Proof & Wood The Stranger 7 Year Old Polish Whiskey (75cl, 50%)

The Stranger is a seven-year-old rye whiskey from independent bottler Proof & Wood Ventures, bottled at 50% in a 750ml bottle. It is non-chill-filtered and drawn from small batches of roughly ten barrels. The spirit was distilled in Poland from a 100% rye mash, then shipped to Kentucky and aged in ex-bourbon and ex-rye barrels. Using used barrels rather than new oak makes it a Polish-American hybrid. The nose is described as caraway, dill and cracked pepper with dry grain and a hint of honey. The palate is spicy and savoury, with rye bread, white pepper and baking spice over light oak, and it finishes dry and warming with lingering pepper.