My buddy, Scott, called and wanted to do a blind tasting over the phone.

This is the sort of thing that makes perfect sense if you are a bourbon person and probably sounds mildly ridiculous if you are not. The idea was simple enough. We would each pour the same four affordable rye whiskeys, mix them up so we did not know what we were tasting, and compare notes over the phone.

The planned lineup was Old Forester 100 Rye, Sazerac 100 Rye, Rittenhouse Rye and Wild Turkey 101 Rye.

We agreed.

Sort of.

Scott ended up using Sazerac 90 Rye instead of Sazerac 100. I did not have the Wild Turkey 101 Rye on hand, so I subbed in Benchmark Rye. That meant we were only working with two identical bottles instead of four, but 50 percent overlap is still better than no overlap, and we are not exactly submitting this to a peer-reviewed journal.

So we went ahead.

He tasted one of his. I tasted one of mine. Neither of us knew which glass held which whiskey, and despite the lineup differences, we ended up drawing basically the same conclusions.

That is always the fun part of a blind tasting. You can have your assumptions. You can know which bottle you expect to like. You can have your brand loyalties and your bargain-hunter biases. But once the whiskey is in an unmarked Glencairn, the glass does not care about your expectations.

The Blind

Glencairn A had a dark amber color. The nose was a bit earthy up front, with apricot and toffee following behind. On the palate, a bit of oak led the way, but apricot and mint showed up quickly, followed by brown sugar and cinnamon. The mouthfeel was on the thin side, but the finish was not terrible. The cinnamon and fruit lasted decently.

Score: 78.01

Glencairn B was light copper in color. Once again, apricot showed up on the nose, along with light vanilla and just a trace of oak. On the palate, spice arrived quickly, with apricot peeking through and marrying with creamy vanilla. The mouthfeel was modest, but the finish was far too short. A little spice and apricot remained, but not enough to make much of an impression.

Score: 76.82

Glencairn C came in at mid-amber. The nose was initially grassy, with a touch of light vanilla trailing behind. The nose was a letdown, but the palate was surprisingly nice. Citrus and stone fruit competed with each other, and cinnamon jumped in along the way. The mouthfeel was modest, but the finish was strong, with citrus and spice leading the way.

Score: 78.66

Glencairn D was mid-copper in color. Bananas jumped up on the nose, with vanilla and toffee also playing a part. The bananas stayed present on the palate, but caramel and vanilla joined in, with peaches peeking through. The mouthfeel was a bit thin, and the finish was decent but not mind-blowing: peaches, baking spice and caramel.

Score: 80.40

The Reveal

Glencairn A was Benchmark Rye.

Glencairn B was Sazerac 100 Rye.

Glencairn C was Rittenhouse Rye.

Glencairn D was Old Forester 100 Rye.

That gave me the following finish:

First place: Old Forester 100 Rye

Second place: Rittenhouse Rye

Third place: Benchmark Rye

Fourth place: Sazerac 100 Rye

Scott’s results were not identical because his lineup was not identical, but the big picture was very similar. He also had Old Forester at the top, and it was not especially close. He may have had Wild Turkey in the spot where I had Rittenhouse, but he also had Sazerac at the bottom.

That was the biggest surprise of the night for me.

I like Sazerac Rye. Or at least I thought I did. It has a good reputation, it carries the Buffalo Trace halo, and it has always felt like one of those affordable bottles that should perform well in a blind. But in this lineup, it simply did not. It was not terrible. None of these were terrible. But it was the thinnest experience of the night, and the short finish hurt it.

Benchmark Rye, on the other hand, held up better than I expected. It did not blow me away, but it offered enough fruit, mint, cinnamon and brown sugar to make a respectable showing. In a Bourbon Cheapskate context, respectable matters. A whiskey does not have to win the night to justify its place on the shelf. Sometimes it just has to avoid embarrassing itself.

Rittenhouse was solid, especially on the palate and finish. The nose did not do it many favors, but once I got past that grassy opening, the citrus, stone fruit and spice made a much better case. It finished stronger than it started, and that counts for something.

But Old Forester 100 Rye was the clear winner.

It was richer. It was more flavorful. It was more interesting. It had the fruit, the sweetness, the spice and enough depth to separate itself from the rest of the field. The banana note may not be everyone’s favorite, but in this case, it worked. It gave the whiskey personality, and the caramel, vanilla, peaches and baking spice made it feel fuller than the others.

After the blind was over, we decided to run one more test.

We both tried Jack Daniel’s Bonded Rye. I also tried Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Rye.

Wow.

That little side experiment clarified the whole tasting. Old Forester 100 Rye belonged somewhere in that Brown-Forman conversation. The others really did not. Rittenhouse, Benchmark and Sazerac all have their place, especially when price matters, but the Jack Daniel’s ryes and Old Forester 100 Rye felt like a different class of whiskey.

That may be the real takeaway.

Affordable rye can be perfectly drinkable. It can be useful in cocktails. It can be interesting enough for a casual pour. But when Brown-Forman gets rye right, there is a richness and personality that stands out, even before you know what is in the glass.

In this blind, Old Forester 100 Rye was the cheapskate champion.

And this time, the cheapskate did not have to settle.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.