The Once and Future Rye, Part 1: Introducing the Whiskey That Was America

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1: Introducing the Whiskey That Was America

Consider the strange fate of rye whiskey. From the earliest days of the Republic to the onset of Prohibition, it was the American tipple. From Miami to Seattle, if you stopped in a roadhouse and ordered a shot of whiskey, rye was what the barkeep poured into your glass.

Yet by the 1950s, rye was perilously close to being forgotten. Where bourbon emerged gloriously from the Great Depression, self-mythologized and available from a constantly growing number of distilleries, only a handful of bottom-shelf brands of rye survived... and some of those, it has to be said, only at the benevolent toleration of a few bourbon distilleries.

Even in Washington, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the Whiskey Rebellion, rye was so forgotten that public schools taught that it was taxation of corn whiskey that was behind the uprising.

The recent resurrection of rye whiskey is one of the few signs that the twenty-first century may have something to offer civilization. So the proprietors of The American Martini Institute and The American Martini Laboratory propose to present the history of the Whiskey That Was America here.

To help you get started, here is the recipe for the quintessential rye cocktail:

 

 

     

            Manhattan

            3 ounces rye

            1 ounce sweet vermouth

            2 dashes cherry bitters

            spiced cherry

 

            directions: mix, chill and serve with a spiced cherry for garnish

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Note that the AML uses cherries spiced in-house and not those dreadful candied things they sell in a jar. It makes a tremendous difference.

 

Next Wednesday: The Once and Future Rye, Part 2: Drinking Like A (Colonial) American

Above: A small fraction of the  research materials employed by The American Martini Laboratory in this project.

 

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