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I've been wanting to try a Rye whiskey lately, and to that end I picked up a bottle of Jim Beam Rye last night. Big mistake! About the kindest thing I can say about JB Rye is it is bland. So light I almost didn't taste it.

Now, before this scars me forever, I decided I'd like to give Rye another shot. I have read a few posts, and picked up that Wild Turkey Rye is a very good choice. I also read that Sazerac Rye was pretty good. Not to be a name-dropper, but I've also heard of Pikesville Rye and Rittenhouse Straight Rye.

I'm hoping some of you fine folks will give me some informed opinions on some (or all) of these, and perhaps some that I've missed.

Thanks for the input mozilla, I pretty much decided the Jim Beam Rye is not suitable for drinking straight. It *might* make a half-way decent whiskey sour, and if not, it will probably go well with Coke or Pepsi

I think I will take your (and others) suggestion, and give the Wild Turkey Rye a shot. Chances are pretty good that I will be able to find it locally (pretty much all of the other "top shelf" Rye whiskeys are not to be found in Flagler County, Florida). I will probably have to make a pilgrimage to Jacksonville to find any of these other Rye whiskeys.

I just got home from shopping... picked up a bottle of WT Rye. The difference between WT Rye and Jim Beam Rye is like night and day! Very nice, spicy overtones on the WT, with a lingering spicy finish. Just what I hoped for. As an aside, I noticed this shop also carries Sazerac Rye and Russell's Reserve Rye. This gives me a little room to experiment with some of the Rye whiskeys out there.

Thanks for the recommendation of WT Rye, mozilla!

I didn't care for the JB rye either. They also make Old Overholt that is definitely better than the JB rye. Overholt is similar in taste to something like Seagrams Seven or Canadian Club. The WT rye and the Rittenhouse BIB are both very good. If you like one you would probably like the other. OGD 114 is a bourbon with a lot of rye in it. It's worth a try.

Rittenhouse Rye is very good. Both the under $20 80 proof straight Rye, as well as the completely different $150 21 yr old 100 proof single barrel Rye.

My thinking about Old Overholt is not that it is exactly the same as some blended whiskies. I am just trying to compare it to something other people may have tried. I only drink straight whiskies anymore myself. When I first tasted Overholt my first impression was it reminded me of the Canadian Club my grandad used to drink. Yes Overholt is straight whiskey, but it is mildly flavored 80 proof whiskey. To me it is more in the category of the stuff people use for making cocktails.
The Rittenhouse and WT Rye are a lot different (much more flavor).

I just picked up a bottle of the Vintage Rye 23 from KBD, and finally got ahold of a bottle of the Rittenhouse BIB 100 proof Rye. Should be interesting to compare to the 80 proof Rittenhouse Rye and the Rittenhouse 21 yr.

mozilla wrote:The next one to try after WTr...is Sazerac. They are worlds apart in flavor and start to show the variety that can be achieved in the rye spectrum. RRr is good, but too similar to WTr for the extra $$. Rittenhouse would be high on the list, if available in your area.

I have had both the WT 101 rye and the RR rye and have read the the RR rye is a 10 yr dummy down 90 proof version of the WT 101 Rye I don't think they taste anything a like. I highly prefer the WT 101 rye.

mozilla wrote: The Russells Reserve rye is only a six year product. It's the RR bourbon that is a ten yr product.

I knew that I don't know why put 10 yr down I wasn't thinking.

I have drank the Old Overholt Rye for a couple of nights now, and I must say don't come here for flavor. To me it tasted a little bitter and dusty. And not dusty in a good way, but like dust! Kind of like when you are walking down a gravel road and a car passes. Not a pleasant flavor. I will have to try the WT rye. Do they have both an 80 and a 101 proof version? I think I've seen the 80, but I know I would prefer the 101. OO has some very interesting history however, but I don't want to digress the conversation. I have made a post about it on my web page if you are interested.

-Don

Heaven Hill made their own rye, and rye for others, in Bardstown until the fire in 1996. Since then, even since they bought Bernheim, it has been made for them at Brown-Forman in Shively. Heaven Hill takes the new make, barrels it, and ages it themselves in their own warehouses. The reason is capacity at Bernheim.

The 20+ year old stuff they have been selling as Rittenhouse Very Rare is DSP-31 juice that was made for a customer who never collected it. When Heaven Hill felt it was peaking, they asked the customer if they could buy it back and the customer agreed.

The Brown-Forman Distillery in Shively is a modern distillery that I don't think has ever operated at capacity. They make Early Times and Old Forester there as well as some of the bourbon that goes into Woodford Reserve. They don't do contract distilling per se, but will make whiskey for other producers to help them over a hump, as they did for Heaven Hill after the fire, as they do for Diageo, and probably for others.

Don Galligan wrote:I have drank the Old Overholt Rye for a couple of nights now, and I must say don't come here for flavor. To me it tasted a little bitter and dusty. And not dusty in a good way, but like dust! Kind of like when you are walking down a gravel road and a car passes. Not a pleasant flavor. I will have to try the WT rye. Do they have both an 80 and a 101 proof version? I think I've seen the 80, but I know I would prefer the 101. OO has some very interesting history however, but I don't want to digress the conversation. I have made a post about it on my web page if you are interested.

-Don

The WT Rye only comes in 101 you'll love it. They have the RR rye but don't go there.

If Pikesville Rye is available in your area give that a try. It's my favorite 80 proof pour of any kind. Not terribly complex but sweet, tasty and smooth. Not much in the way of rough edges but lots of taste.
If you find you like Rye you owe it to yourself to try some Handy, Sazerac 18 and Old Potrero also.

I just tried some AH Hirsch Rye 22 year old!!! WOW!! That is great stuff! Very expensive though. It runs about $170 for a fifth. I'm trying to justify buying one, because it was GREAT!

Distil your own rye.

It's really easy.

You just have to wait a while. No big deal.

Rye is the very easiest whisky to distil and age.

Linn