New rye whiskeys

[JeffRenner]

My first clue that something wasn't right was the fact it showed up on a local retailer's shelf.

That is surprising since their web site says that it is available only in Iowa.

I will label myself a "glass-half-full" kind of guy but also a skeptic. I share Chuck's doubts.

Their marketing is very clever - note the distressed label and what appears to be a tax strip (!). But this just raises a warning flag in my mind. All sizzle and no steak. All cackle and no eggs. Where's the beef?

I also hope they are producing a real product. But I suspect that anything they do produce start to finish on site is going to cost well north of $30 for a four-year-old product. After all, they look to be going for the impressionable, image-conscious drinker who spends way more than that for single malt scotch, and even for fancy (pure alcohol and water) vodka.

Jeff

[ILLfarmboy]

That is surprising since their web site says that it is available only in Iowa.

Jeff

I live not far from the Mississippi river. I spotted the Templeton rye At A Davenport IA. Hy-Vee grocery store; a little over 40 miles from home. Since I live in a rural area 40 miles is still local. I've yet to spot any on the IL. side of the river.

[cowdery]

I received a form e-mail from Templeton today, that apologized for being a form e-mail and promised, "we will be replying to specific questions over the next several days." It mostly repeated what is on the web site in a FAQ format, but I thought the following might be of interest to anyone who is near there.

How is it made? / Can we visit your distillery? – We would love to have you visit the distillery by appointment. You can set up a tour through info@templetonrye.com.

I'll keep you posted. I did suggest that he visit Straight Bourbon and reply here, so maybe he will.

[cowdery]

I heard from Scott Bush, president of Templeton Rye, and we have exchanged a couple of emails. We still have a lot to talk about, but I thought I would pass along the following.

First, he invites anyone who is interested to come by for a tour. Just email him at info@templetonrye.com to make an appointment.

He concedes that "we did have product made by a third party (not a big player) while we were getting our distillery up and running and have said that publicly many times."

He also said, "that is indeed not our still on the website, the folks who put our site together must have just pulled that from somewhere. Our still is not nearly as pretty but is very functional. It is a 300 gallon insulated copper pot still."

He's going to send me a picture of it.

He also said, "we think this concept is a winner because people are sick of manufactured brands," so clearly his heart is in the right place.

Please don't ask me questions about anything else because I don't have the answers. He responds pretty promptly to email. I know he has viewed the site and maybe he'll post. He certainly would be welcome.

As I have said before, we want to be excited about these artisan products. We are ready to embrace them. Show us you've got the goods and we'll be your loudest advocates.

[cowdery]

Here's a picture Scott sent me of their still.

[TnSquire]

I like their still better. They need to put it into a location with more character though. So institutionalized.

So has anyone tasted it yet?

[Martian]

Fleischmann's Rye is still on the Barton Brands web site.

[LeNell]

I was told by Barton that they were doing away with Fleischman's. I have a bottle of the Templeton and it's quite good. It's fruity and sweet.

Tuthilltown Spirits that launched New York's first bourbon with us last December just came out with two ryes. Both 46%, 100% Canadian rye grain, aged around 4 months in tiny Missouri oak barrels, retail around $39 and bottled in 375ml bottles for Batch 1. The differences are:

"Government Warning" Rye: grassy and a bit hot. Only 200 bottles produced.

Hudson Manhattan Rye: fruity and perfect for a Manhattan cocktail. Around 600 produced. Mashbill included 20% peated rye.

Young and not "straight" but noteworthy. Ralph and Brian, the owners of Tuthilltown, have not bought spirit so forgive them for putting out young spirit. At least it's their's. Aging it in a small barrel does advance it a bit more than the standard Kentucky barrel (53 gallon?). They use a Holstein still. You can see pictures at http://www.lenells.com/gallery/album13

We're headed to Kentucky next month to select barrel #2 of Red Hook Rye. Hope to see some of y'all at the Sampler!

Let's the rye rock on!

[CrispyCritter]

I was told by Barton that they were doing away with Fleischman's.

Looks like I'm going to need to take another trip to Wisconsin.

[cowdery]

Templeton Rye is launching this week in Chicago, with various activities including a tasting at Binny's and a party at the Double Door.

I don't care.

Am I wrong?

[ILLfarmboy]

Templeton Rye is launching this week in Chicago, with various activities including a tasting at Binny's and a party at the Double Door.

I don't care.

Am I wrong?

My first impression of Templeton Rye was "lackluster". But In fact I think I was a bit harsh in my review. I have since revisited the bottle on several occasions both neat and in a few Old Fashioneds and a couple Manhattans. It has grown on me, but not much. At 90 or 100 proof I think it would be more interesting especially in a Manhattan where at 80 proof it can be overpowered by the vermouth. I think Gary Gillman described Templeton Rye as "creamy" and I concur. If you are a rye man I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, but it's nothing to go nuts about.

