Rye Whiskey

It's a goal of mine to try different, less-commonly consumed (by my peers) drinks, like Pastis, Absinthe, Calvados, and so on. One of the drinks I'm looking for is rye whiskey. I live in Michigan, and so with that in mind, do the good folks here have any suggestions of brands I ought to search out? Any I ought to avoid? Are there any even available?

Thanks in advance for any help I can get.

I like Russell's Reserve (a Wild Turkey Product), and lots of fans here of Sazerac (Buffalo Trace) although I haven't tried it. Old Overholt is fairly good and plenty cheap. IMHO Jim Beam Rye is pretty bad -- I had it for the first time a few nights ago and I was utterly uninspired by it.

I am a big fan of Templeton rye. A lot of the ryes I have tried are very spicy and don't work for me. This one is different. Give it a try if you can find it.

battlemonk said:

One of the drinks I'm looking for is rye whiskey. I live in Michigan, and so with that in mind, do the good folks here have any suggestions of brands I ought to search out?...

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If you were in Wisconsin, I'd say Fleischmann's Straight Rye. It's my holy grail dusty bottle acquisition, but I'll likely never see one in California. It's a cheap, but excellent jug whiskey in very limited distribution. It could possibly be available in Michigan.

Roger

Old Potrero single malt 18th Century (rye) whiskey
By; Anchor Steam Brewing

Lee

PS: back to 1st Lieu again. Ahh, that brings back some nice memories.

Old Overholt Straight Rye. Cheaper and better than Jim Beam. My local liquor store ordered it for me.

John

If you're not too far from the border ...


- Richard

How much do you want to spend?

Are you looking specifically for Rye Whiskey or a whisky with a strong rye mashbill/rye flavor?

Wild Turkey Rye 101 and
(although Ive never tried it.......) Rittenhouse Rye BIB 100 is supposed to be good stuff

Battlemonk, whereabouts in Detroit/Detroit area are you? I'm around here as well (East Dearborn).

Merchant's Fine Wine on Michigan Ave. in West Dearborn has both Sazerac and Wild Turkey Rye (and probably Jim Beam, but you don't want that). I found that place recently while looking for a decent wine shop. It's a good place; great selection of wine, beer, and liquor, and a good selection of fancy foodstuffs you can't find too easily elsewhere. Those are the only three brands I've seen in stock anywhere in Michigan, BTW. Rye doesn't seem too popular around here; anything else you may have to ask your liquor store to order.

The place is a bit pricey for the wines, in that they don't have any of the really cheap Spanish and South American wines that I like to buy (I've had some $6 Spanish wines that compare reasonably well to wines twice their price), but they have a great selection in the $10-$12 range, then pretty much anything above that you are willing to spend, you can (plenty of bottles reaching into triple digits).

Liquors there are at the Michigan board price, as far as I know, so they're as cheap as you're going to find them. (As some of you may know, we have a state liquor board that regulates the price of liquor here. You can't sell below the state board price, but you can sell above. Hence, most liquor stores sell at the board price, and post signs everywhere saying stuff along the lines of "Nobody in the state beats our liquor prices!")

I'm out in Ann Arbor. I usually can find Jim Beam in most liquor stores and groceries (although it's harder to locate now that they've dropped the bright yellow label). It's good for making Manhattans and costs about $14. If I'm sipping rye, I stick with Wild Turkey 101 or Sazerac. WT runs about $18/fifth and Sazerac about $7-10 more.

If you are out this way, the best place for liquor buying is Ann Arbor Wine and Liquor on Jackson Rd., between Wagner and Zeeb roads. They have a huge selection of hard liquor and beer and a lesser selection of wine.

adamjaskie said:

Merchant's Fine Wine on Michigan Ave. in West Dearborn has both Sazerac and Wild Turkey Rye (and probably Jim Beam, but you don't want that). I found that place recently while looking for a decent wine shop. It's a good place; great selection of wine, beer, and liquor, and a good selection of fancy foodstuffs you can't find too easily elsewhere. Those are the only three brands I've seen in stock anywhere in Michigan, BTW. Rye doesn't seem too popular around here; anything else you may have to ask your liquor store to order.

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When in lived in Virginia and Maryland, every bar I frequented had a selection of rye whiskey but it's hard to find in Michigan. I've bar tended in this state and never saw a bottle of rye in the selection. Most people in Michigan, at least since Prohibition, think that Canadian whiskey is rye. This is not necessarily so. I have been a rye evangelist in fine restaurants which constantly try to make my Manhattans out of bourbon or Canadian.

