Some buddies and I did a blind taste testing with whiskey awhile back. We had Maker's Mark, Gentlemen Jack, Jim Beam Rye, Cedar Ridge, and Templeton Rye. I think there was one more that I cant remember. Anyhow, one friend had the "bartending" duties. He had rocks glasses that were numbered and he poured some of each whiskey in each glass. Only he knew which number corresponded to which whiskey. We had to sample each and rank them. I remember when it was my turn, one of them was distinctly my favorite, and one was distinctly my least favorite, and then the middle of the pack was a bit tougher to rate. After each whiskey was revealed, my favorite was the Templeton. And actually, it won with my other 2 friends who participated in the sampling.
So, in our little experiment, we showed that there really is more to Templeton Rye than just the "branding" and back story. Sometimes that stuff can trick the mind.
Oh yeah, my least favorite was the Beam Rye.