BOTM 7/10: Rittenhouse Rye BIB

[cowdery]

Rittenhouse Rye BIB is WHISKY Magazine's Best American Whiskey for 2010.

[Halifax]

To me, the proof difference makes them totally different pours. Don't let any dislike for the 80 prevent you from grabbing the BiB if you ever encounter it.

Thanks for the advice. I will pick up the 100 BIB version when spotted.

[Joshua]

There is a bunch here, and I had a really bad bottle I believe last time I snagged one. I'm not sure if I should pick up another or not... hmmmm.

[mrviognier]

Not a 'whole lot'. We were given a statewide allocation of only 28cs. It came in late February, and is long gone from our warehouse.

If you live in MN and want some, PM me. I can tell you where it went to.

[angler82]

I was at a bar last week and had two drinks:

Van winkle rye, neat

Rittenhouse BIB, neat

While the edge goes to the VW, the Rittenhouse wasn't far off. It's great stuff. Unfrotunately the stores around me are all sold out.

[mrviognier]

FWIW: just confirmed from HH that there will be no more released this year. Damn.

[The Boozer]

Was in DC over the weekend and managed to snag 2 bottles in a Georgetown store. Was the only Ritt BiB I found anywhere. Have to slip slowly. :grin:

[ThomasW]

This whiskey is the "best value for money" american whiskey you can buy in Norway! I love it! It was also the whiskey that introduced me to rye, and that I'm very thankfull for!

[p_elliott]

I love Ritt BIB I went to the only liquor I know to get in all the way in Omaha NE and they said they can't get it right now or in the foreseeable future.

[SMOWK]

Oh No! I'm out! Must leave house and buy more. BBL.

[B3Nut]

I've never seen any in Madison...wanted to try this whiskey for a good while now.

[funknik]

Ummmmm . . . I guess I fall in the middle, too . . . since there aren't many rye options (especially up here) I always like to have some Ritt BIB stashed when I can find it, but I like both the WT Rye & Baby Saz Rye better, although I don't think of the Saz as especially representative of "rye profile." I think the Ritt is serviceable whiskey, a good value pour, great for mixing and tasty neat, but I don't understand the lavish praise it gets. Wild Turkey 101 is easily my favorite rye.

[Josh56]

This may be a bit of a highjack it still applies to the BOTM. I've never bought a rye and I see a lot of options in the under $20 range, Old Overholt, Beam, Wild Turkey, Ritt. I'm going Rye shopping Friday. Knowing I'm new to Rye, would you say this BOTM is the way to go or should I start elsewhere

[Rughi]

...Knowing I'm new to Rye, would you say this BOTM is the way to go or should I start elsewhere

Rittenhouse is a great place to start.

It's closer to bourbons than some, notably Sazerac Junior, a bit more refined than WT and not as quirky as the Beam yeast signature of the Beam Rye.

Roger

[PaulO]

I agree that Rittenhouse is a great place to start (if you can find it). I like the WT Rye and Sazerac too. The three are quite different. The Rittenhouse is similar to some higher rye bourbons. The WT is more spicey. Saz is more sweet and full bodied. Old Overholt is ok if you consider it is a young 80 proof whiskey that sell for ~$12. Jim Beam Rye had sort of an odd well water or wet cardboard taste both times I bought bottles. Hey, I gave it a second chance.

[cowdery]

Our friends at Heaven Hill would like everyone to know that they have been distilling all of their rye whiskey at Bernheim for almost two years now, which means that for the next two years or so Rittenhouse Rye will be Brown-Forman's distillate but after that it will be all Bernheim.

Heaven Hill has always aged it, but Brown-Forman distilled it. Bernheim didn't have enough capacity. They fixed that.

Currently they are mashing rye one day a month. That may not sound like much, but not long ago it was three or four days a year, so twelve days a year is a huge production bump.

They are aware that Rittenhouse Rye BIB is in very short supply but are happy to report that nearly 1,000 barrels of the stuff will come of age in October, so it should be much easier to find after that.

[ErichPryde]

In that case, I would like nothing better than to get ahold of some rittenhouse here in a couple of years and run a re-barreling experiment on it.

[Josh]

They are aware that Rittenhouse Rye BIB is in very short supply but are happy to report that nearly 1,000 barrels of the stuff will come of age in October, so it should be much easier to find after that.

