Side by side : Lower ABV Ryes

Over the last few months I've been enjoying more and more Ryes, I've bought a few bottles and swapped a few samples so am looking at three lower, three mid range and three higher ABV Ryes over three blogs.

In this blog I'm trying 3 at the lower level of the ABV range, but higher ones to follow!

Rye is normally defined as being very spicy - these three Ryes include one from Canada, one from an older US distillery and one from a more recent US distillery; let see what they are like!

Dram	Corby Spirit & Wine Lot No. 40 Rye Whisky	Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Rye	New York Distilling Company Batch 3 (2yo) [TBWC]
Characteristics	43% ABV 100% Rye mash bill	45.2% ABV 53% Rye mash bill	47.7% ABV 72% Rye, 16% Corn, 12% Malted Barley mash bill
Bottling notes	Nose : Full and zesty Body : Bold rich oak with hints of vanilla and toffee Taste : Sweet and refreshing Finish : Sweet and refreshing	Nose: Spicy with distinct notes of rye, black pepper, cedar and cassia bark sweetened with a dusting of marzipan. Hints of pear, apple and almond dance in its depths. Taste: Clove, rye, mint, molasses, sorghum and honey mingle together with hints of apple and malt. Finish: Long and sweetly spiced.	Nose: Chalkboard dust, cherries, and sweet fairground toffee apples. There’s herbal elements too, fresh oregano, basil and a hint of spearmint. Palate: There's an initial fruity sweetness, which is promptly followed by the expected rye spices building quickly, then softening to red liquorice with hints of raspberry and cigar box cedar. Finish: Mouthwateringly fruity, drying, leaving the cedar wood.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Dark bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line before falling as slow thin legs.	Dark bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line bead up and falling as slow thick legs.	Dark bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line before falling as fast thin legs.
Nose	Huge spicy rye notes straight out of the glass, cinnamon and black pepper, cereal grain and sweet citrus. A little time and a little air offers caramel and vanilla.	A more refined rye note - not as strong as the Lot #40 - less spice and more sweetness. There's a little pepper and honey rather than toffee. There's some spearmint notes in here too.	The NYDC lies somewhere in the middle - peppery spice and sweetness more balanced. There's some orchard fruit notes in here which aren't in the other two.
Palate	A watery arrival, ABV letting it down a little but the huge bite of spice more than makes up for it - the cinnamon and pepper from the nose is here but it is really sharp. There's woody oak notes, a little vanilla and a drying citrus note which turns sour as the liquid disappears - Yummy!	Again a watery arrival, the spice is there but this is dominated by a malty taste on the tongue. There's an oiliness which develops as the liquid flows over the tongue - strange. A few more sips offer toffee apple notes and a build up of sweetness.	A dry spicy arrival, not watery like the other two. There's a similar maly note to the Woodford. Fruit notes follow offering sweet berries and a little citrus dusted in icing sugar.
Finish	Long lingering spice, slightly drying and a little sweetness.	Again long lingering spice - the spice is more prominent on the finish than the nose or palate.	Long lingering spice - some sweetness and a big oaky dry note.
Overall	In my blog about different types of whisky I explained that Rye must use a minimum of 51% rye in it's mash bill - that covers all three drams here but you can see there is a huge difference between them. If it's matured for more than 2 years it can be called 'Straight' - that applies to the first two here. I'm assuming that corn and/or barley in the mash bill is helping towards the sweetness and the lack of either of them in the Lot #40 explains it's lack of it. For me Rye is all about the spice, most also offer a level of sweetness but how much do you want? The Lot #40 is full on spice with a little sweetness, the Waterford and NYDC are more balanced - but is that what you want? The Lot #40 comes out as best of the three but they were all pretty good. These were all sub 50% ABV - my next blog will be about three 50% ABV Ryes.

Many thanks to @DrinksByTheDram and @StillSurreal for the samples!