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Figuring out MGP/LDI Rye Whiskeys...


ReynoldsStrong
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I've searched as much as I know how on the forum to try to deconstruct LDI/MGP Rye whiskey. Do we know what all they make? And is all the rye on the market from them the 95% rye?

There's Redemption, Templeton, Dickel Rye, Bulleit Rye, Smooth Ambler OS Rye, Willet Rye, and High West Ryes (at least a portion of the blends).

What other ryes are from LDI/MGP and are they all the same mashbill to the best of our knowledge? And yes, yes, I know that we don't TRULY know with most NDPs, especially KBD stuff, but I'm even up for church-lady gossip at this point to try and get a handle on what is being bottled that was distilled in Indiana?

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I've searched as much as I know how on the forum to try to deconstruct LDI/MGP Rye whiskey. Do we know what all they make? And is all the rye on the market from them the 95% rye?
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Hello, Reynolds,

If you go to this MGP link, and use the pull-down menu titled Product Name / Ingredient List, you should see the list of all of their products including distillates. Each distillate's mash bill is shown. It's a 'one site reveals all' resource.

http://www.mgpingredients.com/

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Nearly all the MGP ryes on the market use the 95% rye formula. The other formulas are fairly new and might just now be cropping up in some younger ryes but any brands that have been on the shelf for a while use the 95%.
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I've been able to identify over 50 brands that source bourbon or rye from MGP and there are probably a lot more. It's a long list.

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I've been able to identify over 50 brands that source bourbon or rye from MGP and there are probably a lot more. It's a long list.
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Reynolds the 95% rye mashbill was developed by the Seagrams lab guys back in the early 1950s to make a flavoring rye whisky for the numerous Seagrams blends. It proved to be a good basic whisky and subsequent owners (LDI) saw no reason to change it. It has proven so popular it's been said that consumers now think the 95% MGP product is what Rye Whisky is supposed to taste like. To their credit MGP is now producing some other mashbills and we will see what NDPs do with them in the future.

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Reynolds the 95% rye mashbill was developed by the Seagrams lab guys back in the early 1950s to make a flavoring rye whisky for the numerous Seagrams blends. It proved to be a good basic whisky and subsequent owners (LDI) saw no reason to change it. It has proven so popular it's been said that consumers now think the 95% MGP product is what Rye Whisky is supposed to taste like. To their credit MGP is now producing some other mashbills and we will see what NDPs do with them in the future.
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Thank you sir. Yes, I've read all the that before. :-)

All I'm asking is what brands do we know or think we know are the LDI/MGP 95% rye? I listed a bunch earlier - but else is out there that is bottled LDI/MGP distillate?

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. . . . All I'm asking is what brands do we know or think we know are the LDI/MGP 95% rye? . . . .

Every last one that lists 95% rye on their label, on their website, or in their marketing.

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My list can be found here (under Indiana). Pretty much all the ryes are going to be the 95% at this point unless they are very young: http://recenteats.blogspot.com/p/the-complete-list-of-american-whiskey.html

As to KBD, they source bourbon from all over. Their Indiana ryes are obviously MGP and use the 95% mashbill.

Brother, this is probably the greatest piece of documentation I've ever seen on whiskey. THANK YOU so much for sharing it!

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Every last one that lists 95% rye on their label, on their website, or in their marketing.

This is great to know! Thank you!

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Do tell. I know KBD seems to get most there bourbon from HH. And their Rye is obviously MGP. The rye is my bigger concern. But I'd like to know who sources their bourbon as well.

Willett's older ryes are not LDI (20+ years), they're from Kentucky. Who from? No clue, but it's not LDI.

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Barton, my guess is Barton. They were regularly making rye back then, they have been known to sell a bit to others, and they had unsold stock on hand. After 20 years in a new charred barrel though the overaged whiskys I've tasted were more Cognac like than Bourbon or Rye. So for me I question whether it matters who made it.

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This is great to know! Thank you!

The old ones bottled in the '80s were Bernheim. And of course, they have a current Kentucky rye that they distilled themselves.

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The original Seagram rye in Lawrenceburg was 95% unmalted rye and 5% malted rye. The 5% was switched to malted barley sometime before Seagram sold the distillery to LDI.

I've said this several times in several places, and it's still true: in the early 1990s, Jim Murray used to wax rhapsodic about this rye, lamenting the fact (at the time) that the consumer market would never get a chance to taste it on its own. Now, of course, it's ubiquitous to the point of being inescapable. But with every producer aging it differently and bottling it at slightly different strengths and ages (with Diageo sending it through the Lincoln County Process for Dickel), there's still a variety of flavors all coming from the one distillate.

I didn't know that MGPI is now making a rye that's 51% rye and 49% barley malt. Wonder where that's going, and when the first release will be.

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I didn't know that MGPI is now making a rye that's 51% rye and 49% barley malt. Wonder where that's going, and when the first release will be.

First report I remember was in April 2013 by Chuck Cowdery where he noted that at least some of the new mashbills where expected to go into production pretty much right away. Might have taken a few months or longer to get them all made and barreled.

That means some of it could be 2 years old or more. That is plenty old enough for some NDPs to put it in a bottle and slap a label on it!

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My understanding is that if straight whiskey is distilled in one state, and bottled in another, the source state must be on the label. So we get all these labels that say distilled in Indiana.

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My understanding is that if straight whiskey is distilled in one state, and bottled in another, the source state must be on the label. So we get all these labels that say distilled in Indiana.

That was how W.H. Harrison had people thinking they'd distilled it. Nothing suspicious about an Indiana bourbon distilled in Indiana!

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My understanding is that if straight whiskey is distilled in one state, and bottled in another, the source state must be on the label. So we get all these labels that say distilled in Indiana.

That is what it is supposed to say on the label. A lot of the NDP's didn't in recent years. Some of them still don't.

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My understanding is that if straight whiskey is distilled in one state, and bottled in another, the source state must be on the label. So we get all these labels that say distilled in Indiana.

Supposed to be, yes, that's how it's supposed to be, however quick buck artists will creatively interpret the rules, or ignore them figuring the extra profit is worth the penalty.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think you need to add Rebel Yell Small Batch Rye to the MGP list. The bottle says it is distilled and aged in Indiana. Most likely MGP. Not bad at all btw.

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