Everything else is heresy 
Actually, was drinking some knob creek rye now in these- etched with the constellations, a set of 2, gift from awesome girlfriend.
I broke all my Glencairn glasses they are actually kind of fragile. But people- if you’ve never used them they do make a huge difference over the style in my picture here. You would immediately understand once you use one.
Gotta admit, both the glass this post is about and the one you posted are pretty cool
This thread (edit: and the state of the world!) makes me want to pour a glass of whiskey.
You are correct.
I had an entire case once and now I’m down to one or two. For professional nosing, there really is nothing better. For casual sipping, there really is nothing better. However, I do like the rocks glass type you have for bourbon (love them, btw). People are all nuts about bourbon, but I find it lacking and don’t want or need the angular nature of it amplified with a Glencairn glass.
I don’t really drink whiskey either but their videos are informative and I like their enthusiasm and humor, and it’s made me appreciate the distilling process
They just break really damn easy, and even though I’m usually loathe to outright say anything is “the best”, they really are the best whisky glasses by design. Anyone who’s ever tried one has agreed, I’ve never had anyone disagree after trying them. They were designed with single malt scotch in mind, but they work with any liquor of whiskey nature, and many other spirits, like armagnac. They are designed for nosing spirits- and many types work best with that shape.
Btw- totally unrelated- but I’ll let out my favorite secret- if anyone finds a bottle of this- buy it. It will blow your damn mind- its 100% rye- no corn or wheat in mash.
Put this in a Glencairn glass- and you’ll be astonished. It’s not spicy like you think it has to be- and 100% rye mash is rare because of this very misconception.
This is the best rye I’ve ever had. I’ve lost count of how many that’s been- but the flavor, it’s godlike.
Mckenzie Rye from Finger Lakes Distilling is my next favorite.
I’m finding a lot of disappointing ryes and bourbon from my home state of PA though. Too many hipsters not aging the stuff and buying up barrels, bottling premature, with lots of horrible biting aftertaste. These idiots need to learn to age whisky longer and stop chasing $.
I always liked the glass in the movie…
Nice glass! (But those guys know nothing about apostrophes.)
Which is why good cognac or armagnac is drunk from a brandy balloon glass.
Black Label?? They couldn’t at least put some Green Label in?
You are 100% correct about rye. The reason people find it “spicy” is because almost all of it is distilled in continuous column stills which are more economical, but produce a poorer spirit because proper cuts cannot be made between the major fractions (heads, hearts and tails). Many, many people disagree with me, but they are wrong. The distilling industry decided that efficiency was good enough post prohibition and everyone got used to an inferior product. They use inferior grains fermented as rapidly as possible and sent through an inferior still. A million little cuts over 85+ years. It’s like claiming that McDonald’s is makes the best burgers.
I don’t know much about them other than that they’re from my hometown of KC, but the images on their website show a Vendome pot still, meaning it is a batch process as opposed to a continuous column. This leads to more batch variation, but also more control and better flavor and the occasional miracle barrel. Unfortunately, most of the “craft” brands you see these days are masquerading as distillers while actually buying their spirits from MGP, a bulk spirits manufacturer.
Rye is a fantastic single grain for whiskies. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it has not been as commoditized as corn, so there is a lot of varietal variation (plus, it’s just a more flavorful grain). Corn makes a very poor spirit if it’s distilled from standard #2, which 99% of bourbon is. It’s a grain that has been bred and GMO’d for high yield, test weight and harvestability. Flavor isn’t even remotely a consideration. Not to toot my own horn, but I was the first distiller to release a varietal-based bourbon (not worth mentioning the brand; they don’t bother with varietals now). The difference in corn varieties is as dramatic as grape varieties, but people treat it as an afterthought. I was actually quoted in this book years ago about corn varietals in whiskey and my statement was used as a counterpoint to the “Master Distiller” of Brown Foreman. That was fun.
Here’s an interesting bit about McKenzie Rye. Their former distiller, Thomas McKenzie (weirdly unrelated to the namesake owner) developed that spirits as a single distillation. Most batch whiskies are distilled twice, once to separate the bulk alcohols and flavor (stripping) and a second time to refine it and make the cuts (rectification). Thomas did a single pass via a hybrid still (a pot still with a short column; best of both worlds) that makes for a tremendously flavorful spirit that ages beautifully.
