Spirit Spotlight: High Wheat Rye

High Wheat Rye is one of our favorite spirits to share with our whiskey-loving friends. While many whiskey drinkers—especially bourbon and scotch lovers—tend to stay away from rye whiskeys, our High Wheat Rye has a universal appeal that any whiskey drinker will enjoy. 

When compared to most other rye whiskeys, our high-wheat rye is a bit more understated in the heat and spice most people expect from a rye. However, it has a uniquely smooth finish with layers of sweetness with white pepper bites in between them, making it a rye you’ll find yourself coming back to when winding down the evening at home. 

How It’s Made

High Wheat Rye is made from a mash bill consisting of 65% rye and 35% wheat. The wheat adds additional sweet, mildly caramel notes to an otherwise spicy rye. We ferment this mash for three days before distilling in small batches in our hybrid copper stills. 

Once distilled, we age High Wheat Rye in 53 gallon virgin American oak barrels, charred to level 3. A level 3 char indicates that during production, the interior of the barrel is burned for 35 seconds (with the longest char time being 55 seconds, at level 4). We chose level 3 charring because it lends a wonderful  balance  between sweet, earthy , and spicy notes to spirits further enhancing beautiful oaky notes  instilled by the barrel. 

As far as the ageing time, High Wheat Rye is currently our oldest whiskey. It’s 7 years old and continues to age in over 90 barrels. . Once used, the barrel doesn’t go to waste—we use our after-whiskey barrels to age our Starkus Light Whiskey. 

Tasting Notes

High Wheat Rye starts with a bold and pleasantly spicy entry that quickly dissipates into a mildly sweet center. It finishes smoothly with mildly elevated heat from the peppery rye. We feel it is truly the perfect sipping whiskey, which also lends itself well to cocktail recipes such as Manhattans, Sazeracs, and Whiskey Sours.