Awesome Rye

WhistlePig founder Raj Bhakta is the talent behind this eponymous spirit. Bhakta 1928 is a delicious drink that combines 60% rye whiskey, 30% XO Calvados, and 10% Armagnac. The latter blends vintages dating back as far as 1928. The result is a complex blend of spiced apples, tea, vanilla, and gingerbread, perfect for slow sipping by the fireplace.

WhistlePig Whiskey teamed up with Runamok Maple to create this delicious maple syrup aged in whiskey barrels. It’s got a great depth of flavor and edible sparkles to add magic to your cocktails. Mix it with PiggyBack rye and bitters for a lightly sweet Maple Old Fashioned. Sold as a gift set from the WhistlePig shop.

Utah is better known for banning booze than for making it, so David Perkins combined his passions for biochemistry, bourbon, and the American West to open Utah’s first distillery since the 1870s. Whiskies are king at High West, including Double Rye which blends two distinct ryes: a playful 2-year-old and a sweet 16.

The High Rye expression from famed Scotch maker Johnnie Walker blends whiskies made from a 60% rye mash with barley and wheat. It offers a spicy vanilla fragrance, the flavors of apple, clove, and toffee, and a dry but slightly sweet finish. Great for sipping or mixing in fall and winter cocktails.

Frey Ranch Whiskey from comes from a farm in the Sierra Nevada Watershed. There, Colby and Ashley Frey sustainably “slow grow” heirloom grains and distill harvests into non-chill filtered 90-proof bourbon. The mash of non-GMO corn, winter cereal rye, winter wheat, and two-row barley yields a refined award winner.

Created at Kentucky’s Old Taylor Distillery, Slow Hands Single Barrel Rye is the second whiskey and first single barrel release from Castle & Key. The bold rye features four unique cask-strength barrels derived from 63% rye, 17% yellow corn, 20% malted barley, and water sourced from Castle & Key’s on-site Springhouse.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Standard Proof’s specialty rye whiskeys are infused with natural ingredients for a big and bold taste. Flavors include an eye-opening Arabica coffee, a sweet honeysuckle wildflower, a zesty ginger root, along with pecan, mint, and pineapple. Sold in 750ml bottles and great for making cocktails.

Pinhook is a new portfolio of American whiskeys, each as distinctive as the winning racehorse on the label. The Kentucky distillery’s 2020 Straight Rye – cheekily called Rye’d On – took Double-Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Available through BevMo, and online at Caskers, Drizly, and Seelbach’s.