Best Rye Whiskey

Old Overholt was the first Rye I ever tasted,in the early 60's...Had a better label in those days,the face on Mr. Overholt was more scary then...I think in the 60's Overholt was made in Philadelphia,not quite sure,but I remember the flavor was great.

The Nid Hog said:

I'm nursing along a bottle of rye from "Few" in Evanston, IL.

Click to expand...

Sampled that F.E.W. Rye a few years ago at the distillery in Evanston. Great rye. I thought it was the best whiskey F.E.W. offered at the time.

Some F.E.W. Spirits trivia, which is very clever...

Evanston, Illinois was the home of the Temperance Movement. Frances Elizabeth Willard (F.E.W.) was the second president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement, and she was instrumental in the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition).

So, F.E.W. Spirits is located in a previously dry town, the home of the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement, and named after a person responsible for Prohibition.

malocchio said:

Old Overholt was the first Rye I ever tasted,in the early 60's...Had a better label in those days,the face on Mr. Overholt was more scary then...I think in the 60's Overholt was made in Philadelphia,not quite sure,but I remember the flavor was great.

Click to expand...

If Boardwalk Empire is historically accurate....then it was in Philly as far back as pre-prohibition....be interesting if true...cool bottle..

Happy birthday to Me! Thanks, Dad!

Congrats and happy birthday!

MrSmith said:

Congrats and happy birthday!

Click to expand...

Thanks, sir! I just realized I got a whiskey called "son of" from my Dad! Boy I am getting slow in my old age!

Shantytownbrown said:

Thanks, sir! I just realized I got a whiskey called "son of" from my Dad! Boy I am getting slow in my old age!

Click to expand...

Looking at the bottle on my computer and having "son of" pointed out ~ it also became obvious that High West may also have been playing on the initials "S.O.B." Something that my Dad certainly would get a kick out of!

Let us know what you think of it after you've had a few birthday pours. If my memory serves me correctly ~ I think that someone recommended High West earlier in this thread, although my memories seem to be locked away in the land of fog.

Icecold Dan said:

I enjoy rye and have tried many of the ones already mentioned. Recently my uncle was in town from NJ and brought with him a bottle of Hudson Manhattan Rye. This stuff was amazing.

Click to expand...

These guys make a rye/whisky blend that is also very good. The pricing is unfortunate, makes this hard to justify especially if you can't taste it beforehand, but the stuff is legit.

So I got a bottle of Bulleit (my local place was out of Templeton's) and tried a real Old Fashioned for the first time.

Thanks, enablers.

damn, it was good (muddled some sugar and orange peel (ok, it was clementine peel, that's what I had, plus one little segment), a few dashes of Angustora, ice, rye. I find it crucial to swish it around for a bit and let it sit, that really lessens the alcohol burn.

What's nice about a drink like this is that as the ice melts it keeps replenishing itself and is enjoyable for quite awhile after it's gone!

TickTock said:

So I got a bottle of Bulleit (my local place was out of Templeton's) and tried a real Old Fashioned for the first time.

Thanks, enablers.

Click to expand...

I like Bulleit. It kind of generic that Bulleit doesn't actually make it, and it's anything but a "small batch" spirit, but the other distilleries that source their rye from that factory are actually pricier (as far as I know). It's my go-to when I have no Rittenhouse on hand.

That High West rye is excellent. Huge rye taste so you have to know what you are getting.

Colonel E.H. Taylor Straight Rye
Whistle Pig
Templeton's
Bulleit

Good to see Rye is starting to make a come back. To me its a bit of a cross between scotch and bourbon. Good mix.

Question for the Bulleit rye fans..I am NOT a fan of their bourbon. It's far too aggressive & harsh. Do you any of you like the rye but not the bourbon or vice-versa?

eperdu said:

Question for the Bulleit rye fans..I am NOT a fan of their bourbon. It's far too aggressive & harsh. Do you any of you like the rye but not the bourbon or vice-versa?

Click to expand...

Yeah, their bourbon tastes like drinking maple syrup mixed with brown sugar and fire.

The rye is nice, though.

triplequad said:

Yeah, their bourbon tastes like drinking maple syrup mixed with brown sugar and fire.

The rye is nice, though.

Click to expand...

You're so polite, I was going to go with gasoline. ;-)

FWIW, my son's drink of choice is rye, and his favorite appears to be good old, inexpensive, Old Overholt. Sadly, I cannot go near the stuff because of a smell/taste aversion that I developed after a night of, shall we say, exuberant overindulgence in that beverage back in college.

01HDFXD said:

FWIW, my son's drink of choice is rye, and his favorite appears to be good old, inexpensive, Old Overholt. Sadly, I cannot go near the stuff because of a smell/taste aversion that I developed after a night of, shall we say, exuberant overindulgence in that beverage back in college.

Click to expand...

Hm, that's what I usually hear about tequila ...

Huge fan of Bulleit....great for Old Fashioneds or even neat

I picked up some Bulleit Rye yesterday to give it a go. My current fave is Templeton but we don't have as wide a variety here as we do straight bourbon.

The ryes I've tried are Templeton, Bulleit and Russell's Reserve. Can't say anything bad about any of them.