The aging thing is an issue, you’re right. I’m a little embarrassed to say that this was another big innovation at my former distillery. However, from what I’ve seen, once the distilleries pay down their investment and get some aging stocks built up, they move to larger casks. The small casks are unbelievably expensive; a 3-10 gallon cask costs about the same as a full 53 gallon. It’s completely untenable and used mainly to generate revenue in early years. For better or worse, distilling is a self-sorting endeavor. Those who survive tend to follow either this path or the “brand building” path (commodity spirit, heavy marketing budget) like Whistlepig did.
It’s actually a variation of the standard black blend, but I didn’t buy it to drink. And some of us like Johnnie Black! It and Monkey Shoulder are my go-to blends these days.
Oh you are my new best friend. Not for agreeing with me- but for confirming some of my suspicions.
There’s a lot of knowledge in that comment, it needs more likes.
I spent about three years as a whiskey taster on a regular basis with a group of guys led by someone who made it his mission in life to understand spirits at the deepest level he could. I learned an enormous amount from him.
Lost count of how many bottles we killed, at least 3 an evening, sometimes 5, much of it imported from UK. We tasted first, and then just drank. It was a good way to get people more serious at first, but able to just enjoy.
Varietal corn whiskey- I think I only know of one person who fits your description. If you are who I think you are, you’re one of the most skilled craft distillers in America, and your one specific corn whisky, when it was still you making it, was the best corn whiskey I’d ever had.
Pandemic took my job, and I can find another, but I’ve considered the idea of starting a proper whisky distillery for my city, because Wigle is shit, but I’d just be lost in the sea of idiots. I’d also have to attend distillers college first- I don’t know enough.
Ha! No you wouldn’t. First of all, they don’t really exist. Heriot Watt in Edinburgh offers a degree, but it is tailored more for process management at large facilities. A craft distiller has their hands on every aspect from grain to bottle, not spreadsheets and GCMS scatter diagrams. Siebel in Chicago offers a course led by a friend and colleague that I’m sure is better, but the reality is that anyone offering to teach you has been doing it less than 10 years themselves. Others offering course are not usually even worth looking at. I am an old dog distiller with a whopping 13 years under my belt! Even then, what you would be learning is the commoditized form of spirits production that everyone copied from the conglomerate distillers. Build a whiskey like you would any other craft beverage; ingredients first, strict qc and production discipline and assume that the really old timers know what they’re taking about.
To wit: a distiller friend a few years ago had a chance to speak to Jimmy Russel (Russel’s Reserve et al) about what he’d do differently. He said slower fermentations and lower distilling strength. Neither of these are things you would hear at a course other than maybe a cursory overview of various practices. They are more time consuming and require a more attentive operator, but that’s baseline for any other fermented beverage. If you’ve ever made good home brew you are in a better position than many distillers when they start.
Sorry to hear about the job, but glad you’re in a position to transition. I was furloughed in March and am just now thinking of making the switch back into full time distilling at a project I’ve been consulting for for 3 years.
There are a few of us who hit the ground around the same time with varietal grains. Balcones was the second with their Baby Blue, which they named after Baby Bourbon, the first whiskey we featured varietal grain in.
If you’re serious about distilling (or not and just want to play), I’d be happy to share resources including the best, cheapest hand-hammered stills you can get. A full rig would cost less than $500 (a little more for the fermenting equip). There are also lots of great academic papers available if you have someone to help you read between the lines 
. Just don’t ever tell anyone and dear lord, don’t sell any of it!
I am not dogging on Black Label, but for like a fancy box and all one would think something fancier in side. If it is a special variation, then that is fancy.
Rye makes better bread too!
Bread is the analogy I use for starting distillers. The spirit will have analogous characteristics to the bread. Corn will be sweet-ish, but a little flat and angular, malt (barley) will be rich and nutty, rye will be robust and full of character and wheat will be pillowy, lovely and completely inoffensive, if a little bland.
ETA: Just don’t use caraway!
Funny you should say that, because recently I had a rye loaf that I thought tasted a bit different. It was very nice. I checked the ingredients and it did have a very small amount of caraway seed added.
Wouldn’t that just result in an akvavit?
Yep! I think there may be a few other differences, but that’s mainly it.
I mean, I understand your warning against making it, I don’t hate it but I’m not a fan either if I have a choice of other spirits available. But as a Southern German caraway is a very familiar flavour for me. On bread, in Sauerkraut, even in cheese it’s really common in the South.
