SPIRIT STYLES
the old and shapes new traditions and eventually most rye whiskey was placed into barrels for ageing, typically for a few years. Throughout the 1800s rye whiskey rose to prominence among drinkers of all types, quickly supplanting rum as America’s native spirit. By 1810 there were roughly 14,000 distilleries in the United States and many of these were producing rye whiskey. Rye’s status as a pre-eminent whiskey was further solidi ed with the growth of cocktail culture from the sec- ond half of the 1800s up to Prohibition. In part due to its avour pro le but most likely due to its ubiquity, rye whiskey found it its way into all manner of cock- talian creations. But all good things must come to an end and when the bells of Prohibition were rung, rye whiskey began to dis- appear. At the end of Prohibition many farms were awarded federal subsidies for growing corn and other crops, but rye was not included. This gave bourbon distillers a nancial leg up as post-Prohibition distillers started turning their lights back on. Rye didn’t make the cultural cut and at the end of Prohibition most brands
Earliest origins
simply disappeared. The few that remained were often shadows of their former selves; brands were purchased and liquidated from their home distill- eries only to be conceptually moved for physical production to take place elsewhere. A classic example is the Old Overholt brand, once a proud regional mainstay in the tumblers of Pennsylvanians, it was purchased by George Washington Rye Whiskey, from the Mount Vernon Distillery. In Washington’s time whiskey was not aged and was sold in its original form
Jim Beam long ago and moved to Kentucky. The recipe is completely different (though admittedly still deli- cious) while only the label remains as a reminder of its once glorious past. But things are starting to change. During the 1990s Heaven Hill brands was only distilling rye whiskey one or two days a year, but with a dramatic upturn in sales in recent years its rye production programme has dramatically The Old Overholt brand’s history goes back to 1810 when it was originally distilled in Pennsylvania; it is named after its distiller Abraham Overholt
Mount Vernon, Virginia’s George Washington whiskey distillery rst opened in 1797 and was at one point the largest rye distiller in the country.
november 2019 I BREWER AND DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL ● 27
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