Title: The Serious Eats Guide to Rye Whiskey
Headings: The Serious Eats Guide to Rye Whiskey
The Serious Eats Guide to Rye Whiskey
Everything you need to know about what ry whiskey is, how it's made, and which brands to drink.
What Is Rye?
What About Canadian?
How Rye Whiskey Is Made
What Is Straight Rye?
History of Rye
Styles of Rye
Pennsylvania, a.k.a. Monongahela
Maryland
Brands of Rye
MGP/LDI
Beam Inc:
Heaven Hill:
Sazerac Company/Buffalo Trace Distillery:
Wild Turkey/Austin Nichols:

Content: Most rye whiskeys use malted barley or corn as the other grains. As with bourbon, ground grain is mixed with water and a bit of mash from a previous distillation, in what's known as a sour-mash process. This introduces yeasts from the previous distillation. In baking terms, it's similar to using a sourdough starter to begin the fermentation process. The sour-mash process has two advantages: first, it creates a consistent environment for yeast from batch to batch, helping ensure that each batch of whiskey has a consistent flavor and aroma with batches that came before. Second, it lowers the pH of the batch, which helps the yeasts in the batch ferment the mash more efficiently, boosting a higher yield of alcohol. After the sour mash goes in, fresh yeast is added and the mixture is fermented. It then goes through the distillation process and then it's pumped into barrels to be aged. ( Again, there's more detail on this in the bourbon post from a few months ago.)