Rye
While bourbon is considered America’s native spirit, rye was actually the favored whiskey among her earliest colonists and continued to be popular well into the 1800s, especially in northeastern states like Maryland and Pennsylvania. George Washington even famously distilled rye at his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. By U.S. law, rye whiskey must be made from a mash of at least 51% rye (with corn and malted barley typically rounding out the remainder of the mashbill). Rye must adhere to the same production standards as bourbon: aged in new, charred oak containers, distilled to no more than 160 proof, entered into barrel at no more than 125 proof, and bottled at a minimum of 80 proof. A straight rye whiskey must be aged for at least two years. Rye whiskey production largely ceased in the U.S. after Prohibition, despite its popularity with America’s nascent cocktail culture at the time — although rye has always been popular in Canada, and rye remains a major component in many Canadian whiskeys today. The resurgence of American whiskey in the late 1990s and an explosion in the popularity of craft cocktails around the same time has launched a revival in rye whiskey production — and consumption — in America.
Top Rye Whiskey Posts:
Knob Creek Rye
WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey 10 Years Old
Woodford Reserve Rye
Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Wheel Horse Whiskey entered the market in 2019 as a non-distilling producer devoted to American whiskey. From day one, the label has been candid about sourcing its bourbon and rye from Green River Distilling in Owensboro, Kentucky. For many whiskey fans, Wheel Horse’s 4-year-old, 101-proof releases offered their earliest opportunity…
Some belated coverage (apologies) is nigh for the last two of the three Heaven Hill Elijah Craig Barrel Proof releases for 2025. I swear, guys, it’s tough to keep up. The good news is you’ll still have ample opportunity to pick up both of these releases, should either review resonate with your tastes. Elijah Craig…
The Bourbon Pursuit podcast debuted in 2015, the brainchild of Ryan Cecil and Kenny Coleman, who set out to spotlight the people, decisions, and quirks shaping American whiskey. Rather than recycling talking points about tasting notes or bottle hunts, they shined a light on the individuals who distill, blend, and build the brands everyone talks…
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof has been synonymous with bourbon since the beginning, but today the brand expands the Barrel Proof brand to a new spirit — rye whiskey. (So not too far from home.) ECBP Rye #1, batch A925, is a 12 year, 3 month old offering, made from a mashbill of 51% rye, 35%…
In 2023, Old Overholt dropped a 10 year old cask strength version of its classic rye, and in 2024 it hit again with an 11 year old. What’s in store for 2025 you can probably guess: cask strength rye at 12 years of age. Old Overholt‘s mashbill isn’t formally disclosed, but we do know this…
Did 2025 turn out the way you were expecting it to? The world’s gone so insane that, at this point, I don’t think anything that happens in the next 12 months could possibly surprise us. Did you also get the memo that the alcohol business is in massive decline? Turns out people stopped drinking, just…
Chicago was the beating heart of America’s bootlegging underworld during Prohibition — a city swimming in “giggle water” while the rest of the nation went dry. During the so-called Noble Experiment, the Windy City’s reputation for hooch-running became inseparable from its most infamous crime boss: the one and only Al Capone. But while Capone’s empire…
In 1964, Congress declared bourbon a “distinctive product of the United States,” cementing its place as America’s native spirit. While distillers may choose from a range of secondary grains to shape its flavor, bourbon remains, at its core, a whiskey born from corn. Ask someone to name the state most closely tied to bourbon, and…
We’re twelve years in on WhistlePig’s Boss Hog collection, officially the most insane thing anyone ever does with a whiskey — and they do it every year, always differently. The name of the game with Boss Hog is unusual finishing of its well-aged rye whiskey, and this year’s release is of course no exception. (Who…
Smokeye Hill is a Colorado-based producer that made a semi-viral splash in 2024 with their barrel proof bourbon with blue corn in the mashbill. I was personally and pleasantly surprised at that release’s quality, and it holds up as one of the more captivating new bourbons I tasted last year. (We also thought their 93…