Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye Review [In Depth]
Rabbit Hole Founder's Collection Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye Details
Distillery: Rabbit Hole
Type & Region: Rye, Kentucky, USA
Alcohol: 51.9%
Composition: 95% rye, 5% malted barley
Aged: 8 years
Color: 1.4/2.0 on the color scale (tawny)
Price: $300
From the company website:
“For this latest Founder’s Collection release, our team set out to honor our core offering of Boxergrail Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey. We aged it for 8 years and bottled it at cask strength to show how cask and whiskey come together at natural strength. The result is a bold expression that embodies strong character, showcasing innovation and creativity while honoring our city’s rich boxing heritage and fighting spirit.”
Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye overview
I don’t really have much to write in this introduction. Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Founder’s Collection 8 Year rye is Kevin Zamanian’s (the founder) next special release from the Boxergrail rye lineup. The previous release was 6 years old, so an extra 2 years is always great. Hopefully it pays off for the 1,200 bottles that were released. That probably means that ~10 barrels were selected for this blend.
One thing I will mention – this 95% rye 5% malted barley mashbill is really popular. MGP (now Ross & Squibb) made it exceedingly popular, and their rye is ubiquitous. Some Kentucky distilleries, including Rabbit Hole, Bardstown Bourbon Company, and Green River have borrowed that mashbill…so don’t fix what’s not broken.
While I’ve had a lot of rye whiskeys made with a 95% rye mashbill, especially those produced by MGP, this is the first Rabbit Hole-made rye whiskey that I’ve ever had. Why they haven’t sent me the regular one yet, who knows. Maybe they’ll rectify that at some point so I can find out what that’s like.
Let’s find out if Rabbit Hole’s special release is actually special or a meaningless title in this Rabbit Hole Founder’s Collection Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye review.
This sample was provided at no cost to me. All opinions are still my own.
As an FYI, I bought and use these Glencairn glasses for everything (they’re the best): Glencairn Crystal Whiskey Glass Set of 6, Set of 4, Set of 2, or just one. Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye smell
I smell toasted caramel, toasted oak, caramel nougat, heavily baked red apple, some type of sweet brittle with only a hint of nuttiness, vanilla, herbal licorice, clove, strawberry, rose water, and more toasted oak and coffee. This is really interesting. You could fool me into thinking that this was a 12 year old rye.
This is a surprisingly oak-forward rye whiskey (but in a mature and controlled way), which is wild because rye tends to be a very potent and expressive grain with more tropical and herbal zing. The herbalness and earthiness are pushed back, for the sweetness and oakiness to be in the front. In some ways, it comes off more like a high rye bourbon than a rye whiskey.
This is a weird contradiction, Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Rye is very mature and fragrant, yet at the same time is missing a good amount of low end roundness and fullness. I’m not saying that it’s thin, it just doesn’t have that next level of roundness.
After swirling and rest, I smell toasted caramel, vanilla cream with lemon zest (very oddly specific I know), peanut brittle, licorice, cherry, toasted oak, cinnamon, clove, rose water, and grapefruit. This smells very different, for the even better. The sweetness takes a nice turn to an even more rich candied sweetness, and more low-end starts to settle in.
The rye and oak notes are well balanced, both allowing the mature oak to come through while still allowing the more bright and vibrant rye plus fruit to come through to provide a varied experience. I just wish that it were a little more full.
Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Rye smells amazing and punches way above its age and ABV, and it took swirling a second time and rest to get it there.
Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye taste and aftertaste
I initially taste caramel, fennel, a lot of roasted oak, candied pineapple, clove, cinnamon, bright maraschino cherry, rose water, and a little bit of nutty grassiness. The flavors have more of the herbalness that I expect in rye, but Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength rye is still very oak-forward. It’s not overpowering at all, but I haven’t had a rye this oak-foward in a while, maybe Redemption 10 Year Rye.
As a result, the flavors are primarily dark and roasty. The rye herbalness and fruitiness still comes through, but it’s not like other rye whiskeys where there’s a lot more herbalness (think fennel, licorice), candied pineapple, and green grapes pop among other things.
