Tag: rye

Leopold Brothers Maryland Style Rye

Alright nerds, here’s a good one for you today. Maryland Style Rye.
Before the advent of the ‘Great Experiment’ that was Prohibition there were two dominant styles of American Rye Whiskey. The Pennsylvania Style (spicy, dry, and oaky) and Maryland Style, which was more floral, fruit forward and less aggressive. Among the many great things that Prohibition destroyed, Maryland Style Rye was one of them.

But the boys at Leopold Brothers, are fighting the good fight and trying to recreate the style in the only way they know how: with exceptional quality and attention to detail. While ye olden Maryland Ryes often achieved their more mellow nature and fruit flavors from additives and prune juice, the brothers are following their eco-distilling nature and recreating the flavors throughWight'sMarylandRye3.jpg careful distillation and selection of yeast strains to create a wholly unique product. They’ve even had an old time compound still made exclusively for them, and are working with local farmers to grow late 1800’s style rye, which has a completely different flavor and starch content than it’s modern descendant.

While we’re still waiting on the first batches off the new still, the current bottling shouldn’t be ignored. Young, but light and green. Green as in like biting into a huge green apple, apricot, and stone fruit. All supported by a rich chocolate malt rounding out to a juicy and more mellow finish than your more familiar ryes.

And I’m feeling inspired recently so lets bust out some old tricks with The Santa Anas: Leopold Maryland Rye,Chai Infused Cocchi, Dry Vermouth, Homemade Apricot Bitters and a Smoked Orange Foam.

What’s behind Warehouse ‘C’? E.H. Taylor

One of my favorite surprises from last year was the E.H. Taylor Bottled-in-Bond Rye.  Not a new brand by any means but revisiting it last year the whiskey stars had aligned and a spice bomb full of deep apple, cherry and a crackling white pepper leapt out of the liquid.  I wasn’t the only one to notice, people drank it up. Literally. And the whiskey devils of supply and demand meant that this years release was in even smaller supply. So, lets go back and revisit again. But first, the history lesson!

Col. E.H. Taylor is an actual whiskey making legend. The descendent of two different l107.jpgpresidents, Taylor purchased a small distillery that he named O.F.C. He modernized the facility with copper stills and climate controlled aging warehouses that are still in use today. Not content there, Taylor was also pushing through one of my favorite pieces of government legislation: the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897. It was like the Pure Food and Drug act, but a decade earlier and for booze. The government would guarantee the whiskey met certain minimum quality controls and in return the distillers agreed to a new tax structure. It’s still in effect today but what it mostly means for us now is that the spirit meets all the legal requirements for that type of whiskey, is a minimum of four years old, and bottled at 100 proof. Quality control.

Taylor sold the distillery to George T. Stagg in 1904 and the whiskey brand named after him bounced around in the decades after prohibition until in 2009 it was brought home to O.F.C., now known as Buffalo Trace. They repacked the whole line up as Bottled-In-Bond whiskies in homage to its namesake and it’s all aged in Warehouse C, one of the Warehouses built by Taylor in the 1890s. The rye goes even further and is made from a different mashbill than the regular Buffalo Trace rye. It drops the corn completely and is made from 65% rye and 35% barley  which is why it was such a major spice bomb.

imagesBack to the present. How does the new release match up? The spice is still there, laced with cinnamon, clove and baking spices. The apple is less predominate and it seems to lack the deeper, warmer through line that made it such a surprise last year.  It’s a subtle thing and it’s hard to tell if it’s an actual difference or just a trick of the mind influenced by expectations. Either way it’s still a delightful dram. And when your competition is yourself how can you lose?

Rittenhouse Square’s Hometown Rye

I’ve been thinking a lot about home lately. I’m not much of a vagabond but I’ve also never put down deep roots. I’m from Pennsylvania, but despite my family still living there it’s not a place that inspires excessive nostalgia. I’ve been in LA for 7 years but I’d but up a healthy fight with anyone who called me an ‘Angelino. When I think of home I don’t think of places. I think of moments. Walking through the grape vines in the fall back in Pennsylvania. The marathon parties at Syracuse in college. And of course, drinking whiskey with friends. Rittenhouse has been along for the ride for many of those nights, and its home is also a collection of its experiences.