[Gillman]

Yes I liked it, I thought it had its own, somewhat mild, profile.

Gary

[cowdery]

About my only interest in Templeton at this point is the still interesting and unanswered question of who made it. It is a good to very good, well matured straight rye. Is it, at $35, better than Rittenhouse Rye BIB at $13? No, no, no, and it may, in fact, be the same whiskey. That, at least, is one of the possibilities.

So, who could it be? Who makes conventional straight rye? (The "conventional" is to deliberately exclude OP from the discussion.)

Brown-Forman (DSP 354) for Heaven Hill, i.e., Rittenhouse and Pikesville.

Wild Turkey for Wild Turkey Rye

Buffalo Trace for Sazerac Rye

Jim Beam for Jim Beam Rye and Old Overholt

Barton for Fleischmann's.

It has to be one of those five, doesn't it? Who am I missing?

[Gillman]

My guess would be youngish Beam-distilled rye of the type made for Heaven Hill.

A recent, 3 year old Pikesville struck me as somewhat similar to the Templeton.

Gary

[cowdery]

To the best of my knowledge, Beam has not made any rye for Heaven Hill. The Heaven Hill ryes have been made by Brown-Forman ever since the fire.

[Gillman]

Oops, correction gratefully received. And so I meant, rye made at B-F for HH, or that style of rye.

Gary

[cowdery]

I thought that might be what you meant, because I concur with that assessment. I think there's a very good chance it is that whiskey, either sourced through Heaven Hill or directly from B-F.

[Gillman]

It's got the characteristic mildness, Chuck, seemingly of 3-4 year old whiskey selected (in recent years anyway) for Pikesville. Rittenhouse seems to get a richer, older profile especially of course for the Bonded version, which I believe is in fact 6 years old vs. 4 even for the 80 proof Rittenhouse.

Gary

[cowdery]

We are in complete accord.

[ThomasH]

If the Templeton rye was cheaper and stronger than 80 proof, I would go for it. I can get 2 bottle of WT 101 rye off the shelf here for 38.00 or even have 2 bottles of Rittenhouse BIB shipped in from Binnys for just a few dollars extra than the cost of one bottle of Templeton!

Thomas

[Gillman]

The Templeton rye released to date was sourced from another distiller pending full aging and release of the company's own-make. However it (the current one on the market) may have been stored for an additional period on the company's premises, whcih might give it a character somewhat different from the 3-4 year old straight rye profile we were discussing. They seem related, is all I can say, and in trying to figure out the source of the Templeton, I think B-F's facility may be it but of course I don't know. But again I do find (price apart for a moment) the Templeton a very nice drink of rye, and I am really looking forward to the day it releases whiskey fully distilled and aged on its site.

Gary

[drli]

Tonight, I opened a bottle of Templeton Rye, that I purchased from binnys a few weeks back. To me it has a nose of dill weed, and a finishing taste of ripe banana. I tried it next to a pour of Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye that I opened 2 nights ago. Side by side I prefer the Van Winkle for its spicy nose and taste, the Templeton Rye lacks all of this. For the money, I will buy the Van Winkle Rye everytime. I also like baby Sazerac and BIB Rittenhouse, more. Templeton tastes is nothing like I had before, so I can not help with were the sprit was born. But it made me think about tasting the Hirsch Ryes for some reason, which I also didn't like.

[mgilbertva]

Good info ... thanks!

[HipFlask]

Well Templeton Rye is how I came across this site. I picked up a 2 bottles on my way to Missouri. I drank 1 and put one in the bunker. I was at the time of that bottle impressed. Very smooth and easily drinkable neat. It allowed me to lose the ice. However, in 10 months since it has become a distant memory as I have been exploring other bourbons and ryes. I have since picked up another bottle to revisit this spirit. I too am disappointed with the fact that it is only 80 proof. Basil Hayden's is the same way good stuff but it could be better for the price if it came in 100 proof verison. It will be interesting to find out how it stacks up against the likes of Rittenhouse BIB, VWFRR 13yr, WT101 or even WT RRR 90 as I have many of these around and my taster is much more in tune now then when I last had some Templeton Rye.

[shoshani]

Brown-Forman (DSP 354) for Heaven Hill, i.e., Rittenhouse and Pikesville.

Thanks, Chuck, for posting the DSP for B-F. I have a bottle of Rittenhouse BIB that I bought a year, maybe two ago (I'm a slow drinker, shoot me ) and its label information says it's distilled at DSP KY 31, bottled by Continental Distilling, Bardstown. May I assume that the whiskey in this bottle is pre-fire HH stock? (If it is, that would mean that either the whiskey is considerably more than 4 years old, or that the brand was a "sleeper" at the time I bought it...which, come to think of it, it really was )

For that matter, is the current rye whiskey made at B-F for HH made by Parker or Craig Beam, the way all HH whiskey was done between the fire and their acquisition of Bernheim?