I’m going to let you in on a little journalistic secret: Sometimes it’s better to sit on a scoop rather than blurt it out when you first discover something. A few years back, I was visiting a large distillery in Kentucky when I happened to walk past a clipboard hanging on the wall that listed the production schedule for the week. I noticed that several of the distillery’s massive 12,500-gallon fermenters had been booked for several days of contract production for Nelson’s Green Brier.
Wait, what? This was back when NGB was still sourcing some really excellent whiskey from MGP in Indiana that they blended into their popular Belle Meade Bourbon product. Beyond that, the company was lucky to produce one or two barrels a day in their Nashville distillery, so this represented a huge increase in new whiskey that they actually had a hand in developing and producing.
But was it news yet? I figured not, because none of us would actually be able to taste any of this new product until it had spent at least three years in oak. Eventually, this whiskey hit the market as Nelson Bros. Classic Bourbon and Reserve Bourbon, both of which I enjoyed a lot.
However, there was another bit of info that I gleaned from that clipboard that was more notable. Some of those fermenters had also been filled with a rye whiskey mash bill, a completely new development for NGB. It turns out we had to wait an extra year to find out the details of what that product would become, but the wait is now over!
Nelson Brothers Rye Whiskey is the distillery’s latest release, a 92.5-proof rye that retails around $36.99 a bottle. Despite all the research that co-founders Charlie and Andy Nelson had conducted scouring the records of their family company, they couldn't locate the original recipe that the original Charles Nelson used to distill his pre-Prohibition rye whiskey, so they created their own. Essentially, they swapped the percentages of corn and rye in the mash bill from their bourbon that was fermenting at the same time in the Kentucky distillery that they were working with.
The result is a fine everyday rye whiskey that I have really enjoyed in Manhattans and Negronis. Their bourbon mash bill already contained a high percentage of rye, so I guess that means that this is a high corn rye whiskey, but of course with at least 51 percent rye grain as is required.
That has resulted in a nicely balanced rye, exhibiting the characteristic spicy nature of the grain without overpowering the palate with too much of the black pepper and clove notes that sometimes show up when a distiller turns up the volume on the rye. Instead, the subtle sweetness of the corn adds a grace note to the spice and helps to balance the bitters that are mandatory in a good Manhattan. (I also think that rye is mandatory in a good Manhattan, but if you prefer one with bourbon, I’m not gonna scold you or anything.)
In the official announcement of the new product, Andy Nelson describes how this rye represents a melding of the distillery’s history with its future. “We could not be more thrilled to finally release a rye whiskey to a national audience for the first time since Prohibition!” says Nelson. “We’ve always had a mind to reconstruct Charles Nelson’s original portfolio of spirits with a nod to the past and an eye toward the future, and this release of Nelson Brothers Rye represents the next step in accomplishing that. We’re also excited to provide classic bourbon drinkers a reason to venture into rye.”
Nelson Bros. Rye will be a wide release (thanks to those massive fermenting tanks) so you should be able to find it on the shelves of your favorite local spirits shop. In a world where a large percentage of available rye whiskey is made by one mega-producer, it’s nice to be able to source a slightly more local option that comes from a slightly less mega distillery. I know it will be a regular addition to my home bar.
