Rittenhouse Rye

Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky is a Straight Rye, which means, much like Straight Bourbon, it has to be produced according to a specific set of rules.

We’ll get to that, but before we do – why, we hear you all ask, (all of you are asking ‘why’, we can hear you), why oh why is it called Rittenhouse? Well, it’s named after Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, which is not only a  geographically square location in Philadelphia, but was itself named after the actual square, David Rittenhouse.

Dave was a clock-making, inventing super nerd, who served as the first Director of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and made crucial adaptations to the telescope that still exist today.

Creating his own observatory at home, Dave utilized grating intervals and spider threads on the focus of the telescope to enable him to observe Venus. You know, grating intervals… Such innovation was hugely beneficial for serious star-gazing nerds, but you might also want to thank him if you simply use a telescope to look into your neighbour’s bedroom. Either way, his findings emphatically proved that telescopes really are worth looking into, certainly we can see where he’s coming from now, even if the price of telescopes remains astronomical.

But away from shit telescope gags that don’t make sense, we can reveal that Rittenhouse Rye is one of the great exponents of Kentucky rye.

Rye was not only the first style of whiskey European settlers in American produced, but has also enjoyed a renaissance amongst cool dude bartenders in recent years.

When America’s earliest settlers from Scotland and Ireland arrived they found an abundant supply of rye on the east coast, so used this grain instead of the barley that makes Irish and Scotch whisky. When these distillers moved south, corn became the most important grain in American whiskey, but with bartenders keen to explore the flavours of the very first cocktails, we’ve seen rye creeping back into drinks like the Sazerac and Manhattan

Rittenhouse is made and aged according to “Bottled-In-Bond” government regulations. So by law needs to have 51% rye in its mashbill, but to balance up this spicy grain, there’s also 35% corn and 14% malted barley in there.

The Bottled-in-Bond designation is steeped in more than a century of American distilling heritage and is still one of the most regulated spirits categories in the world. The designation means it is bottled at 100 proof (50% ABV), is a minimum of four years old, is the product of one distillery in one production season and aged and stored in a federally bonded warehouse.

As a result, this whiskey lands with an explosion of spice on your pallet, but there’s a sweeter finish of vanilla, honey, and caramel. This blend of sweet and spicy gives Rittenhouse a distinctive character, and thanks to that punchy 100 proof , means it really does stand out when you use among mixers or modifiers in a cocktail.