Thanks for the information, Chuck. That's very good news. Do our HH friends have any plans for expanding the distribution of the regular Rittenhouse any time soon?

[PaulO]

Our friends at Heaven Hill would like everyone to know that they have been distilling all of their rye whiskey at Bernheim for almost two years now, which means that for the next two years or so Rittenhouse Rye will be Brown-Forman's distillate but after that it will be all Bernheim.

That is very interesting. So around 2012 the Rittenhouse made at Early Times becomes a "dusty". I know a bunch of people are saying to themselves -save an older bottle to compare.

[matthew0715]

Well the month is nearly over so I'll put in my two cents worth. I like it. It's great for mixing - I'm having it right now in a tall glass of ginger ale. And at under $20, there's no reason not to keep a bottle on hand at all times.

The back label says, "Distilled by D.S.P. KY 354 and bottled by Continental Distilling Co. Bardstown, KY." I know that 354 is Brown-Forman's in Louisville. Why no DSP number for the bottling location? I thought that was required for BIBs, as per section 5.36, paragraph (a)(5):

(5) In addition to the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this paragraph, the labels of bottled in bond spirits shall bear the real name of the distillery or the trade name under which the distillery produced and warehoused the spirits, the number of the plant in which produced and the number of the plant in which bottled.

Just curious.

[Rughi]

...Why no DSP number for the bottling location? I thought that was required for BIBs...

We've found many instances where producers would "use up old labels" after the info was no longer completely correct. Also, in this age of computer inventory control (no longer the "key man") listing DSPs is a pretty quaint mannerism that matters a lot more to enthusiasts than to producers or the TTB.

It was brought to the attention of Heaven Hill (posts 50-56) that HH shouldn't be using the DSP 31 on the back label once it was being filled with Early Times juice. Once alerted, they changed the "31" to "354." I imagine it didn't occur to anyone to add more text about the bottling location having a different DSP than the distillation site at that time.

Ironically, if Mike Veach's reading of the regulations concerning DSPs is correct, it may have never needed changing to 354. I believe he maintains that a producer may opt to call out the "produced at" DSP as the site where the barrels were either filled or stored, not necessarily where the still was located. Perhaps he'll elaborate further.

Roger

PS - One fuzzy half-memory I have is that the last bonded version of Old Forester before going to the non-bonded "Signature" version didn't list any DSPs. Could someone check their bottle to verify/disprove?

[cowdery]

The issue is that the rules say, "produced and warehoused," and don't say what happens if the spirits are distilled and warehoused under two different DSPs. One interpretation would be that the producer may use either DSP.

I give Heaven Hill credit for using DSP-354 on the Rittenhouse labels instead of trying to squeeze through a bureaucratic loophole. To the extent the consumer understands the BIB rules, they expect the label to tell them where distilled. Actually, for enthusia

[StraightBoston]

Unlike almost every other BOTM (ROTM?) I managed to drink this one in July, albeit as part of a batch of Sazeracs (that I made in front of my wife's friend before learning her husband was a bartender -- perhaps not as impressive after all...)

I still have 2 open bottles -- a delicious one from 2005 and Pine-Sol from 2008, both DSP-354. Not likely to reload again until the Bernheim comes online.

[cowdery]

The issue is that the rules say, "produced and warehoused," and don't say what happens if the spirits are distilled and warehoused under two different DSPs. One interpretation would be that the producer may use either DSP.

I give Heaven Hill credit for using DSP-354 on the Rittenhouse labels instead of trying to squeeze through a bureaucratic loophole. To the extent the consumer understands the BIB rules they expect the label to tell them where the spirit was distilled. Actually, for enthusiasts the useful information would be where distilled and, if different, where warehoused. We don't care where it was bottled.

The original reason for this requirement was probably so that all the agency needed was a bottle to know who bore responsibility for the product inside it. Modern look-up capabilities make this, as Roger says, quaint.

[craigthom]

And there's no operating distillery at Heaven Hill in Bardstown; there's just a still-pretty burned out brick Art Deco building, so calling it DSP-KY 31 could be tricky.

I'm still disappointed that Beam can use the same DSP number for both the Claremont and Boston plants.