The dark sweetness and woodiness could potentially trick me into thinking that this was a 10-12 year old bourbon, not an 8 year old rye. It’s definitely flavorful and interesting, yet very confusing at the same time.
Strong “chewing” gives me rich caramel, grapefruit, licorice, roasted oak, vanilla with some lemon zest, cherry, clove, cinnamon, caramel nougat, rose water, green grapes, and a little woody grassiness. There’s an explosion of sweet, fruity, and herbal sweetness followed by a wave of oak, spice, and more herbalness.
The agitation really unleashes the deliciousness. Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye is a wonderfully flavorful, rich, and complex rye that shows off the beauty of what a rye can be. It hits a wide range of delicious flavors. The oak continues to be very present, but now it’s pushed a little further back to show off everything else.
Roasted caramel and oak, candied pineapple, dried grapefruit peel, clove, and cinnamon. After a few minutes it leaves a long lasting and very pleasant minty freshness – a very roasty and lightly herbal and fruity finish that leaves a lasting impression.
I’d believe you if you told me that this was a special selection of 10-12 year old and 55% ABV rye from one of the legacy Kentucky distilleries. It’s amazing that a “craft” distillery is creating whiskey that easily rivals, and often outperforms, the legacy stuff.
To be honest, “wow” doesn’t quite come to mind, but dang this is so good. This is one of the best ryes that I’ve had in 2024.
I’ve unfortunately lost some Glencairn’s while in transit, and that made me very sad. So, I wised up and bought this Glencairn Travel Case that comes also comes with 2 glasses so I don’t need to worry so much about them breaking. I think it’s great, and I think you’ll love it too.
Seriously, if you already have glasses, protect them.
Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Cask Strength Rye Rating
I’m very impressed with Rabbit Hole Founder’s Collection Boxergrail rye. It’s an excellent rye that hits the top to bottom range of what rye whiskey has to offer: rich and dark sweetness, herbalness that pops, the strawberry / rose twist, and a surprising amount of oak and oak spices that suggest that it’s older than the label states.
A little more pop, character, and low end fullness are missing to get this to “Top Shelf+”, which is the realm of Kentucky Owl Rye Batch 1, but it still crossed my mind as a possibility. This may be a hot take, I think this is comparable, if not better than Thomas Handy Rye, although this is purely from memory and I haven’t had Thomas Handy in years. Take that with many grains of salt.
Now for the 900 pound elephant…or giant rabbit in the room – the very rich $300 price…oof that’s a shock. I forgot that these were that pricey. The order of this review will not reflect it, but I checked the price only after tasting it. I firmly believe that this is an incredible rye, but I’m a little bummed out that this is $300. There are only 1200 bottles out there, so they really only need 1200 people + restaurants/ bars to buy one, and it’s gone.
As good as this rye is, I feel like $300 is still really steep. It’s a very very very high price, and I don’t love that part of it. Rabbit Hole is leaning in really hard on the limited release aspect of this, and I’m not entirely sure if that’s good or bad. To be fair, a rye of this quality is probably worth it, of course if you can afford it. I just wish this had been $150, maybe $200 on the higher end. This is clearly not a value play.
If you have the funds and the price doesn’t freak you out, then I think that this is a worthy purchase. Rabbit Hole definitely did an amazing job making this one special.
Meet the Author: Alex
I have far too much fun writing about whiskey and singlehandedly running The Whiskey Shelf to bring you independent, honest, and useful reviews, comparisons, and more. I’m proudly Asian American and can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Japanese.
There are no sponsors, no media companies, and no nonsense. Support The Whiskey Shelf by Buying Me A Shot.
Shattered glass really sucks, so if you’re on the move, this Glencairn-like stainless steel snifter glass should survive your travels. Full transparency, this is an Amazon affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
BrüMate NOS’R, Double-Wall Stainless Steel Whiskey Nosing Glass – 7oz (Matte Black)
Leave a Reply