In many ways Rittenhouse is the quintessential Pennsylvania style rye. Hell, it takes its name from Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia and was originally introduced after il_570xN.607407696_7clx.jpgProhibition as Rittenhouse Square Rye. Over the years it evolved. The whiskey got older and was eventually released as Bottled-In-Bond in the 40’s putting the governments quality control stamp on every drop you drank. But the decades were not kind and a World War, the collapse of the American Whiskey industry, and the rise of Vodka tried to push the brand down. It was kept alive by leaving it’s Pennsylvania birthplace and started rolling of the production lines at Heaven Hill in the heart of Bourbon country Kentucky.

But even there it had trouble finding its place in the world. Rye was not the hot commodity it is now and a massive fire at the Heaven Hill distillery meant that they no longer had the production capability to produce the white dog spirit on their own stills. So, they reached an agreement with friends from Brown-Forman to contract time on the stills at the Early Times distillery to distill rye. Just like the rest of us transplants this spirit was given life and character from one home but mellowed and gained maturity at another.

This is where most of us met and fell in love with Rittenhouse. But about 6 years ago Heaven Hill had recovered from the fire and moved production back to their own stills and once that juice reached the proper age the slapped an updated label, interestingly meant to evoke the label from the long gone Rittenhouse Square bottles, and another change in home and flavor rolled along.

To me Rittenhouse feels like home. It’s changed even in the short time that it’s been a part of my story but then again so have I. It’s never going to blow my mind the way it did when I was young and inexperienced but it is warm and spicy, and carries enough heat to console me when I’m down, to celebrate the victories, or just sit with me at night and watch the world go by. But just because something is familiar doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s so easy to overlook, because who misses home while you can still go back?imgres.jpg

Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey

What’s in a name? A Sazerac by any other names is a…rye? A cocktail? A Coffee House? A long defunct cognac? Language is a funny thing.

When we say ‘cocktail’ these days it tends to be as a catchall for ‘mixed drink’ but that’s essentially the equivalent of calling all steaks fillets. A cocktail is a very specific type of drink made from spirit, sugar, bitters and water, usually in the form of ice. Or as it’s often called today: an Old Fashioned.sazerac.jpeg

And just like today where you may call for a Elijah Craig Old Fashioned, you would have called for a Sazerac Cocktail, made with cognac from Sazerac-du-Forge et Fils which was imported by the Sazerac House in New Orleans. Being very French the New Orleans drinkers loved to ‘improve’ up their cocktails with just a dash of absinthe and Bam! A Sazerac Cocktail.

But at the turn of the century the phylloxera plaque struck Europe wiping out old vineyards laying waste to innumerable wine and cognac house. As the supply of cognac dwindled, New Orleans drinkers turned to what was readily available to them: Rye Whiskey and gave birth to the Zazerac. Yes, Zazerac with a Z. Language is fun, and by distinguishing the proper names drinkers could quickly indicated whether they wanted the brandy or the whiskey version. Confused? You’re probably not the only one. In the Artistry of Mixing Drinks by Frank Meir published in 1934 he says, “Note. – there is much confusion between the ‘Sazerac’ brandy cocktail and the ‘Zazerac’ cocktail originally made in New Orleans.” So the ‘Zazerac’ name gathers dust while the actual drink gathers steam.

“Note. – there is much confusion between the ‘Sazerac’ brandy cocktail and the ‘Zazerac’ cocktail originally made in New Orleans.”

Time passes and a new Sazerac house rises, this time an American Liquor Company named that owns and distills Buffalo Trace and a myriad of other bourbons, but also an Eponymous Rye Whiskey named: Sazerac. And it’s damn good. Bright, crisp apple, dry rye spice, with a touch of that southern air on the nose. But is it Sazerac? In name only.

In honor of the spirit of the spirit, share a few Sazerac Zazeracs tonight