The time is nigh for rye

[StraightNoChaser]

My guess for this:

WT Rye stopped production a while back, and as shelves have gone empty, there's been nothing to fill them... But Ritt, on the other hand JUST shipped the seasonal allocation.

Try finding Ritt in summer... nearly impossible. Seems to land in TX (and some other states) only 1-2 times a year, and goes fairly quick. What seems to be reasonably available now won't be replaced any time soon.

My guess? This summer will see NO Ritt, NO Baby Saz, and NO WT Rye anywhere... (BT has already said they've shipped out all the Baby Saz they have for the near future...)

If you like it, bunker it now to get through the lean months. At least Ritt & Saz should be back later in the year... unlike the Turkey.

BTW, True Spirits got another case of Ritt

[theDon]

I left 3 bottles of WT Rye at Goodys 7124 Greenville Ave. They also had 7 bottles of Ritt. And they had some Woodford New and Used Rye 2 bottle set that was $80. The bottles were 375's and they came in a wood box. Looked interesting for someone who likes to waste money on fancy shit.

[Neat]

Looked interesting for someone who likes to waste money on fancy shit.

direct and to the point. i like it! i've been passing on those as well. i bunkered up on the ritt bib and wt rye recently bc i dont' want to deal with the shortages (or possible future price increase).

[Neat]

My guess for this:

WT Rye stopped production a while back, and as shelves have gone empty, there's been nothing to fill them... But Ritt, on the other hand JUST shipped the seasonal allocation.

Try finding Ritt in summer... nearly impossible. Seems to land in TX (and some other states) only 1-2 times a year, and goes fairly quick. What seems to be reasonably available now won't be replaced any time soon.

My guess? This summer will see NO Ritt, NO Baby Saz, and NO WT Rye anywhere... (BT has already said they've shipped out all the Baby Saz they have for the near future...)

If you like it, bunker it now to get through the lean months. At least Ritt & Saz should be back later in the year... unlike the Turkey.

baby saz always seems to be available. hell, last fall's (and the previous fall's) release of the handy is still available! no such luck on the van winkle rye or sazerac 18.

[birk]

timd is talking more towards what may be happening down the line this year, versus what is out there now....and he may be right, as much as it pains me to say. True, Baby Saz and Handy may be available currently to those who know where to look, but give it some time, and that will change.

Hell, at the booze store today, I met a hipster who didn't even pretend to know what he was buying. All he knew was that he was buying rye, for the bar he worked for in Cincinnati, and that's all he cared about. Didn't matter one bit what kind of whiskey he was buying. He just wanted rye. It was kind of weird, almost. I hope he enjoyed that Ri.

[Bmac]

I am not sure I am following this thread completely. Did WT announce that it is discontinuing its rye line of product?

I thought rye was making a come back?

[redbear]

Not exactly. The summary is that they've stopped production on the 101 proof. They are coming out with an 81 proof this month.

They've said they'll bring back the 101 "later". However, some people doubt that claim for various reasons.

I am not sure I am following this thread completely. Did WT announce that it is discontinuing its rye line of product?

I thought rye was making a come back?

[timd]

timd is talking more towards what may be happening down the line this year, versus what is out there now....

You got it - but it's not new, this "seasonal" Rye shortage has been going on for years... the bigger distilleries only put out a fractional percentage of their overall production as rye - and ship it in cycles. It's not (typically) produced year round, but rather a few (or only 1 or 2) times a year (both on the the distilling side and the bottling side).

My understanding is that both BT & HH have said any/everything they will have for 2012 is already on the shelves... the did up production (from what I can tell by quite a bit) this year, but it's still only an annual release.

That said, there are warehouses/distributors that will sit on a many cases of the stuff and re-release near the holidays so there's often a little rye availability "blip" near the end of the year. But, this is anecdotal based on my experience in 2 states across 4 years of watching it closely - doesn't mean it applies everywhere (RDNC here in Texas admits to this practice)

That's the joy of the 3 tier system - many moving parts that make predicting availability hard. My practice is to buy it when I see if (as much as I can afford, anyhow).

The more stores order up front, the faster the supply goes - my concern for this year, especially with WTR101 being off the market, is that demand for Saz & Ritt will go up... causing this to be a tough year to find any of the mid-shelf offerings by summer or later.

That said, I too find THH everywhere - and online inventory in DFW for Handy appears to be higher than for Saz, Ritt or WT... BUT: how many people, really, are willing to drop $65-$75 on a 6 year old Rye... one that is still usually behind the counter or in a glass display? I know of one store with it on the shelf - but still $65 is steep to your average "explorer"

[jinenjo]

There's always Beams rye offerings. The new Knob Creek might be as available as the yellow--which, along with OO, are the only ryes I consistently see on the shelf no matter where I go.

[wadewood]

That said, I too find THH everywhere - and online inventory in DFW for Handy appears to be higher than for Saz, Ritt or WT... BUT: how many people, really, are willing to drop $65-$75 on a 6 year old Rye... one that is still usually behind the counter or in a glass display? I know of one store with it on the shelf - but still $65 is steep to your average "explorer"

Ditto in Houston. The downtown Specs, a huge high volume store, still has THH sitting on the shelf at $69 and I have seen very recently in a few other stores as well.