Sazerac Rye mashbill

[Josh]

No, but my wife went to Valpo!

[ErichPryde]

That's interesting because that mashbill is almost the same as what HH is using for Rittenhouse/Pikesville and yet I find the "Baby" Sazerac to have a much stronger rye quality to it. The Rittenhouse and Pikesville, while certainly a rye whiskey, are mild, soft, and easy to sip. Almost bourbon-like. The "Baby" Sazerac I had was much drier, more bitter, and spicy. Everything a traditional rye should be..

I've been thinking on this a lot lately. Do we really have any idea what a typical rye should taste like? the dusty ones I've had have been sweeter and more floral, typically... But how many ryes are on the market, now? Is the number of 4 year old/NAS Ryes out there really enough to say? We all know what a bourbon should taste like, no doubt.

I love Handy, and despise "baby" saz with feeling. I really like Rittenhouse, and find the Rye presence to be there- but NOT bitter... and the spices aren't hot, which is the problem that saz jr has (but not exactly handy??)

Good, because I love my Rittenhouse and Pikesville just the way they are!

The COK was made at Bernheim in Louisville.

Remember how the glut worked. Sales kept declining, so even after they stopped making so much, inventories continued to grow. When companies stopped making it altogether, but still had brands through which to sell it, they always bottled the oldest whiskey first. They also would then either discontinue or sell their rye brands, not necessarily with stock since the buyer was probably overstocked too. There was some left over and it just sat there, aging, until somebody decided they wanted it. It wasn't much, relatively speaking, so most people weren't interested. It was only when someone found/created the boutique market that they started to sell a few barrels, then a few barrels more. I'm prepared to believe it was Julian Van Winkle who started it. He started to see sales of extra-aged bourbons picking up and thought 'why not a rye?' And his business model worked in small quantities, that might just use a barrel or two at a time. The barrels he rejected then wound up at KBD, where they got bottled as a lot of other things, but always in very small quantities.

Thanks, chuck. definitely one of the more concise explanations I've seen. Makes a lot of sense and helps me fill in a couple of pieces.

Here in MI, the supply (of Sazerac Rye with no age statement) is pretty much available only around Sept.-Nov. and Feb.-March. The retail stores call their favorite customers to let them know that when have a few bottles available. When I wrote to Sazerac, they replied that they "bottle Sazerac Rye only twice a year – typically around January and August" and "the popularity of Sazerac Rye has exploded the past few years and it is a challenge to ramp up production to meet demand since there is aging involved……we just can’t speed up the barrel aging process!".

Which is definitely a sign that it is, unfortunately, the minimum of 4. I've heard unsubstantiated rumors that Ritt BIB is older, but frankly I don't care. Ritt has gotten much, much better in the last 2 years. We'll see what changes may, or may not occur when it officially is produced at a different distillery...

[cowdery]

There wasn't any one profile for rye whiskey and we believe the Western ryes were more bourbon-like while the Eastern ryes tended to be not straight whiskey at all but compound products most resembling present day blends.

I've told the story before about my father, who died last year at the age of 90. He recalled rye whiskey from the immediate post-war era, when he was in college, tasting like rye bread. So I went through the process of having him sample a full range of modern ryes. None of them tasted as he remembered, but he did really like the Van Winkle Rye and I made an effort to keep him supplied with it thereafter. When he passed, I inherited about half a bottle, which I subsequently enjoyed in his memory.