Do I have a convert? Or better yet, . . .

on a broader scale, do I have any influence?

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

HELP AN OLD, HONORABLE AND TRADITIONAL AMERICAN INDUSTRY!!!

"There he goes, up on that 'I'm not political' soap box again, the hypocrite", snorted the 83,193 intellectually unimpressed fans in A.H. Hirsch Stadium.

Well, what I'm talking about here folks is a conversation I've been having with a friend of mine who happens to work in the catering business. He's been in the restaurant/food related industry as a bartender for quite some time, could it be 20 years? Perhaps, maybe more than that, I'm not sure, having met him some time during the mid '90's. Any rate, I recently discovered that he's one of those people who screw up their face whenever Rye Whiskey is mentioned. And as we've all seen by my forays into the Wonderful World of Rye, . . .

it's nothing to sneeze at, and certainly not make a face over.

I mean, just look at the recently published Bloofingtonian Top Five

1. The Classic Cask 22 year old rye
2. Van Winkle Special Reserve 13 year old rye
3. The Classic Cask 21 year old rye
4. Sazerac 18 year old rye
5. Wild Turkey rye

I'll bet you didn't think there WERE five different rye whiskeys in America, ehhhhhhhhhh??? Well, get strapped into the cockpit of the jet fighter folks, and to borrow a phrase from Bobby Flay, get out there and drink America!!! Rye, to be specific. Yes, I didn't like Anchor Distilling Co.'s interpretation of early American Whiskey, but I didn't hate it. It just didn't hit my palate the right way. I'm not a wine drinker, and it was much more like wine. That doesn't mean that what's in those five bottles above doesn't qualify as rye whiskey.

If it comes from a mash bill that's at least 51% but no more than 79% rye grain, and these days aged in new charred oak barrels, it's rye, guy. And don't forget, in deference to the good folks at Anchor Distilling, that was their 1700's version. I still haven't tasted the 1800's version, which could turn out to be a different story altogether. And I mention those ryes because they are made from a mash bill that is 100% pure rye grain, being their attempt to bring across to the imbibing public that this is the way that original American whiskey was once made. And indeed it was.

But however it has evolved, people, do yourselves a favor, the next time you're heading out there with a printout of the Bloofingtonian Top 25 of bourbon, put it away just once and . . .

give rye a try.

Oh, and as for my friend, he was impressed with The Classic Cask 22 year old rye and is willing to rethink his facial expression on rye.

And that's no lie. :wink:

Folks, as usual, Hollow Point is full of nothing but good points, and fact is, he always is. One of these days I'm going to find out he's really the publisher of Malt Advocate, or perhaps even Jimmy Russell himself.

At any rate, he's quite right, especially about the A.H. Hirsch line of bourbons, of which I've only had the 16 year old. Interestingly enough, just TRY getting the mash bill percentages out of any distiller, and you WON'T!!! Oh sure, they might tell you the exact percentage of corn, or the exact percentage of one of the small grains in the mash bill, like rye, but just try getting the exact percentages of all the grains in the mash bill, or what kind of yeast was used to start the distillation process, etc. All that stuff is considered to be a recipe, and therefore, intellectual property.

Having said that however, if you look closely at the label on the bottle of A.H. Hirsch 16 year old, the 'background' of the label has an artful, old style font which does in fact name the percentages of grains used in the mash bill for this, my No. 1 bourbon. The percentages used were 51% bourbon, the exact minimum required to call it bourbon, 37% rye (Wow, that's high!!!) and 12% malt, which of course means barley malt.

Now, don't all you amateur 'bathtub gin' folks go out and buy yourselves all those grains thinking you're going to duplicate the taste of A.H. Hirsch bourbon. It doesn't really work that way. But it is interesting to note, especially when keeping Hollow Point's quite substantive points in mind.

So, get out there, don't fret, don't cry and try rye, America!!!