The abovementioned AA Wine and Liquor also carries Russell. My first experience with rye was with Old Overholt which I haven't seen in these parts in years.

Dexterous said:

I'm out in Ann Arbor. I usually can find Jim Beam in most liquor stores and groceries (although it's harder to locate now that they've dropped the bright yellow label). It's good for making Manhattans and costs about $14. If I'm sipping rye, I stick with Wild Turkey 101 or Sazerac. WT runs about $18/fifth and Sazerac about $7-10 more.

If you are out this way, the best place for liquor buying is Ann Arbor Wine and Liquor on Jackson Rd., between Wagner and Zeeb roads. They have a huge selection of hard liquor and beer and a lesser selection of wine.

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2 good options right there.

Dexterous said:

If you are out this way, the best place for liquor buying is Ann Arbor Wine and Liquor on Jackson Rd., between Wagner and Zeeb roads. They have a huge selection of hard liquor and beer and a lesser selection of wine.

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I just tried Campus Corner to no avail, and Village Corner had some kind of liquor catastrophe—the last time I was in there their shelves were mostly bare.

I'm in East Quad—anything within walking distance of here that has a likelihood of Rye being on their shelves?

TimmyBoston - I'm looking for something that's real rye, not just tastes-like.

Thanks all. I might have to see if somewhere will order stuff for me.

Two other good places I can think of in Ann Arbor are A&L Wine Castle on Stadium between Liberty and Jackson, and... Stadium Liquor? I think that's what it's called. Anyway, it's in a small strip mall on the corner of Stadium and Packard. The same building as Caribou Coffee. Both A&L and Stadium Liquor have Wild Turkey Rye (and everything else... Rare Breed, Russel's Reserve, 80, 101, liqueur, etc.) and Sazerac Rye.

I think A&L is the same guys that run Ann Arbor Wine and Liquor. I don't really know the liquor stores in the campus area. I'm sure you can find something. I've had better luck finding stuff in Ann Arbor than here in Dearborn/Detroit. It's so bad around here, I've had two bars tell me "we don't have bitters".

For a good selection of inexpensive wines, try Fresh Seasons (the former Coleman's Market) on Liberty between Maple and Stadium. Also, Arbor Farms off Stadium just south of Liberty (same building as Ace Hardware). Plum Market over at Jackson and Maple also has a great selection if you're looking for some fancier stuff or something from a lesser-known wine country (i.e. Romanian "bull's blood", which is pretty harsh stuff).

jump over the line to windsor and try Silk Tassel.
Silk Tassel is my brother's favorite poison, mine's Johnnie Black.

He's a good hour from the border at least. I live in east Dearborn and work in downtown Detroit, and would consider it a bit of a trip, if only because of the delay in crossing the border. Last time I crossed it took three hours to get across the bridge and through customs. It isn't worth it.

adamjaskie said:

He's a good hour from the border at least. I live in east Dearborn and work in downtown Detroit, and would consider it a bit of a trip, if only because of the delay in crossing the border. Last time I crossed it took three hours to get across the bridge and through customs. It isn't worth it.

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yeah i hear you. i do border crossing regularly as part of the job, and tend to avoid crossing at windsor. sarnia is usually better, but not always!

battlemonk said:

I just tried Campus Corner to no avail, and Village Corner had some kind of liquor catastrophe—the last time I was in there their shelves were mostly bare.

I'm in East Quad—anything within walking distance of here that has a likelihood of Rye being on their shelves?

TimmyBoston - I'm looking for something that's real rye, not just tastes-like.

Thanks all. I might have to see if somewhere will order stuff for me.

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Your best bet would be to hop a bus out to Morgan and Young (used to be the Big 10 Party Shoppe) on Packard. I've seen Sazerac and Wild Turkey there.

Adamjaskie is correct about the A&L Wine Castle operating AA Wine & Liquor. The latter has a larger selection, A&L's selection is good.

The Stadium Liquor on the corner of Stadium and Packard has a good liquor selection but I've never shopped for rye there.

I'd go with Sazerac Rye (commonly called Saz Jr) if you want to save money, it's about $15 in most places.

If you want some really good stuff, find a bottle of Sazerac 18, a truly wonderful rye. Around $50 to $60. There is also Thomas Handy in this price range as well.

I've heard great things about Templeton Rye, but never tasted it myself.