Rare Character Single Barrel Series Whiskey Bottle Codes, Explained By Founder Pablo Moix

Our deep dive into Rare Character Whiskey Company’s explosive growth and astounding auction potential is a comprehensive profile on the company. (Click here to read it, if you haven’t already.) All of Rare Character’s whiskey is sourced, and while some mashbills and distillery locations are somewhat straightforward—as with Brook Hill bourbon and rye, Old Cassidy bourbon, and Pride of Edison County bourbon and rye—the Rare Character Single Barrel Series is different.

It features more than 30 different mashbills from a variety of distilleries and locations. Each single barrel bottle receives a corresponding barrel code and a designated wax color. (These wax colors indicate similar, though not always identical, flavor profiles.) Here, Rare Character co-founder and barrel selector Pablo Moix explains each code and color, and offers some of his personal tasting notes.

RIO / Copper Wax

“Rio is Spanish for ‘river,’” says Moix, adding that this 8 year old straight bourbon is MGP-distilled and fully aged in Kentucky in Castle and Key Distillery’s stone warehouse. “That’s the closest warehouse to water, so it has a lot of humidity there. It’s very moldy, and feels like you need a respirator.” That warehouse and locale gives the 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley mash a very dynamic and unique taste, with notes of apricot pits. “These are Kelvin Cooperage barrels and, by nature, they give off a wine quality. That plus the heavy humidity gives this bourbon a taste that’s unrepeatable.”

TKO / Pink Wax

This 8-plus year old rye is an experimental mashbill from Tennessee distillery that remains undisclosed (we give a hint in our Rare Character profile feature). “You can’t Google this mashbill, but it’s 70% rye, 25% corn, and 5% malted barley,” says Moix. “It’s a doppleganger for [Jack Daniel’s] Coy Hill.” It’s aged at an undisclosed location in Kentucky, and has a high proof, with barrels between 130 and 140. One of the big tasting notes is bubble gum, hence the pink wax, and it drinks like a bourbon-rye blend.

I95 / Dark Green Wax

“There are only 11 of these barrels,” says Moix. It’s a 95/5 rye, distilled and aged in Indiana, in the traditional MGP style. “These specific ones are way off flavor profile, though. The liquid is very tropical fruit-forward; it’s a fruit bomb that tastes like it was aged in a pineapple. It’s really dope and I love these. These were some of the earliest barrels I bought.” Only seven I95 barrels have been released, so keep an eye out for the remaining four.

SRY (previously RHY) / Dark Green Wax

“These were bought very early in the company,” says Moix. It’s 5 to 6 year old MGP rye, aged at an undisclosed location in Kentucky, with 51% of the grain in the mashbill. “It’s a barely legal rye that drinks like a bourbon. Very corn heavy.” Look for notes of cornbread, toffee, burnt citrus, and light mint.

KBT / Yellow Wax

“My good friend Mark Harris, who passed away a year ago, owned a company called White Dog Trading and Storage. They sell and trade bulk whiskey and they were early Bardstown Bourbon Company clients, ordering thousands and thousands of barrels,” says Moix. “Except Mark wanted different things, such as asking them to produce Buffalo Trace’s mashbill number 1. That’s what KBT is.” While the yeast and physical still are different, this Kentucky straight bourbon is close enough, says Moix. That mashbill is 72% corn, 18% rye and 10% malted barley, and bottles from this barrel often have notes of brown sugar, butterscotch, and Creamsicle.

HR7 / Orange Wax

This is an MGP product, with 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley, some of it aged in Indiana, some in Kentucky. “The whiskey is orange in color,” says Moix, hence the wax color. He adds that the 7 year old liquid has a unique weight to it. “This is like drinking bourbon and immediately licking a honeycomb; it’s got that waxy honey note. It’s a little thinner but it’s really dynamic. It’s a unique bourbon that’s the most collected Rare Character barrel. The average fan has 10 plus bottles of HR7.” Moix also says this was the tipping point for the wax boom; the first bottle that he saw customers seeking out due to the wax color.

HRY / Dark Blue Wax

Another high-rye mashbill, with 36% rye, this 6.5 to 7.5 year old Indiana bourbon is “like thick mud,” says Moix, who says the liquid weight adds to the experience and was one of the reasons he picked the barrels. “It’s got a real good amount of spice; a very bourbony bourbon. Some barrels taste like old squat Elijah Craig barrel proofs (pre-2016 bottlings), with that kind of heft to them.” These also have notes of stone fruit—apricot and peach—and brown sugar.

KRY / Light Green Wax

This is a 7-plus year old 95/5 rye, distilled and aged in Kentucky. “The crazy thing about this one is it noses and drinks like a wheated bourbon,” says Moix. “Even though there’s no corn, it smells like there is. I’d put it next to Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged and bet you won’t be able to tell the difference.” There’s a nice tropical undercurrent to these, with hints of baked pineapple, brown sugar, some spearmint, and a little dill.

TNR / Light Green Wax

This is a 95/5 Tennessee distilled and aged rye and there are only 10 barrels. “This one is for the malt drinkers,” says Moix, who loves scotch grain whiskies. “This tastes like a high-end Scottish grain. There’s a thinness to it that you’d find in Scottish whisky, too. People who are malt drinkers love this. Bourbon and rye drinkers; this may not be your favorite, but it challenges the norm and that’s the fun in being creative, especially with a small run of barrels.”

K21 and K13 / Pastel Yellow Wax

These barrels are similar in flavor, but not identical. You’ll need to check the bottle’s label to determine which are which. Both are Kentucky bourbon, and both have 9% malted barley, but the comparisons end there. K21’s mashbill is rounded out with 70% corn and 21% rye and has a sweet vanilla note and a longer finish. “It’s not the same mashbill at all, but it tastes like 2012 E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof,” says Moix. K13’s mashbill is 78% corn and 13% rye, and “this may be the heaviest liquid weight of any whiskey we’ve done,” says Moix. There are only 15 barrels of K13, and it’s got a sweeter dessert profile.

KOA / Burgundy Wax

“KOA is a new one we’re dropping,” says Moix. It’s an 8.5 to 9.5 year old Kentucky straight bourbon, with a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. “There are only 18 barrels, and they’re all phenomenal, and all are jet fuel, with proofs between 137 and 146,” he says. There’s a heavy, rich oak note to these, followed by a lot of cherry syrup, a punch of tobacco, and a bit of mustiness that high proof fans will like. It’s big and robust, per Moix.

KEL and IRT / Red Wax

Both of these straight bourbons are distilled at MGP; KEL was aged in Indiana and IRT was aged in Tennessee. They have similar mashbills—KEL’s is 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, while IRT’s is 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley—though IRT is 5-plus year old and KEL is 8-plus year old. “KEL is fully aged in Kelvin barrels, which give it a unique burgundy or natural wine color. It’s the closest thing I’ve tasted to 2010 Smooth Amber Old Scout single barrels. These are bananas,” Moix says, adding he only bought 14 barrels. IRT is drier, owed in part to the aging in Tennessee, which Moix says sees more extreme temperature fluctuations than Kentucky or Indiana. “In IRT, it made this unique and singular taste that reminds me of the floral yeast from Four Roses. It’s very different, but it has a cult following,” he says.