Our pick for 2024's absolute best rye whiskey is one patriotic pour.
The second chapter in our sixth annual best new American whiskeys roundup will focus on ryes (see our look at 2024's best American single malts). As the rye renaissance continues to spread not just across America but the entire whiskey-loving world, new bottles are popping up daily -- which should please lovers of this spicy and often fragrant category. Here are ten of our favorites...including a particularly patriotic pick for the best rye whiskey of 2024.
No matter which side of the political aisle you're on, one thing we can (almost) all agree on is the consistent quality that comes out of Proof & Wood founder Dave Schmier's label. Whether it's their Tumblin' Dice expressions or LTO one-offs, if you see the Proof and Wood label you can count on that whiskey delivering. Part of their DC Collection, which also includes The Cabinet Blended Whiskey, Representative Bourbon and Senator Rye (all barrel-proof), the rare Presidential Drams fittingly only come out during POTUS election cycles. Now in its third edition (the first, in 2016, was highly limited), the 2024 Presidential Dram offers two options: the 8-year-old Two Term Presidential Dram Straight Bourbon and 4-year-old One Term Presidential Dram Single Barrel Rye.
We'll happily polish either one to forget the hair-pulling limitations of our two-party system, but we lean slightly more towards the latter as that was what we found ourselves pouring copiously in early November. The Single Barrel expressions come from two options, a 95 percent rye/5 percent malted barley from MGP and a Minnesota-sourced 85 percent rye/15 percent barley recipe with a bit of a softer, smoother palate. Both aged at least 4 years, or one presidential term. While its potency should be able to strip red, white and blue paint, the barrel being 59.25% ABV (118.5-proof), the rye is so luscious and smooth you'll hesitate adding even a drop of water to dilute its wonder. But fret not, slowly proofing on your own will slowly reveal layers of flavors as arcane as bureaucratic legalese.
Schmier selected the name for his Proof & Wood endeavor to underscore what many believe are the two most critical factors in a whiskey's final result: the particular wood and barrel quality used to age it, and offering it without dilution. Only available for a limited spell, Proof and Wood's One Term Presidential Dram Single Barrel Rye accomplishes the mission. Buy here
This spring Michter's offers its 2024 10-Year Rye, a globally anticipated vintage that is widely considered one of the best ryes released annually. Michter's mastery of the category cannot be overstated, as they've been releasing their US*1 Rye since 2003, and the 10-Year Rye since 2000.
"When we restarted Michter's [in 2000], we had a real passion for rye and believed that people who tasted a high quality American rye would like it. With the support of many great bartenders across the globe, well-made American rye was introduced by Michter's to a new generation of whiskey lovers," Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson says, highlighting how renowned spirits authority Robert Simonson credited Michter's Rye for why so many American rye brands incorporate a Michter's-aping green on their label.
Rye boasts a rich American heritage dating back to the 1700s, but Wilson points out very few American ryes remained in production after Prohibition. As time passed the category virtually disappeared with the exception of stalwarts like Wild Turkey and Indiana's MGP. While the US market is much more accustomed to MGP's widely distributed 95 percent rye/5 percent malted barley recipe, as well as that of Canadian rye, Michter's proudly produces what they dub a "Kentucky Rye," which they see as deeper and more complex thanks to the malted barley. Think baking spices, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove coupled with citrus, honey, and caramel -- "without the distraction of excessive pepper notes," adds Wilson.
"Michter's rye is beautifully integrated with layers of flavors that dance across the palate, creating a truly delicious whiskey experience... our house style is to create a rich and balanced rye with a nice warmth on the finish." The 2024 edition of Michter's 10 Year Rye comes bottled at 46.4 percent ABV (92.8-proof). $200 SRP
Once again Wild Turkey's halo Master's Keep series returns with its 2024 expression: Triumph. The collection can get experimental, such as 2022's version Unforgotten, which blended a 13-year-old bourbon with 8- and 9-year-old ryes. Triumph, however, keeps it simple. For the 10th edition of the series (but only 9th available in America) Wild Turkey does nothing less than offer a 10-year rye, the oldest age statement ever used by the Lawrenceburg whiskey makers for a rye bottle.
When most other American whiskey makers abandoned rye during whisky's lean years, Wild Turkey never did -- and hence are considered masters in the form. Which is noteworthy that this is only the second rye in the Master's Keep vertical, after Cornerstone in 2019, despite launching the series back in 2015. But they saved a hell of a juice to represent the 10th anniversary.
Utilizing Wild Turkey's relatively low rye mash bill (51 percent rye/37 percent corn/12 percent malted barley) compared to say MGP's signature 95 percent rye/5 percent malted barley recipe, you get the extra corn sweetness manifesting in interesting ways with fig, caramel, raisin, and blackcurrant adding texture over the cinnamon, dark chocolate and ground black pepper of the rye. Master Distiller Eddie Russell credits the influence of his famously rye-loving son Bruce in this year's Master's Keep, which is bottled at 57 percent ABV (104-proof), offering luscious texture along with unexpected smoothness in the only slightly proofed final product. Buy here
"What I wanted to do with these two Experimental Batches [#14 and #15] was to get some note of Kentucky in my whiskey," Distillery 291 founder Michael Myers revealed to us at Wally's, one of Los Angeles' premier spirit retailers. "My whiskey is so Colorado, so big, so different than Kentucky whiskey, I was like, 'Well, it'd be interesting if my rye and bourbon had this little Kentucky note to it.'"
