Great read Henry! As a native Canadian Prairies girl, I grew up on Rye. Due to our tiff with the US, Bourbon is taking a step back and Rye is more prominent so this is a very timely article! I "had" to make a Manhattan with Rye this winter while visiting BC where retailers could not legally sell Bourbon. I was so pleased with the spicy complexity Rye brought! And it was nothing fancy: Alberta Premium Rye. (Yes, that is the name of the Rye on the bottle!) Thanks Henry - well done!
Love Rye whiskey. I looked up why it wasn’t more common in Ireland and apparently it was mainly used for thatching houses, which is fairness is also great so can’t complain
I've struggled to get on board with the Scottish Ryes currently on the market. They use a high rye/wheat/malted barley mashbill (like american ryes), mature in virgin oak barrels (like american rye), relatively younger whiskies (4-6yos like american ryes), but charge around the £100 mark! Whereas equivalent American ryes sit £40-60.
The European ryes, like Kyro who are going full rye, are offering a different experience and taking full advantage of their more lax barrel legistlation.
I think you have to price in the scarcity factor as well. The US produces over a million cases of rye whiskey a year (1.2m cases on 2018 DISCUS figures), mostly from continuous column stills.
By comparison, Scottish distilleries produce a minuscule amount, in small batches and usually on the same (less efficient) pot still kit they use for single malt.
Rye is also notoriously difficult to work with, it gums up equipment and - particularly if you’re running it through a pot still and switching mash bills - increases clean up time, which effectively also adds to production costs
As you say, the European distilleries are also using predominantly rye, so can run consistent mash bills and don’t have to chop and change between barley and rye etc.
It’s not surprising rye whisky is more expensive in Scotland - it’s effectively an experimental product at this stage.
Thanks Alex - there is quite a lot in the article about rye being hard to work with. I do get all this. I'm just writing from a consumer perspective - it's hard to justify the difference.
three cheers for rye! may the market continue to grow for more people to enjoy
Great read Henry! As a native Canadian Prairies girl, I grew up on Rye. Due to our tiff with the US, Bourbon is taking a step back and Rye is more prominent so this is a very timely article! I "had" to make a Manhattan with Rye this winter while visiting BC where retailers could not legally sell Bourbon. I was so pleased with the spicy complexity Rye brought! And it was nothing fancy: Alberta Premium Rye. (Yes, that is the name of the Rye on the bottle!) Thanks Henry - well done!
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it. Rye is the ultimate cocktail whiskey for me.
Well I now understand why! BTW, I think of you whenever I add to my cooking wine solera! 😊 Love that you called it that!
Love Rye whiskey. I looked up why it wasn’t more common in Ireland and apparently it was mainly used for thatching houses, which is fairness is also great so can’t complain
That's a top fact. I have something on myths behind single pot still in the pipeline you might enjoy.
I’ll look forward to that!
I've struggled to get on board with the Scottish Ryes currently on the market. They use a high rye/wheat/malted barley mashbill (like american ryes), mature in virgin oak barrels (like american rye), relatively younger whiskies (4-6yos like american ryes), but charge around the £100 mark! Whereas equivalent American ryes sit £40-60.
The European ryes, like Kyro who are going full rye, are offering a different experience and taking full advantage of their more lax barrel legistlation.
I agree that the prices don't make sense though I think the quality of Rye Law for example is superb.
I think you have to price in the scarcity factor as well. The US produces over a million cases of rye whiskey a year (1.2m cases on 2018 DISCUS figures), mostly from continuous column stills.
By comparison, Scottish distilleries produce a minuscule amount, in small batches and usually on the same (less efficient) pot still kit they use for single malt.
Rye is also notoriously difficult to work with, it gums up equipment and - particularly if you’re running it through a pot still and switching mash bills - increases clean up time, which effectively also adds to production costs
As you say, the European distilleries are also using predominantly rye, so can run consistent mash bills and don’t have to chop and change between barley and rye etc.
It’s not surprising rye whisky is more expensive in Scotland - it’s effectively an experimental product at this stage.
Thanks Alex - there is quite a lot in the article about rye being hard to work with. I do get all this. I'm just writing from a consumer perspective - it's hard to justify the difference.
I always preferred rye over bourbon
Me too. Though I do like a high rye bourbon too like Four Roses.