 84/100

2010

Immaculate packaging – a squat, broad-shouldered transparent bottle with a foil cap and cork stopper. The Dry Fly logo is silk-screened, but the rest is an adhesive label (presumably this is the same bottle used for Dry Fly’s very popular gin and vodka).

I believe this whiskey is aged in fresh charred oak for two years, lending the liquid a color of clear light brown or even an attractively burnt orange. It smells sweet – that’s the wheat talking – with a tiny hint of barrel char.

The flavor is very nicely integrated – predominantly sweet vanilla, maybe some toffee and mellow mushy fruit. A very easy-drinking whiskey, though with just a touch of unexpected burn on the back of the throat (and it’s bottled only at 40% abv – helpful to squeeze more bottles out of limited production, but not to get the most flavor from this very gentle distillate). Without any other grains in the mash, you get none of the spice typical of bourbon or rye whiskey. A nicely lengthy finish, given the young age.

Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey has a very nice round flavor – it’s sweet and simple without any hidden complexity. Which is fine – this would be a good sipper on a warm afternoon or an excellent cocktail base.

I’m loath to make generalizations about 100% wheat whiskey having tried just three (Bernheim, Death’s Door, and Dry Fly), but I wonder if some corn, barley, or rye would add some needed complexity to the final spirit. The simplicity here feels a bit like tasting a component of something larger (to be fair, what I think of many single malt Scotches).

Anyway, if I gave scores, I would Dry Fly’s Whiskey (Batch Two) 84/100. Who knows what it might grow into with more time in the barrel?

Drink Spirits Review

Very Highly Recommended

Dry Fly Whiskey (80 proof) As a whole, we’re not huge fans of the current crop of young whiskeys out on the market. One to two years of age in barrel often leaves a whiskey underdeveloped and feels like putting a horse to race before it’s fully grown. Dry Fly’s Whiskey falls solidly into this ‘young’ category with only a couple years in barrel. But, for a young whiskey it’s extremely promising. With a nice light amber color, the nose on the Dry Fly Whiskey is bran cereal with cinnamon, apricot jam, vanilla and paste. The taste is very grainy with strong bran cereal and cardboard. We also get apricot, peach cobbler, oatmeal and cinnamon, and bran muffin. There’s a solid amount of heat with a nice wide mouth feel. The whiskey finishes well into a very cool finish. As with their vodka and gin, it’s clear just how exceptional the distilling process at Dry Fly is, and while we like this whiskey, we can only imagine what it could be. Left in barrel for another few years, it could become something amazing. As it stands, it’s pretty damn good.

Dry Fly Whiskey Rating:
 Very Highly Recommended – one of the best young whiskeys out there, but we can’t help wishing for more time in the barrel.

Considering how young a distillery Dry Fly is, their first three offerings are pretty mind blowing. The distilling talent in all their spirits is blazingly clear and we plan on following them very closely over the next few years because the elements are there to produce something that you run out to buy (and they’re pretty damn close to that already).

About.com

2011

After tasting Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey I have to agree wholeheartedly with the review Lance Mayhew gave, so instead of reiterating those thoughts I will allow you to read that account: Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey Reviewed.

What I will say is that this is one of the most impressive wheat whiskies I’ve had to date and tasting it is a journey. I really enjoyed the joyride of the experience, which progresses from the sweeter nose to the spicy-sweet taste to the final spicy finish. It’s a whiskey that will be a fantastic cocktail mixer in a Manhattan, Fancy Whiskey, and the like if you can get your hands on it, which is its one downfall. March 2010 will see the third batch released and it is likely to disappear as fast as the first two, but that is the price we pay for falling for small batch spirits and it is a worthy sacrifice.