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(r)¹ Rye Bourbon

Noticed a new Rye Bourbon offering in my local liquor outlet today:

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The scant information I can dig up online reveals its a product of Jim Beam, just recently released, no age stated. The bottle is every bit as sleek and "minimalist" as it seems.

I actually walked in to pick up a fresh bottle of Rye, and boy was this tempting. But in the end, I decided not to. First, it was $50, and my short-term financial goals are telling me to avoid dropping that kind of coin on one bottle of liquor, particularly when there are decent alternatives available for less than half the price.

Second, I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure about buying a bottle of rye that looks like that. The bottle looks based on those overpriced, trendy "ultra-premium" vodkas. Its Rye Whiskey, for chrisakes, a spirit that I suspect a majority of Roberto Cavalli drinkers don't even know exists. Why try to make Rye appeal to the club-going crowd? :confused:

Anyway, I went with the WT Rye.

Has anyone seen this before or tried it? What does it taste like?
 
Hey Pat. Interesting whisky. A rye bourbon. Anyroad, what I really wanted to ask you is how you get those neat things like superscript numbers and the accent marks on your posts? I mean, is this a function of the forum itself or are you editing this somehow and copying and pasting it into the fields? If so, which editor? Thanks.(BTW, I realise this is likely a super dumb question but I just don't do much text editing or working with Word, Open Office, etc.)

Regards, Todd
 
This one is totally new to me. Is it actually marked as a rye bourbon?

Yup. The iPod-packaging-esque bottle tag gave a very brief and marketing lingo-laden description, and actually said how to pronounce the name of the whiskey. ("Rye one") IMHO, if how to say the name is not obvious, it'd better be foregin.
 
I mean, is this a function of the forum itself or are you editing this somehow and copying and pasting it into the fields? If so, which editor? Thanks.(BTW, I realise this is likely a super dumb question but I just don't do much text editing or working with Word, Open Office, etc.)

The strange characters used in the title of this thread are from the standard/extended ascii character set, as copied from the WinXP "character map" program and pasted into the post.
 
Hi Pat. Thanks. That is a very neat feature. Look out. Now I will try adding all sorts of nonsense to my posts.

Regards, Todd
 
The only Rye Whiskey I have ever had is Old Overholt. Should you want to try a unique cocktail, I suggest picking some up, along with Peychaud bitters and real Absinthe and make yourself a Sazerac. Among the many things I miss not living in New Orleans, the Sazerac is near the top of the list.
 
The only Rye Whiskey I have ever had is Old Overholt. Should you want to try a unique cocktail, I suggest picking some up, along with Peychaud bitters and real Absinthe and make yourself a Sazerac. Among the many things I miss not living in New Orleans, the Sazerac is near the top of the list.

+1 on the Sazerac cocktail. It is my very favorite cocktail. I can make a pretty good one, but there is nothing like one made by a good professional bartender in New Orleans.

Tim
 
Why the long face?

I have found that I really like Rye moreso than Scotch and Burbon. It has been moved to the top of my preferred drink list.

So far I have gone through a bottle of Old Overholt, Sazerac, and Jim Beam; and of the three I prefer the Beam. It also happens to be the cheapest! There are some others that are just out of my price range. I haven't heard of the Templeton before though. I'll keep my eye out. Near me though it is unusual to find rye on the shelf let alone more than one brand.

In trying to describe rye to friends the only thing I can come up with is that rye sort of tingles my throat in the way ginger beer does, only nowhere near as strongly.
 
I was finally able to take a look at this. It is a straight rye. There really is no such a thing as a rye bourbon. If the mash is 51% or more rye, it is rye whiskey. If it is 51% or more corn, then it is bourbon (above 80% it is actually just corn whiskey).

Ken
 
Ken,
You definitely have part of the truth, but there's much more to it. Here are a few things (let's see if I can do this from memory):

Bourbon must be at least 51% corn and aged at least two (three?) years in a virgin charred barrel. There's no upper limit in the regs on how much corn it can have. There are further regs to describe "straight."

In practice, 99.9% of bourbon made in recent decades consists of three grains: either
corn, malted barley and rye
or
corn, malted barley and wheat.​

"Rye bourbon" and "wheat bourbon" are convenient industry terms, not discussed in governmental regulations.The bourbon industry and enthusiasts find it convenient to call one type a "rye bourbon," "ryed-bourbon" or "rye-recipe bourbon" - similarly so with "wheaters" "wheat-bourbon" etc.

In practice, these are common proportions:
The barley ranges from 6-12% of the mash, for technical purposes of converting starches to sugars prior to fermentation.

The rye or wheat ranges from 6-30% and is there to give spice and character.

Corn is the remaining percentage. It ranges from about about 58% (Four Roses high-rye mashbill) to about 82% (Ancient Age).​

Straight Corn whiskey must be at least 80% corn (remaining grains unspecified) and may not be aged in a virgin charred barrel.

While distillers are secretive, word is that most commercial Straight Ryes are "barely legal" with not much more than the required 51% rye content.

Roger
 
Ken,
You definitely have part of the truth, but there's much more to it. Here are a few things (let's see if I can do this from memory):

Bourbon must be at least 51% corn and aged at least two (three?) years in a virgin charred barrel. There's no upper limit in the regs on how much corn it can have. There are further regs to describe "straight."

In practice, 99.9% of bourbon made in recent decades consists of three grains: either
corn, malted barley and rye
or
corn, malted barley and wheat.​

"Rye bourbon" and "wheat bourbon" are convenient industry terms, not discussed in governmental regulations.The bourbon industry and enthusiasts find it convenient to call one type a "rye bourbon," "ryed-bourbon" or "rye-recipe bourbon" - similarly so with "wheaters" "wheat-bourbon" etc.

In practice, these are common proportions:
The barley ranges from 6-12% of the mash, for technical purposes of converting starches to sugars prior to fermentation.

The rye or wheat ranges from 6-30% and is there to give spice and character.

Corn is the remaining percentage. It ranges from about about 58% (Four Roses high-rye mashbill) to about 82% (Ancient Age).​

Straight Corn whiskey must be at least 80% corn (remaining grains unspecified) and may not be aged in a virgin charred barrel.

While distillers are secretive, word is that most commercial Straight Ryes are "barely legal" with not much more than the required 51% rye content.

Roger

Roger, Thanks for the correction on the corn whiskey. You are correct. It is not aged in charred barrels and there is no percentage limit on the corn in bourbon. However, my main point was about the use of the term "rye-bourbon" to describe what is a straight rye. Yes, you can call a bourbon with a mash bill using rye a "rye bourbon" to distinguish it from a "wheat bourbon," with a mash bill using wheat. However, those are informal terms about bourbon. If the mash is 51% or more corn, it is bourbon, 51% or more rye it is rye. As for age, if it has been aged for two years or more (and meets the other requirements), then it is straight rye or straight bourbon. One could also have a "straight whiskey," which meets the requirements already stated except that no one grain component reaches the 51% level. One important addition to what you wrote is that for whiskey to be bourbon or rye, it must be distilled out at not more than 160 proof and put into barrel at not more than 125 proof. Whiskey that is bottled at greater than 125 proof has actually increased its alcoholic content during the aging process.

Ken
 
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