So what his Distillery 291 team did, led by Myers and Head Distiller Eric Jett, was to take their two main recipes -- 80 percent corn/19 percent malted rye/1 percent malted barley bourbon mashbill and 61 percent malted rye/39 percent corn rye mash bill -- and age them normally in their traditional barrels: first-fill, deep-charred virgin American white oak sourced from Barrel Mill in Avon, Minnesota. Then, the rye (Experimental Batch #14) and bourbon (Experimental Batch #15) were each poured into used bourbon barrels from Kentucky. In total each whiskey aged over 4 years in its twin casks.
Both of 2024's Experimental Batches are bottled in 291's signature Old West saloon-style glass with cork stopper. The Colorado-style ruggedness was assured with their 67 percent and 64.6 percent ABV respectively. Distillery 291 'Experimental Batch #14' Rye is certainly powerful enough for an OK Corral gunfight, but smooth and caramel bodied like only the finest American whiskeys achieve. $108 SRP.
For the first time Lost Lantern decided to focus one of their collections entirely on a region of spirits, their Spring Collection 2024 strictly highlighting Midwestern whiskeymakers. While six highlight single distilleries, the seventh, Far Flung Rye, rises to the top. This Goldilocks solution cherry-picks many of the above single-distillery's best ryes, all aged between 4-9 years, and blends them to perfection, creating a beautiful rye that we believe is better than the sum of its parts. The multi-distillery up-level rye consists of whiskeys from Cedar Ridge, Middle West Spirits, Starlight Distillery, Tom's Foolery and Wollersheim.
"The flagship release of our Midwest Collection, Far-Flung Rye encapsulates why we at Lost Lantern are so very excited about Midwest whiskey -- it showcases the depth and breadth of flavor that rye whiskey can have," Lost Lantern co-founder Nora Ganley-Roper tells us. She credits the region's cooler climates for its nuanced complexity, the lower temps allowing for a slower aging that builds a "delicacy" that's harder to achieve in the hotter, more accelerated climates of Texas and the south -- especially when barreling in virgin oak.
"This release has all of those things," co-founder Adam Polonski vows. "Far-Flung rye has bright rye spice and fresh-cut grass on the nose. The palate is spicy, with rich oak and hints of dark chocolate and warm bread." The Midwest collection is available for purchase at the new Lost Lantern Tasting Room in Vermont, as well as online. Only 486 bottles of the 121.6-proof Far-Flung Rye are available. $100 SRP
Raj Bhakta made his name in the spirits world by helping forge WhistlePig, which can be credited with elevating the once dismissed Rye category into the luxury space it enjoys today. While he doesn't deserve sole credit for the explosion of Rye, Raj most certainly had his place in its trajectory. After selling WhistlePig in 2019, the flamboyant entrepreneur's next venture was purchasing a chateau in Condom, France whose cellar happened to contain one of the largest collections of ancient Armagnac in the world, with glass bonbonnes and barrels dating as far back as 1868. There in that cool Gallois cellar, Bhakta Spirits was born.
Beyond selling doses of rare Armagnacs, single barrel bourbons and even whiskey from India, the most interesting of Bhakta Spirits experimentations begin when they take their rare beakers of ingredients and begin feverishly blending them to create entirely new flavor profiles the likes the world has never seen. It is in this vein that one of the best spirits we tried this year was born. Named for the oldest vintage in the blend, Bhakta 1928 is a rye unicorn blended with an ultra-rare (nearly) century-old spirit distilled in the Roaring Twenties.
The base of the expression is a 5-year-old rye distilled in 2018, casked first in American oak and then second-finished in Virgin French oak. They then fortified the whiskey with two French brandies with drastically different flavor profiles: 30 percent Calvados -- an apple brandy from Normandy -- and 10 percent Armagnac, a cognac-adjacent grape brandy renowned for its luxurious mouthfeel.
Beyond the eponymous 1928 vintage, other ages of the Armagnac date to 1941, 1962, 1973 and 1996. The end result is a spirit with a firm foundation of cinnamon and red pepper spice from the rye, balanced with sweet North Shore-size waves of ripe apple and rum-soaked raisin vanilla ice cream from the twin French brandies. All blended and bottled at their giant campus in Poultney, Vermont. And when we say campus, it really is a campus -- as in, the 155-acre compound was formerly known as Green Mountain College; the brick buildings and towering oaks will remind you of every New England prep-school movie ever filmed.
