Booze Bloggering July 16, 2007
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Science & Technology.trackback
So, Mr. Stoaty Weasel put up a post about whiskey and the general distillation of spirits. I was curious about the taste of rye whiskey, and astonishingly he’d never tried it! Well, I have seen it in one of the liquor stores around here so in the interest of science* I said I’d pick up a bottle and give a full report.
There was two to choose from: Old Overholt and Jim Beam’s yellow lable. I went with Old Overholt.
I got it for $11.99. As you can tell they spared every expense. It’s been aged four whole years too! Usually you get some sort of story with your whiskey on the back label about how pure the water is at the distillery, how their methods have remained unchanged for 200 years – blah, blah, blah. No story here though.
Whelp – here goes.
Ah! Hmm. Well. That is certainly different.
*Shut up – it is too science!
***Update***
Okay, I’ve had time to mull it over and render a final verdict: rye whiskey = paint thinner. Now we know why only two companies make the stuff and why it’s not stocked at the grocery stores – nobody wants to drink it. It’s not a good whiskey for sipping – it doesn’t have a flavor that you would want to savor and linger over – you’ll just get punched in the back of the throat more often. And the flavor lingers anyway, clinging to your uvula and tonsils. As for shots, well, it’s unpleasant. Do you remember all those old movies where the guy goes into his favorite watering hole and orders up a shot of “the usual” and when he downs it he makes “That Face”? Well, now you know what his “usual” was. If you do shots of rye whiskey you will be making That Face, I guarantee.
I suppose it would be a good candidate for a mixed drink. It’s cheap at full flavored strength, but I can’t imagine what would taste good with it though, none of the standard stuff I wouln’t think. So there ya go – I’ve tasted rye whiskey. Will I buy it again? No I will not. From what I’ve read on Mr. Weasel’s blog I think he would like it though. Go pick up a bottle Stoat!
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The Center of the Anomaly 
I’m taking more sips here and I’m trying to come up with a better description. Not smooth, though. It punches you in the throat as it goes down.
The color is a little strange too – maybe it’s the lighting, but it seems like it has something of a greenish tinge. It kinda has a sour mashy taste, and kinda not. I’m drinking it with a bottle of St. Pauli Girl Dark beer and they seem to go together fairly well.
There’s not much nuance with rye whiskey. Old man Overholt had heard of “nuance” and he didn’t want his whiskey to have anything to do with it.
Sounds like my kind of tipple! After all, I make a pilgrimage South every year to pick up 1.75 liters of the not-good-enough-for-the-black-lable green label Jack Daniel’s.
Thank you for your contribution to boozal science.
So did you blind yourself with science?
Rye whiskey is quite tasty if you get the right stuff. Old Overholt is squarely at the bottom of the list, along with Jim Beam. That’s like drinking Old Crow and saying all bourbon sucks, Aristocrat and saying all vodka sucks, Pepe Lopez and saying all Tequila sucks, Castillo and saying all Rum sucks, Schlitz and saying all beer sucks….you get the idea.
If you are truly interested in appreciating rye, I’d recommend trying Sazerac, Wild Turkey, or Rittenhouse, all of which are reasonably priced (about . There are also fantastic, albeit expensive, premium Ryes to be had, including 18 year Sazerac, Thomas H. Handy, and 21 year old Rittenhouse. Give it another shot.