Savage & Cooke Lip Service Rye Whiskey 750ml

Dave Phinney sold The Prisoner Wine Company to Gallo for a reported $300 million. The Prisoner — the Napa Valley blended red that Phinney created in 2000 from Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Charbono, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon, packaged in a label inspired by Francisco Goya's "The Prisoner" etching — had become one of the most commercially successful and most specifically audacious American wine brands of the 21st century's first decade. Phinney used the proceeds to purchase vineyards in France, Italy, Greece, and Spain. And then he opened a distillery on Mare Island.

Savage & Cooke distillery is located on historic Mare Island in Vallejo, California — the former naval shipyard northeast of San Francisco whose brownstone buildings, plentiful space, and proximity to both Napa Valley and San Francisco provided the specific combination of history, scale, and geography that Phinney wanted as the foundation for his next project. The Prisoner's founding concept — blending varieties that California convention didn't typically blend, finishing in unconventional vessels, packaging in art-forward black opaque glass — transferred directly to Savage & Cooke's whiskey program. Lip Service is a three-year-old rye, with initial aging in new American oak, finished in a French Grenache cask — rye sourced from Tennessee, made from a mashbill of 51% rye, 45% corn, and 4% malted barley. aolMedium

Gold Medal at San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2020. Drinkhacker's Christopher Null awarded A- and described it as "a relatively classic rye experience" that offers more than its three-year age suggests. Blackwell's own listing: "Lip Service talks a big game with bold spice and silky charm — and damn if it doesn't back it up. Expect a nose of orange peel, clove, and candied ginger, followed by a palate of berry compote, honey, and white pepper, culminating in a finish with exotic spice and toasty vanilla." Bourbon & Banteraol

The bottle is black opaque glass with avant-garde art photography on the label — the most visually specific and the most immediately display-worthy rye in the Blackwell's section. Layered and complex, this is Dave Phinney's highly anticipated three-year-old Rye Whiskey. aol

Origins & Craftsmanship

The Savage & Cooke distillery, owned by Napa Valley winemaker Dave Phinney, is located on historic Mare Island and opened in 2018. The decision to locate the distillery on Mare Island was due to its fascinating history as a naval shipyard, the plentiful space, stunning brownstone buildings, and its proximity to both the Napa Valley and San Francisco. Savage & Cooke distills, ages, finishes and bottles a range of brown spirits including Bourbon, Whiskey and Rye. Dave crafts offerings in the style that he appreciates most: complex flavors, concentration, balanced oak influence and lushness. aol

The Lip Service rye's production architecture reflects the founding philosophy most directly. The base whiskey is sourced from Tennessee — a 51% rye, 45% corn, 4% malted barley mash bill that produces a more balanced, slightly sweeter character than the high-rye Indiana 95/5 formulations that dominate the craft rye market. After a minimum of three years in new charred American oak barrels — the primary maturation that builds the rye spice, vanilla, and oak integration — Master Distiller Jordan Via transfers a portion of the rye to Dave Phinney's Grenache barrels for a period of about two months, adding flavor, texture and character. The Grenache casks come from Phinney's own vineyards in France — the personal wine production that his post-Prisoner vineyard acquisitions produced — ensuring the specific Grenache grape's most characteristic red berry, slightly spiced, and moderately tannic qualities are deposited into the rye during the finishing period. Spec's

Water is pulled from a spring on Dave's high-elevation mountain property in Alexander Valley, not far from the distillery — the most specifically California-sourced and the most specifically Napa-adjacent production decision in the Lip Service's crafting. The black opaque glass bottle is the Savage & Cooke house design language across its range — matching the Second Glance bourbon and the Burning Chair bourbon in the same arresting format, each labeled with avant-garde art photography. Spec's

Critics Reviews

San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2020 — Gold Medal

Drinkhacker (Christopher Null) — A-: "Despite its relatively young age and unique finishing, this whiskey offers a relatively classic rye experience."

