It’s funny. They mention that because MGP’s rye whiskey is so widely used, it flavors people’s perceptions of what a rye should taste like. It certainly does for me. They do mention other distillers that actually make distill their own products, like Leopold Brothers.
The problem for me is, I think that many of those that actually do distill their own, aren’t very good at it. Or at least, aren’t as good at it as MGP seems to be. There’s a persistent sweat sock aroma that’s been consistent through the three or four Leopold products I’ve tried, mainly their gin. It doesn’t make me want to buy anything else from them, even though their products are more “authentic.”
Oh, and FWIW, Black Maple Hill is now made at a Washington state area distillery. It isn’t made from whatever off-shoot barrels they could find. Not knowing this, I bought a bottle (which are now short and stout, not the long narrow bottles that it used to), and it’s o.k. Not great, though certainly priced that way.
The one I loathe more than anything is Campfire. That is the only bottle I have ever just poured down the toilet after trying. I think I’ve had one other rye of theirs, but was unimpressed. At this juncture, I refuse to waste my time trying to find out if they produce anything drinkable. Life is too short to drink booze from Utah.
Currently, my Manhattan ryes are Rittenhouse, Pikesville and Northern Harvest. I’ll grab a bottle of Sazerac anytime Bevmo has it in stock. Of course Old Granddad Bonded is always in the cabinet, but that’s for sipping, not mixing.
I believe BMH is sourcing from Stein Distillery in Oregon. At least that was their move after the old stocks ran out when the boom hit. The older BMH could be kind of hit or miss for me as it was essentially a one man operation, arranging to bottle and sell ‘lost’ barrels that the big distillers didn’t need or couldn’t use. He couldn’t develop any consistent brand profile that way, and eventually the boom hit and the big guys realized their glut of older stocks were suddenly a gold mine of special releases.
The 18 and 23yo (corrected from 21yo above) ryes sure we’re special though. Those, along with the Van Winkle rye, were bottles that I used to be able to always find moldering away on the shelf, completely out of fashion. I should have bought as much as I could have afforded and stashed it all.
Well, Campfire is certainly love it or hate it, but as it has peated scotch as it’s main contributor to flavor, I wouldn’t hold that against their ryes. Their Rendezvous rye contains the 16yo Barton rye which on it’s own is spectacular and is only slightly diminished by blending and stretching it with MGP as they do.
You are right, and indeed the last cite in my post even says it in the entry for Stein.
No idea where I got Washington state from; all of those pines/firs look alike anyway. It is still very overpriced, IMHO.
Silenus, why did you hate Campfire? Was it the smoke? I’ve not tried it, but I’ve been meaning to, and I’ve liked your previous notes and observations enough that your dislike of it gives me pause.
I like single malt Scotch. I like bourbon. I like rye. I do not like them all mixed together in an unholy brew that tastes like someone poured out a shot of rotgut whiskey then stirred it with a still smoldering piece of bison flop.
The good news, I guess is that the most common MGP product used for rye is that 95% rye distillate. Considering that rye only has to be a minimum of 51% rye, I think it’s good that it’s almost entirely rye, and not some kind of bourbon-esque thing that’s like 51% rye, 45% corn and 5% barley.
Supposedly their bourbon mash bill is 75% corn, 12% barley and 13% rye, and their rye mash bill is 37% corn, 51% rye and 12% barley.
My point is that you could flip the rye and corn in their rye whiskey mash bill and have a high rye bourbon (37%) that would probably not be all that much different than their rye whiskey.
At least the MGP 95% rye is very rye-forward, which I guess is a good thing if so many distillers(?- should it be age-ers or some other term?) use it as a starting point, even if it’s from a giant industrial factory in Indiana.
Fun fact: Bulliet and Templeton are both the MGP 95% rye.
Funner fact: Whistlepig used to be the 90%+ rye from Alberta Springs, same as Masterson’s, Jefferson’s and Lock, Stock and Barrel (among others) but is transitioning to stock from, you guessed it, MGP 95% rye. There’s some online uproar that the Whistlepig folks may have forgotten to update their label in that some barrel-select bottles known to come from MGP still say Canada on the sticker.
More or less. If a rye says it was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana (or even just Indiana, sometimes), it was made by MGP. The 95% rye mash bill is also a giveaway.
They are all buying from the same place and slapping their own brand on it. I am not a fan of such private-labeling when it comes to liquor. It creates confusion in the market, as evidenced in this thread.
I am also not a fan of the MGP rye. It tastes grassy and not like “real rye” to me. It does not have the spice and kick of what I perceive to be traditional rye. That’s odd, considering that it’s mostly rye, but it happens. Another example: I find Four Rose’s higher-rye mash bill bourbons (the OB’s) to be less spicy than those with the lower-rye mash bills (the OE’s).
For my money, I like the Knob Creek rye by Jim Beam. It doesn’t have an age statement on it, but it tastes decently old to me (must be at least 4 years as it is a “straight rye whisky,” which must be at least 2 years old and have an age statement if it is less than 4).
I have found that Pikesville makes a very good Sazerac (though I don’t like it as a pure sipping rye–Knob Creek for that). It’s essentially older Rittenhouse, made by Heaven Hill (ach, the infinite proliferation of brands!).
