Cedar Ridge's whiskeys are proof Iowa knows rye as well as it knows punting

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

Iowa is an underappreciated state. No one's looking up Des Moines when they're searching for vacation destinations.

But the Hawkeye State does lots of things well. It's a friendly spot in the middle of the country where the cost of living is low and the beef is awesome. Just as importantly, it's got some of the best beer in the nation. Toppling Goliath in Decorah makes incredible IPAs. Big Grove covers a wide net and does pretty much all of it well. I haven't been to Pulpit Rock, but it looks cool as hell.

This extends to spirits as well. Cedar Ridge began life as a winery while its ryes and bourbons matured. Now it's got nearly two decades of distilling under its belt and a healthy lineup of big, boozy flavors. Living in Wisconsin has meant seeing Cedar Ridge on liquor store shelves for a while, but I hadn't tried any of its offerings until now.

Can Cedar Ridge live up to that Toppling Goliath standard of great Iowa booze? Let's find out.

Straight Rye Whiskey: B+

This is bottled-in-bond, which means it's exactly 100 proof, aged at least four years, all from the same distiller and, generally adherent to an old school way of making spirits. It's not a guarantee of quality, but it also ensures you're not drinking slop.

The pour is a lovely, leggy brown that sticks to the sides of my glass before slowly settling after a quick swirl. The scent off the top is a little boozy, but hidden inside is brown sugar and bread, which suggest there's gonna be some chewy sweetness to this. It's appealing, for sure.

That sweetness holds up, bringing those sugary notes and some stone fruits that linger long after the sip has left your lips. It's heavy but not thick, boozy with minimal burn -- there's a minor astringent feeling but nothing out of place for something that's 50 percent ABV. Sure, there's a warmth that sticks to your chest when you're done, but nothing here will make you wince.

Sweet and fruit and the headliners here, though it's a bit of a moving target. Sometimes I get citrus. Sometimes I get... peach? Apricot? Cherry? Either way, it brings a depth to the spirit that reminds you you're drinking something a little bit extra. In a good way.

Double Barrel Small Batch Iowa Bourbon: B

This one's aged twice, hence the "double barrel." There's no declaration of how long on the bottle, however, and no "bottled-in-bond" to at least give us a clue. I'm slightly skeptical of whether a second barrel will add much compared to taking away some of the singularities you get from a single barrel malt -- i.e. will this taste more like a blend? -- but I'm intrigued nonetheless.

And at 105 proof, well, hot damn.

The smell is almost fruity off the top of the pour. You get some cherry, some grape and some caramel from the first sniff. Lingering underneath is the vanilla you'd expect from a double-oaked spirit.

The opening sip is surprisingly subdued. There's a little heat, but mostly it's soft caramel and vanilla that creates a very mellow experience. Is the second barrel taking away some of the roughness of a 57.5 percent alcohol malt? Maybe? But it's also taking away some of the bigger notes that would help this stand out a bit more.

Of course, there's a place for a whiskey that's simply smooth as hell. There's also a lingering sweetness that sticks with you after the sip has cleared your tongue that's very appealing. It's not a dry, crisp finish but it still leaves me wanting more.

The QuintEssential: A-

This American single malt is Iowa's Scotch. This sounds like a bizarre insult, but I'm excited about it. Iowa knows its booze, in part because it's mostly farmland and the best thing you can do with grain is turn it into the kind of spirit capable of carrying you through nights that begin at 5 p.m. and dip into temperatures that would make the Heat Miser vomit in a fit of rage.

Weird intro, sure, but that's where I'm at tonight.

Anyway, this pours a lovely shade of dark copper. It smells like sweet grain; like a bowl of Crispix for adults. It's not especially boozy, but undeniably whiskey.

Like the other two Cedar Ridge whiskeys, it's incredibly smooth. You get so much of that malt off the first sip; it's sweet and warm, bringing a bit of caramel and toast to the proceedings. The spirit itself is thick, glazing your tongue with each sip. That would be a problem if it had any recognizable burn, but no. There's nothing here that rises above the comfort level of a warm bath; no harsh swallow. It's very easy to come back to.

At the same time, it's more complex than the double barrelled malt, albeit without the same strength of oak and vanilla of its more neutral counterpart. Instead, you get so much of the flavors you want from a whiskey. There's a little fruit (cherry, peach), that malt, even a little Scotch-adjacent Highland-type peat. It's not aggressive and you won't confuse it for a Scotch, but it adds to a complex whiskey that runs from sweet to spicy in low-level terms and leaves you with a lot to think about with each sip.

No. 9 Iowa Whiskey: B-

This wasn't part of Cedar Ridge's sample package. Instead, it was plucked from the bargain cart at my local Woodman's. This was a decision made in two phases. The first: $5 for a fifth of whiskey? Hell yes. The second: SLIPKNOT HAS A WHISKEY, HELL YES.

The confluence of unexpected delights from the I in "MIMAL" clocks in at 90 proof and promises added rye influence to create an additional spice to Cedar Ridge's soft focus whiskeys. That suggests to me that it might be sweeter than the others, but honestly everything has been so smooth that a little burn may be an interesting departure.

It pours a rich caramel. It smells like cereal grains, sweet fruit -- maybe a touch of green apple?? -- and a little bit of heat. Like everything else Cedar Ridge, it's sweet and smooth, an easy sip with barrel flavors like oak and vanilla dropping in to say hi. I'm gonna chalk that sweetness up to the rye, because otherwise there isn't much of an indication there's any in here.

That's kinda the problem with this whiskey. The malt is a little basic and there isn't much here to suggest this is a special blend that leans into that rye. It's still a nice enough dram -- from what I can tell, everything Cedar Ridge makes is smooth and sippable. But there isn't anything that sets it apart from other whiskeys. It's fine, not great. Drinkable, not memorable.

Unless you can find it for $4.99 as your local bottle shop clears out space. Then you're living the high life.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?

This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Cedar Ridge's whiskeys over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Yep. Cedar Ridge makes very good whiskeys without getting caught in the bourbon nerd cycle of hype>high price>disappointment. They're fairly inexpensive and range from smooth to complex. You'll find something you like.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Cedar Ridge's whiskeys are proof Iowa knows rye as well as it knows punting