When will you have RYE?
A question our tasting hall team gets regularly is “do you make a rye?”. The answer is yes, as of September 22, 2023. The wait is over and rye season has arrived!
Our rye whiskey is like no other. It’s spicy, but with creamy qualities. It’s deep, dark and moody, but with less spice punch than typical ryes. And it has an extremely unique mash bill (recipe) that even includes oats and a rye/wheat hybrid grain called triticale. When creating this whiskey, we wanted something unique. Rye whiskeys are known for their spice, and rye as a grain carries notes of clove, black pepper and oak/char. Although you’ll find some of these qualities in our rye whiskey, you’ll also find that it’s a bit smoother than others you may have tried, and intentionally lacks the aggressive and often burning spice punch that follows many rye sippers.
Much of the softening qualities can be attributed to the hybrid grain, triticale (pronounced tri·tuh·kay·lee), which is a grain bred from wheat and rye and offers the flavor profile of both. It offers a bit of the creamy mouthfeel that you’d usually find with a wheat whiskey, while simultaneously lending bits of spice expected of a rye. Much like we pair softer foods with spice, the same can work in whiskey. Think of the classic Italian dish, Cacio e Pepe (pronounced ca-cho ee pepe - a Roman pasta dish that literally translates to “cheese and pepper”). The peppery kick that the dish is known for is perfectly balanced with creamy butter and parm. The two work in tandem to bring out the best in each other. We believe the same to be true of triticale - a bit of spice + a bit of creamy wheat mouthfeel = a match made in whiskey heaven.
The next unique grain used to make our rye whiskey is naked streaker oats (you read that right). Oats can bring additional creaminess and a nuttiness to whiskey. An original nose and creamy palate can be enhanced with just the tiniest addition of oats in a mash bill. Oats were more widely used in Irish and some Scottish whiskeys throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, mostly due to the availability of the grain and the low price. Oats were easy to grow, the husks and hulls acted as a natural wort filter, and after the famine, many other more traditional grains were unavailable to distillers. Oats also became known for the flavor that they lend to whiskeys, which can easily differentiate one whiskey from the next, and is why we include them in several of our mash bills. Anyone who enjoys a bowl of oatmeal can share the natural creaminess that is created with just oats and water. Of course, much like we do with our whiskey mash bill, you’ll generally want to add a few more ingredients to make it taste just as you like it, but the hearty qualities of oats are undeniable, regardless of how it’s prepared or consumed.
The final two ingredients used in our rye mash bill are malted barley and (of course) rye. Malted barley, or any malted grain, is traditionally used in all mash bills, although there are now exogenous enzymes that can be use in lieu of malt. In addition to adding toasted or nutty notes, malt plays an important role in the mash and cook process. Malt contains enzymes that are needed to break down carbohydrates into sugars during the mashing phase, making those sugars accessible to yeast in the next (fermentation) phase of the distillation process. Although enzymes can now be purchased and used alone, most distillers still choose to use at least some malt in their mash bills.
And finally, rye. For a whiskey to be categorized as a “rye whiskey”, at least 51% of its mash bill must be rye. Rye grain offers spice notes that carry through the distillation process and generally shine through in whiskeys in the form of clove, pepper and oak notes. There are many varieties of Rye that grow well in Texas and each one will produce a unique flavor and spice level. We chose Elbon Rye as the variety used in our Rye Whiskey due to it’s unique combination of rye spice and slightly sweet qualities. “Rye spice” is a term often used to describe the spicy punch that many rye whiskeys are known for. Tasting a low or no-rye bourbon and a rye whiskey side by side will quickly display the spicy qualities of the rye, and where the differences in the two lie. Making rye whiskeys can be a cumbersome process for distillers, since rye grain contains a high amount of beta glucans which make the mash very sticky and can cause excessive foaming during fermentation.
For additional information on these grains, and on rye whiskeys in general, see below. And for updated info on our Rye Whiskey, future awards, and information on online ordering (not available YET), see HERE.
Triticale: Advance Cover Crops
Oats in whiskey: Whisky Advocate
The purpose of malt in whiskeys: Distiller.com
Distilling with rye grain: The Whiskey Wash
The rise in rye popularity: Distiller.com