Wine.com confirmed tasting notes: "Intense and exciting on the nose with appealing notes of orange peel, clove and candied ginger. Creamy texture." Bourbon & Banter

Flaviar confirmed tasting notes: "The aroma has classic rye spice, but it's layered over pronounced woody notes with a bit of anise and hard caramel. The palate is well-balanced and sips older than its years with notes of buttery cinnamon roll, berry compote, and Aleppo flakes." The Whiskey Ramble

Blackwell's Wines & Spirits official listing: "Lip Service talks a big game with bold spice and silky charm — and damn if it doesn't back it up. Expect a nose of orange peel, clove, and candied ginger, followed by a palate of berry compote, honey, and white pepper, culminating in a finish with exotic spice and toasty vanilla." aol

Savage & Cooke official profile: "Intriguing and inviting right from the start. Citrus, tropical and floral notes evolve to white pepper and toasty vanilla on the palate. Rich, layered and complete." Spec's

Tasting Profile

Nose Warm amber — three years of new charred American oak and the two-month French Grenache cask finish producing a color of moderate richness. The nose opens with the combination that Blackwell's own description captures most immediately and most memorably: orange peel, clove, and candied ginger. Orange peel arrives first with a bright, slightly bitter citrus quality that is simultaneously the Grenache finishing's most direct contribution — the red wine grape's orange-adjacent character deposited through two months of cask contact — and the rye grain's most characteristic aromatic direction. Clove adds the exotic warm spice that distinguishes the Lip Service's finishing program from standard unfinished rye whiskey's more conventional pepper-and-cinnamon spice profile. Candied ginger adds the most memorably whimsical and the most specifically Phinney-winemaker-sensibility aromatic note — sweet, slightly exotic, and entirely consistent with the Grenache's warm-weather grape origin. Classic rye spice threads through beneath these more exotic notes from the Flaviar description. Pronounced woody notes from the new American oak add structural depth. A bit of anise adds the most specifically rye-grain-adjacent herbal quality. Hard caramel adds warm sweetness. aol

Palate Well-balanced, richer than the age suggests, and specifically wine-influenced — the Grenache finishing's most directly palate-apparent contribution in a texture and flavor profile that the Flaviar "sips older than its years" characterization confirms most accurately. Berry compote arrives as the palate's most specifically Grenache-cask-derived and the most specifically Dave-Phinney-winemaker-sensibility flavor note — the warm, slightly jammy red berry quality of southern French Grenache wine deposited into the rye through two months of cask contact. Honey adds warmth alongside the rye's natural sweetness. White pepper builds with the spice character that the 51/45/4 mash bill's rye content produces most directly. Buttery cinnamon roll adds the most specifically dessert-adjacent and the most satisfying secondary flavor note from the Flaviar tasting — warm, slightly caramelized, and entirely consistent with the Grenache finish's fruit-sweet influence on the rye's spice. Aleppo flakes — the Turkish chili flake whose warm, slightly fruity, moderately spiced character is the most memorably exotic spice reference in any rye whiskey tasting note available — adds the most specifically unusual and the most immediately conversation-generating palate quality. The palate is rich, layered, and complete in the official Savage & Cooke characterization — Grenache finishing having added the specific weight and texture that three-year rye without finishing cannot achieve.

Finish Long, spiced, and toasty vanilla-warmed. Exotic spice carries the close most persistently alongside toasty vanilla — the finish with exotic spice and toasty vanilla confirmed in a close that sustains the Grenache-influenced complexity well past the swallow. The rye spice returns at the finish's structural backbone before the vanilla's warmth resolves the whole experience into a long, satisfying, rich conclusion. aol

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Neat at room temperature or over a single large ice cube — the orange peel, candied ginger, and berry compote character are most vivid without dilution, and the 45% ABV is accessible enough for neat sipping without water. The black opaque bottle and art photography label make this the most visually dramatic and the most immediately conversation-generating bottle on any bar shelf. Outstanding in cocktails — the Grenache-finished berry compote and exotic spice character making it the most wine-forward and the most specifically winemaker-influenced rye mixer available in the section.

Cocktail Suggestions

Lip Service Manhattan (the natural home) 2 oz Savage & Cooke Lip Service · 1 oz sweet vermouth · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · Luxardo cherry. Stirred over ice, served up. The berry compote and Grenache-finishing character bridges sweet vermouth's botanical complexity in a Manhattan whose wine-forward rye character aligns more specifically with the vermouth's grape origin than any standard rye achieves — the most specifically wine-sensibility cocktail available from any rye in the store.

The Phinney Old Fashioned 2 oz Lip Service · 1 tsp Demerara syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · 1 dash orange bitters · expressed orange peel. Stirred over large ice. Orange bitters amplify the orange peel nose — the candied ginger and exotic spice carrying through the format with the Grenache's warm berry dimension providing the most specifically California winemaker contribution.