A wonderful, old fashioned rye whisky from the Anchor Distillery’s Old Potrero brand.

Anchor – who are better known for their brewing – are based in San Francisco, and began using pot stills to produce traditional spirits in 1993. The name “Old Potrero” was given to this brand, taken from San Francisco’s Potrero Hill.

This bottling is one of few whiskies in the world to be made with 100% malted rye, as malted rye is notoriously difficult to mash. The spirit has been aged in toasted casks, as opposed to charred barrels, as this would have been the style of barrel used in the 1700s. Youthful “malt spirits” that were under 3 years old were released (and very well received) whilst the distillery continued its experiments, but now we have a fully fledged, extremely delicious whisky, which has aged for up to five and a half years.

The final product is a rich, decadent whisky with notes of fresh rye bread, chocolate, spice, grain sweetness, pepper, honey, toasted nuts, peaches, apricot, marshmallows, liquorice, orange rind, cherries, bananas, crunchy malt, vanilla and soft oak.

A complex dram, it is easy to see why Potrero whiskies are such a big hit with the critics.

• Product type
  Single Malt
• Distillery / brand
  Old Potrero
• Country
  USA
• Bottler
  Distillery Bottling
• Non-chillfiltered
  Yes
• Natural colour
  Yes
• SKU
  043149