Product Overview
When Yellowstone and Limestone Branch announced they’d be putting out a single malt earlier this year, I was excited. I love trying new American Single Malts (ASMs) and generally like Yellowstone’s products, so there was a solid chance of this being a solid product.
Ultimately, it just barely gets there. It’s fine, innocuous, and tastes like a 100% malted barley whiskey, and so in that way accomplishes what the label pronounces, but I’m left wondering how much better this could have been.
Let’s break it down.
First off, the source. It’s 100% malted barley distilled and aged in Indiana, so it’s MGP. In an oddity of timing, if this had been purchased in bulk by Lux Row or Limestone Branch before 2021, it would be a sourced whiskey; since Lux Row was bought by MGP in 2021, it’s not technically sourced even though it’s not from Limestone Branch’s own stills.
Second, the profile. There’s nothing bad about this. It tastes like a single malt - any single malt. And that’s the problem. How does this stand out? How is this different?
If anything, I’m most reminded of some 95/5 MGP ryes I’ve reviewed. I love the 95/5 around 7-8 years old and 110-115º. But not every brand that sources it - or MGP/Ross & Squibb itself, for that matter - tastes the same. Some take the flavor profile and make it their own in some way. Some choose to finish it or age it somewhere special for a period of time. And others just buy it and bottle it.
There is so much 95/5 MGP rye out there that you have to stand out if you want to make your product something different than any other version on the shelf. After all, if two products taste exactly the same I’ll just buy the cheaper one.
The Yellowstone American Single Malt Whiskey makes me feel the same way. It’s not bad, but it does nothing to justify its existence.