Raj Bhakta has a reputation for at times playing fast and more than a bit loose with the rules (for instance, the admittance of only a "drop" of the 1928 spirit it is named after), and that can earn its fair criticisms. But when Bhakta comes through with a spirit of such substance and unique flavor spectrums as his 1928 expression, you have to offer proper salute. Bhakta 1928 Rye comes bottled at 50 percent ABV (100-proof). $70 SRP
This year Baltimore's Sagamore Spirit upped their game by releasing two of their oldest expressions to date: a 7-year-old 100-proof Bottled in Bond Rye, and Sagamore 9-Year-Old Straight Rye, both part of Sagamore's Reserve Series. Launched in 2016 from a 5-acre waterfront distillery in Baltimore's Port Covington neighborhood, the existential goal of Sagamore was from day one to reanimate the legacy of Maryland Rye -- which, along with Pennsylvania and New York, was a premier hub of rye whiskey decades before Kentucky began making waves. And they've done a damn fine job, for as their juice ages it grows in complexity, heft and flavor spectrum.
Sagamore blends two straight rye mash bills -- one high-rye, one low -- for a unique confluence of flavors, and aged them for nine years in new charred American white oak barrels. Wonderful oily viscosity, with notes of orange peel, pecan pie, hot chocolate and apricot jam before the rye spice takes you to the finish line. Delicious stuff that leaves us eager to see if Sagamore's juice has peaked at 9 years or if it's still got legs to grow. $79 SRP
As New Riff celebrates its 10th anniversary in the whiskey game they've made two big moves. First, elevating head distiller Brian Sprance to Master Distiller, giving the man behind the juice the juice he's earned since being at the Newport, Kentucky distillery since day one. Second, adding two more SKUs to their core portfolio: 8-year-old versions of both their core bourbon and rye. They've been fully committed to the Bottled-In-Bond ethos since the beginning, bottled at 100 proof, sans chill filtration, with consistent mashbills. In the rye's case, 95 percent rye and 5 percent malted rye, a tweak on MGPs famed recipe that uses 5 percent malted barley. Since we regularly stock our personal bars with their BIB expressions of both, it's little surprise that doubling the aging time has only improved the New Riff whiskeys -- and we give a tip of the hat to the Rye expression.
It's important to highlight that while New Riff earned no less than 10 medals at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, their 6-Year-Old Malted Rye claimed the highest prize of Double Gold. Best yet, Sprance has said neither whiskey has yet peaked even after 8 years in the barrel, suggesting a barrel of New Riff rye at 8 years old "has a long life of aging ahead of it." While we look forward to future New Riffs, we'll take the time to enjoy a baking spice and cinnamon rich glass of their 8-Year-Old Rye. $70
If we keep our karma clean, wave hi to our neighbors and act like decent human beings all year, we may be lucky enough at the end of said year to receive samplers of the latest Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. The arrival is akin to being 8 years old and waking up on Christmas morning, a chrome Mongoose BMX bike gleaming under the tree lights. Initiate braingasm.
This year was especially tickling because the package Buffalo Trace sent was worthy of saving forever: a stout wooden box stacked with beautiful examples of each whisky, this year with all five of the collection: the bourbon triumvirate of Eagle Rare 17-Year-Old, George T. Stagg and William Larue Weller, along with the twin ryes of Sazerac 18-Year-Old and Thomas H. Handy.
While each of the BTAC is a gem, almost inevitably one of the bourbon offerings is usually crowned the best in show by the collective bourbonista hive mind. But 2024 may be the rare year where the pick of the litter goes to one of the two ryes -- specifically the Sazerac 18-Year-Old. Quite simply the distillery's low-rye Sazerac mash bill, normally bottled at 6 years, is allowed to triple its time chilling in virgin American oak in the Frankfort, Kentucky's Warehouses K, L and M. And what delicious gains this extra maturation bestows.
This chewy delight feels like a Michelin-starred pastry chef's dessert, featuring flavors of blackberry jam, marmalade and tobacco. Of course with a near two-decade casking there's going to be a strong framework of oak, but within that architecture lies layers of brown sugar and a cinnamony spice. A superb rye from America's oldest continuously -- but that's to be expected. If you're going to splurge on one BTAC for 2024, you may want to consider the Sazerac 18-Year-Old Rye -- not a firestarter like others in the collection, proofed down to an eminently smooth 45 percent ABV (90-proof). Buy here
This year Rabbit Hole label gave their widely loved Boxergrail Rye the Founder's Collection treatment. Previous editions of Rabbit Hole's annual halo Founder's Collection editions like Mizunara and Nevallier made us swoon, so it's little surprise that the extra-aged version of one of Kaveh Zamanian's best pillar whiskeys, the Boxergrail Rye (95 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley), would become another staunch favorite. The concept is simple: The core portfolio Boxergrail Rye normally aged 6-years is aged another two and bottled at cask strength (51.9 percent ABV / 103.8-proof). Presto blammo, excellence in a glass.
Only 1,200 bottles of Rabbit Hole's Boxergrail Founder's Collection were made, so it's not easy to find. As with the previous Founder's Collections, the Boxergrail Rye comes beautifully packaged in a magnetically sealed wood box, individually numbered with heavy crest-engraved gold cork, ready for happy consumption (and display). $300 SRP