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[Gillman]

Just on a further point, malt rye whiskey would have been whiskey made from malted rye. I know I said in my previous post that rye whiskey was made from unmalted rye, and it was - both methods were used. When I met Craig Beam in Bardstown he said all rye whiskey today is made from malted rye, with barley malt added still to assist the fermentation. Fritz Maytag opted to use malted rye in his revivalist rye whiskeys. Rather than go with unmalted rye, he went with charred, or not, barrels, to distinguish between older (historical) types of rye whiskey. Also, he used 100% malted rye. So, the malt rye whiskey of the old advertisement might have tasted like a younger, sharper (because maybe no corn) Pikesville Rye. A gap in the current rye line-up is, therefore, unmalted rye-based whiskey. What did it taste like? Probably very spicy/resinous and full-flavoured whereas malt rye whiskey would likely have been sweetish/fruity as are the current young examples (e.g. Rittenhouse). In Flanders today, geneva gins are still made from the old 80% raw rye grist/20% barley malt -I cite Houlle/Loos in the very north of France as a specific example. Some genevers have abandoned completely the juniper berry. Houlle/Loos have not although they use juniper in very small quantities. One that uses no juniper whatever is Filliers of Belgium. If anyone is travelling in Belgium and finds some Filliers (I would advise the 5 year old or any younger expression available), you will find what is essentially the unmalted rye whiskey of the mid-1800's - IMHO.

Gary

[bourbonv]

Gary,

Here at the Filson, we have several early 19th century recipes for alcohol products such as gin, cherry bounce and peach cordial. They are all based upon whiskey, applejack or other fruit brandy. Maybe I shall post some of these later.

Mike Veach

[Gillman]

That would be interesting and instructive. Whiskey and cherry bounces were a kind of punch, I believe. Punch expressed in French is "ponche". I think the word bounce is a corruption of the word punch. The humourous implications arising from the true English sense of the word bounce could not have been unintentional, of course.

Gary