French whisky doesn't get nearly enough attention, and Hautes Glaces is one of the reasons that needs to change. The Episteme R18P23A Yellow Square is a malted rye whisky — and yes, that's a mouthful of a name, but what's inside the bottle is worth the effort of remembering it. At 47% ABV, it sits in that sweet spot where you're getting plenty of character without the burn overwhelming the conversation.
Let me be clear about what makes this interesting. Malted rye is not the same animal as the rye whiskey most American drinkers know. When you malt rye grain before distilling, you unlock a different set of flavours entirely — the enzymes developed during malting convert starches in ways that can produce a rounder, more complex spirit compared to unmalted rye's sharp, peppery punch. Hautes Glaces, based in the French Alps, is working with locally grown grain and an approach that leans heavily on terroir — a concept borrowed from wine that actually makes sense when your distillery sits at altitude surrounded by the fields where your grain is harvested.
The R18P23A designation in the name likely refers to the recipe and cask coding system Hautes Glaces uses to track their experiments. This is a distillery that treats each release as a data point in a larger project, and the "Episteme" line reflects that philosophical bent — episteme being the Greek word for knowledge. It's whisky-making as ongoing inquiry, which I find genuinely refreshing in an industry that too often leans on mythology over method.
What to Expect
At 47% ABV with no age statement, this is a whisky that's been bottled when the distiller decided it was ready rather than when a number on the calendar said so. For a malted rye at this strength, expect the grain character to be front and centre — rye's natural spice should be present but tempered by the malting process into something more approachable. French oak influence is common with Hautes Glaces releases, which tends to contribute dried fruit and baking spice notes rather than the heavy vanilla and caramel you'd get from American oak. The "Yellow Square" designation suggests a specific cask or finishing regime within their coding system, adding another layer of individuality.
The Verdict
At £73.25, this isn't an impulse buy, but it's fair pricing for what you're getting — a craft spirit from a serious distillery doing genuinely original work with malted rye in the French Alps. This scores a 7.5 out of 10 for me. It's a whisky that rewards curiosity. You're not buying a safe, predictable dram here; you're buying a window into what happens when French agricultural tradition meets rye whisky ambition. If you're the kind of drinker who's explored American rye and wants to see what the grain can do in completely different hands, this bottle belongs on your radar.
Best Served
I'd drink this neat, full stop. Give it ten minutes in the glass to open up — malted rye benefits enormously from a little air. If you want to add a few drops of water, go ahead, but I wouldn't drown it. And if you're feeling adventurous, try it in a Manhattan with a good sweet vermouth and a dash of orange bitters instead of Angostura. The rye spice and French character play beautifully against vermouth's herbal complexity, and it makes for a Manhattan that'll start a conversation at any dinner table.
