Woodford Reserve and Chris Morris in Wall Street Journal

[StraightNoChaser]

I guess it isn't a secret anymore... the 2011 WRMC is going to be a triple pot still 100% rye :cool:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704529204576256994201597586.html

Distilling a Lifetime of Whiskey Knowledge

The next batch, for example, which is slated to come out in November, uses just rye instead of what is normally a mixture of corn, rye and malt. "The idea has a great tradition. Bartenders appreciate a rye whiskey, and I wanted to give it a try."

[Rughi]

I guess it isn't a secret anymore... the 2011 WRMC is going to be a triple pot still 100% rye :cool:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704529204576256994201597586.html

Really good insights in this article:

Job description as " overseeing the production of a good, consistent bourbon whiskey." I notice it doesn't say "create unique experiences" but the more industrial, business-driven imperative of good and consistent. This is similar to how Parker Beam has talked. I remember him capping off sentence after sentence talking of being a Master Distiller with "you've got to keep the quality up." It proves to me that distilling is about consistency, warehousing is about variety - and where the magic sometimes happens.

What did it mean to be a Master Distiller of Rebel Yell for UD in the '80s or '90s? Was that a PR and brand manager position? Did it involve barrel selection in the warehouses at SW and Bernheim? Was distilling part of that?

Woodford's testing their hand at Fritz Maytag's specialty, the 100% rye mash in a pot still. It's so...micro informing the macro...and the new bartending culture beginning to be heard in Kentucky. I wasn't clear on the malted/unmalted, though.

"You get a wonderful barrel, but then it has to go into the batch being made." Well, you don't really have to do that, unless your market philosophy is almost a single product vision, like Maker's Mark and Woodford follow most closely. Some single barrels cry out to be let into the world as themselves, and the vast majority are best vatted.

Roger

[cowdery]

I tasted the rye, at a younger age than how it will be released, last year when I did the article for WHISKY about the Master's Collection. It will be closer to WhistlePig in taste than to anything Anchor has produced. Much more recognizable as American straight rye whiskey. Old Potrero is more of an outlier, not much like anything but itself. Anchor, for one thing, uses 100% malted rye whereas the Woodford uses a mix of malted and unmalted rye. They also brought it off the still at two different proofs and aged some of each in both new and used barrels. I suspect the 2011 release will be from the used barrels because they've been trying to decide what to call it, since the used barrels preclude it from being called 'straight rye' or even just 'rye whiskey.'