Review #918 - Cedar Ridge Nine and Three Quarters Rye
Cedar Ridge produces a range of spirits - they started with wine, but quickly added brandy and whisky to their repertoire. They produce bourbon, rye, and single malts - here's a rye from them, and it's one of the oldest whiskies that they've released so far. This was aged for more than 9 years, which is where it gets its name.
The majority of the rye in this batch was aged for 9.75 years, with essentially all of the remainder being aged for 9 years, and a small amount of the batch being aged for 10+ years. While the mashbill isn't specified, the brand does tell us on their website that there's a high proportion of malted rye included in this whisky.
The bottling strength at the end of that maturation period is 57.5% ABV (115 proof).
Cedar Ridge Nine and Three Quarters Rye
USA - Rye
Price: USD 60 (2026)
Age Statement: 9 Years
Strength: 57.5% ABV
Details: Bottled 2026
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 1 month; bottles at 100%, 90%, and 80% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: A wide array of notes across our tasting sessions - sugary baking spices, lots of dark fruit like prune and plum, and a bit of a soft rye character. Licorice, vanilla, and some sage build, along with molasses, brown sugar, and clove; the emphasis ends up being on dark fruits, though. Blackberries, dark juicy cherry, lots of berry jams, and then a bit of demerara sugar and wood smoke.
Palate: Packed with dark fruit flavors - hardly tastes like a rye. Grapes, blackberry jam, black licorice, and then blackberry pie with sugary crust; we also get a spicy side of drying oak, black pepper, and some sharp orange peel. Herbal rye notes do finally arrive in the form of rosemary and sage, and accents of cola and char show up at the end. It's a medium-thick texture.
Finish: Brown sugar and cinnamon, wood spice, leather, and drying tannins - quite warming, but good flavor intensity. More dark stewed fruit like syrupy blackberry and oranges linger, and we also get icing sugar sweetness, wood char, and a hint of effervescent rye. The complexion is quite dark, and it's a medium-long finish.
Final Note: This is such a great rye, and one of the most fruit-forward ryes that we can remember tasting - it's almost hard to believe it isn't a finished rye. Dominant dark fruits, but also some nice baking spices and sugary notes - it's quite sweet for a rye whisky as well. There are subtle hints of that rye grain in the background, but we didn't find them to be very strong. This is a fun flavor bomb of a whisky, highly recommended if you have the chance to pick one up.
Value is also fantastic, as the price for this high proof, roughly 10 year old rye is just $60. Cedar Ridge continues to impress with their pricing and value proposition, and we'll watch closely for more releases like this in the future.
Our Rating: 8.2 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 8.34
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
