Rye List

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Here's a list I compiled from various sources on Rye Whiskeys and the distillery/company that produces them:

Heaven Hill (Bardstown, KY):
Pikesville Supreme
Stephen Foster
Rittenhouse

Jim Beam (Clermont, KY / Boston, KY):
Old Overholt
Jim Beam Rye

Wild Turkey (Lawrenceburg, KY):
Wild Turkey Rye

Stitzel Weller (Louisville, KY):
Old Rip Van Winkle Old Time Rye (12)
Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye (13)*
Hirsch Rye (13)????????*

Anchor Distilling (San Francisco, CA):
Old Potrero (1)

In decreasing order of rye content:
Old Potrero (100%)
Old Overholt (61%)
Wild Turkey (54-55%)
Heaven Hill (52%)
Jim Beam (51%)
Stitzel Weller (unk, at least 51%)

Any others?

Cheers,
Bushido

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Bushido--
You list Stitzel Weller as the distiller for the Hirsch/Van Winkle ryes; do you have something definitive on that? Murray's latest book ("Classic Bourbon...") has the Van Winkle ryes coming from the Medley distillery, and aged near Lawrenceburg. I don't think Jim's above making an educated guess, do you perhaps know something he doesn't?

Lew Bryson
Hirsch Reserve 16 YO: Real Pennsylvania Bourbon

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Hi Lew,

No, actually I have no better insider information than does Jim Murray, in fact a lot less. I probably should have put question marks on all of that. It was just a way to put the Van Winkle and Hirsch ryes on the list for completeness sake. I just recently got the Jim Murray book and you are indeed correct as to his speculation on the origin of the whiskey. Since Stitzel Weller is the curator of the Van Winkle brand, it seemed only fair to list these ryes under their moniker.

Sorry, no earth shaking insights here....

Cheers,
Bushido

[shoshani]

Bushido,

You list the rye content of Van Winkle as "unknown, at least 51%".

My bottle of VW13YO came with a tag written by Julian, giving the mashbill:
51% rye, 38% corn, 11% barley malt.

There is even a small plastic pouch containing whole rye grains. Nice touch.

[jvanwinkle]

Stitzel-Weller has never produced any rye. Jim Murray is correct, I have used some Medley rye for my whiskeys. Glad you liked the bag of rye on the hang tag. A friend gave me that idea.(of course I gave him a bottle for his efforts). I wanted people to see what rye grain looks like
Julian

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Unforunately my bottle came with no such accoutrements. I have seen (and used) rye grain for a Roggen-style brew. I suppose if I was sufficiently visionary, I would have distilled my beer 10 years ago and had a nice little stash of rye whiskey by now. Illinois rye? Sounds like a collectors' item to me.

So Julian, why so enigmatic when posed with the direct question? Was it your "rye" sense of humor?

Cheers,
Bushido

p.s. sorry I ran out of time to come visit you during Whisk(e)yFest