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Selected Rye Whiskies

No: 126
Operating Status: n/a

Gleaned from the Malts mailing list:

Old Overholt

Old Overholt (fondly known to its adherents as Old Overcoat, for no good reason) was, during the middle decades of this century, the universal favorite after-work tipple of American journalists, and every self-respecting bar anywhere near a newspaper in a major American city will have a bottle. Old Overholt is 59% rye, 43% abv, and described as smooth, tart, and spicy. (Gabanyi) [bm q4.98]

Old Potrero (Single Rye Whisky)

Old Potrero Single Malt Rye Whisky (62%) by the Anchor Steam. The current release is a one year old whiskey, released in extremely limited quantities. There are plans by Mr. Maytag (Anchor Distilling's and Anchor Brewing's owner) to age additional casks from the first and subsequent distillation runs and release a graduated series of limited edition bottlings. If you have purchased the OP, you know what a wonderful whiskey this is at an incredibly young age. It remains to be seen whether this whiskey has the legs to "improve" with additional years in the cask. [bm q4.98]

Wild Turkey Rye

I can heartily recommend the WTR as a big bang for the buck or pfenning or whatever. It is widely available at very reasonable prices (4.00 USD in Chicago). OP sells for about 0 USD. It is incredible that this style of whiskey has almost completely disappeared from the US. The WTR should be selling for quite alot more than the asking price. It doesn't move off the shelves like some much more expensive and inferior "boutique" bourbons, because of the (IMHO) dumbing down of the American whiskey palate.

It has a peppery burn with a dry sourness and powerfull afterburn that puts the regular Wild Turkey bourbon (also 101 proof and 8 years old) to shame. I have difficulty aquiring it outside the US (and occasionaly Canada), so my horded bottle or two is generally kept hidden in the back of the whiskey cabinet. It's not as subtle or refined as a suitably aged Malt (even an overproof one), but there are times when it is just what I need.

Wild Turkey Rye is 65% rye, 50.5 %abv, described as the most mature whiskey of its style (Gabanyi) [bm 4.98]

I have tasted all these whiskies, and the Wild Turkey is easily the "best". Bang for buck indeed (although the Old Overholt can be amazingly cheap, under 10 in some markets, probably accounting for its popularity with underpaid newspaper hacks). [gsg 4.98]

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