SPIRIT STYLES
EMPIRE RYE
Ragtime Rye American Straight Whiskey: Based in Brooklyn, its
nised American whiskey standards. The primary thing that separates Empire Rye from its other eugenol- avored cousins is the low barrel entry alcohol percent- age. The vast majority of American whiskey is lain into oak at the legal max- imum of 62.5%, typically for reasons of space and cooperage costs. A lower initial alcohol level favours a faster extraction of wood sugars producing ‘fatter’ and ‘chewier’ whiskeys. Matured in the compara- tively dry and warm (to Scotland, at least) New York climate, the alcohol levels in the barrels slowly rise over time as water is the favoured evapo- rative. This allows for a slight uptake in barrel tannin material towards the Kings County Empire Rye whiskey is made from 80% New York grown Danko rye and 20% English barley malt and is aged two years in charred oak barrels
Hudson Manhattan Rye is an Empire style rye from William Grant & Sons’ Tuthilltown Distillery in Gardiner, NY.
whiskey uses locally-grown rye grown speci cally for the distillery in its mash bill. It is aged at least three years
end of the typical two- to four-year maturation period. Stylistically speaking, Empire Rye arguably ts fuzzily between Maryland and Pennsylvania ryes with regards to avours. New whiskies are hitting market shelves all the time and for curious imbibers outside the US these whiskies may be some of the hard- est to track down due to their small production levels. However, should you nd yourself staring down the face of choice in your local American whiskey aisle some notable examples of Empire Rye include the aforementioned King’s County Distillery Straight Rye Whiskey and New York Distilling Co. Ragtime Rye.
work she left behind lived on through an enterprising group of New York distillers. I recently asked Colin Spoelman of King’s County about what makes Empire Rye stylistically different from other ryes. He humbly demurred by saying, “Well, not much necessarily. Put simply, Empire Rye is just straight rye whiskey, per TTB rules, that is made from at least 75% New York-grown rye and distilled in New York State. From a stylistic standpoint, it’s just a high-rye straight rye. In a way, it’s less a style of whiskey and more of a mark of the provenance of the whiskey.” I think this may be selling the pint a bit short so to speak. The of cial stand- ards of Empire Rye are: • Must conform to the New York Farm Distiller (Class D) requirement that 75% of the mash bill be New York grain; in this instance that 75% must be New York State-grown rye grain, which may be raw, malted or a combination. • The remaining 25% of the mash bill may be composed of any raw or malted grain, New York-grown or otherwise, or any combination thereof. • Distilled to no more than 160 proof • Aged for a minimum of two years in charred, new oak barrels at not more than 115 proof (57.5% ABV) at time of entry. • Must be mashed, fermented, distilled, barrelled and aged at a single New York State distillery. • A blended whiskey containing no less than 100% qualifying Empire Rye whiskies from multiple distilleries may be called Blended Empire Rye.
Cleaning out the mash tun for a rye mash at Corsair Distillery. Interestingly Corsair opts to lauter and separate grains from wort instead of practicing ‘grains in’ fermentations like most rye producers in the US. (Photo: Devon Trevathon.)
Spoelman is correct in that the standard hews close to other recog-
30 ● BREWER AND DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL I november 2019
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