Instantly, I considered Heaven Hill’s bourbons, which have solely 10 p.c rye within the mashbill however come off as properly spicy within the glass. Then Veach cited Outdated Fitzgerald, a wheated bourbon that has terrific spice notes regardless of having no rye.
I do know it’s surprising, however one thing cool occurred on Fb the opposite day—one thing useful, instructional, mind-opening and brilliantly collaborative.
Whiskey historian Michael Veach’s put up on Fb (as soon as in it, you’ll have to scroll down a bit) linked to a weblog he wrote and titled, “What’s Rye Spice?” which centered on whether or not rye is the supply of “spice” in bourbon and rye whiskeys.
Veach teed it up this manner:
“I ceaselessly hear about rye grain giving Bourbon a spicy taste, however I’m not certain the spiciness of a whiskey essentially comes from the rye grain. In spite of everything, if rye is the supply of spice then why isn’t the 95% rye whiskey made at MGP, which is the supply of lots of the rye whiskeys in the marketplace, not dominated by spicy flavors? These whiskeys needs to be very spicy as a result of excessive quantity of rye, however I don’t discover them any spicier than many Bourbons with a 3rd of the quantity of rye.”
