Clay will fill you in properly, but must give a shout out to a fantastic whiskey at our tasting last night. Gorgeous, smooth, juicy, and filled with spice. It jumps to the top ten in value, too. Jefferson’s Straight Rye Whiskey, Aged 10 Years. 100% Rye, 94 proof. George Scott

Another great blog post at the excellent K&L site by David Driscoll.

http://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spirits-blog/2012/7/19/the-ndp-dilemma.html

***Update*** Vince Gilligan, the writer and creator of Breaking Bad gives it up for Whistlepig on the BB Insider Podcast 502. He put it in because it’s his favorite rye. “I go through two or three a day.” Ha.

Back in May, we spent the evening with four fine rye whiskies (it so happens we often spend the evening with rye) including the truly delicious Whistlepig Straight (100 proof).

Last night on AMC’s Breaking Bad (aired July 22, 2012) at the ABQ DEA, they were pouring Whistlepig into coffee mugs. Henry “Hank” Schrader (Dean Norris), Steven Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada), and Assistant Special Agent in Charge George Merkert (Michael Shamus Wiles) commiserated over the deceptive meth kingpin Gustavo “Gus” Fring (played by the astounding Giancarlo Esposito). That is seriously good product placement. And for once, it’s for a seriously good product.

We’ve devoted quite a few of our Tuesday tastings to rye whiskey this year. Turns out there are many rye whiskey brands out there from both large producers and smaller boutique distilleries.

Rye whiskey tends to be much drier and lighter bodied than “bourbon.” We chose four ryes last evening: Old Overholt, Pikesville Supreme, Copper Fox, and Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye.

Most American whiskey is distilled from corn mixed with other grains, such as wheat, malted barley, and, of course, rye. How much the makers use and in what proportion varies a good deal. A few distillers even make a 100 percent rye, like Whistlepig from Vermont or in the case of Copper Fox, they use 75 percent rye and 25 percent malted barley. Hadn’t heard of this proportion before.

Rye can really brings those “high and dry” and floral flavors to whiskey that corn and wheat mixtures can’t on their own. The whiskies last night had a nice range of “rye-ness” to them. 

Last night’s Tuesday tasting brought four rye whiskies to the table—Templeton Rye (80 proof), Masterson’s 10-Year-Old Straight Rye (90 proof), Hudson Manhattan Rye <4-Year-Old (92 proof), and Whistlepig 10-Year-Old Straight Rye (100 proof). A few weeks ago, we tasted another collection of rye whiskies and the group last night was equally diverse.

We always begin our tastings with the lower proof and work our way up to the stronger stuff. The difference between an 80 and a 100 proof drink can be significant, especially when you’re taking a big whiff.  We do a nose without water, write notes, then add some cool delicious NYC tap, nose again, write notes, and then finally get a taste.

The two older bottles last eve were big favorites and full of the qualities you want in a rye whiskey. In the case of Whistlepig, 100% percent rye, a first for many of us. Tons of orange blossom, orchid, very slight woodiness. Delicious stuff.

Pitchaya, one of our regular tasters, makes his own bitters and we plan to do a rye cocktail evening soon. The virtues of this or that rye as a cocktail mixer were pondered a good while. A few of the whiskies are so good (and not cheap), it’s hard to imagine adding anything but a bit of cold water and maybe a nice chunk of fresh ice. But rye is the base of so many classic cocktails, it will be fun to see how they hold up.

This was our first week of photography for American Whiskey, Bourbon, & Rye by Clay Risen (AWBAR). Bottle prep took some time, but we got through close to 100. Nathan Sayers is shooting all the bottles for the book and they look amazingly good.

A tasting panel at another AWBAR Tuesday. KBD has a deep collection of whiskeys.

E pluribus unum!