I was recently in Santa Cruz on vacation with my family and wanted to cash in on the cheap liquor prices in CA. I usually only drink my own here in WA but the prices are very high here. Example: $37 for Knob compared to CA where I got it for $21.99. Anyway, while I was at the liquor store I saw a couple interesting things. One was a mason jar with "apple pie" flavored alcohol in it at only 40 proof. Asking price was $23.00. No thanks. The other was this Fog's End Monterey Rye bottled at 90p. It was intriguing to me for a couple reasons. One, the ingredients on the label were listed as 50% Rye and 50% sugar. Sounded real familiar. Then I read the back of the label where the distiller noted he used the "old style" no-cook sour mash method for created his whiskey, which also sounded very similar to what 90% of us theoretically do. Anyway, I didn't buy it at first because I know the drill but then it kept eating at me so I went back and gave them my $26 and took a bottle home. Opened it last night and tried it out. The first thing I tasted were tails and the last think I tasted was a sharp/bitter charred flavor. I told my wife who was trying them with me it tasted like over charred oak sticks (I have done that a couple times) rather than the even flavors of a barrel. A later trip to the website below shows exactly that. Anyway, I had some all Rye UJSM ageing on some medium plus toast oak infusion spirals. I watered this down a bit and gave some to my wife and she thought it had more flavor and was cleaner tasting. Bottom line...this guy is making whiskey like I did when I started a couple years ago. Shit cuts and short cutting the aging process. Anyone want a bottle of rye shine aged a couple weeks? I'll give it you for free!
Here's their You Tube video of their process. Includes such niceties as plastic hose connections, plastic funnels and plastic collection vessels. Nice! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inT7ebd5YGs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Thanks Braz! Yeah I noticed the cheap equipment he used other than the Colonel copper still. What I noticed more, and explained quite a bit, was that he doesn't even crack the rye grain! No wonder there was minimal flavor.
Mashy
“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
Anyway, I didn't buy it at first because I know the drill but then it kept eating at me so I went back and gave them my $26 and took a bottle home. Opened it last night and tried it out. The first thing I tasted were tails and the last think I tasted was a sharp/bitter charred flavor. I told my wife who was trying them with me it tasted like over charred oak sticks (I have done that a couple times) rather than the even flavors of a barrel. A later trip to the website below shows exactly that. Anyway, I had some all Rye UJSM ageing on some medium plus toast oak infusion spirals. I watered this down a bit and gave some to my wife and she thought it had more flavor and was cleaner tasting. Bottom line...this guy is making whiskey like I did when I started a couple years ago. Shit cuts and short cutting the aging process. Anyone want a bottle of rye shine aged a couple weeks? I'll give it you for free! 
