Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 23

back from Wallkill River, on rich bottomland soil, it looks
out onto Bonticou Crag, part of the Shawangunk Ridge. A
weeping willow sways over the pewter-gray barn and silo.
Distiller Christopher Williams grows some and malts all of
the rye that goes into the whiskey.
" The grain plays a part, the malting plays a part, the
method of production plays a part, " says Williams. " Provenance is not just the source of the grain. "
Coppersea is wholly committed to making a local product using heritage methods. The whiskey is made with
locally farmed grains, spontaneously fermented in open
vats and distilled in simple direct-fired pot stills. Williams
taught himself to malt his own rye when there were no local
maltsters in the state. Malting produces the enzyme alphaamylase that helps convert starches to fermentable sugars.
Synthetic enzymes can be used, but Williams believes these
would not only influence the whiskey's flavor, but make it
a less authentically Hudson Valley product.
In 2015, Williams and five other New York distillers set
out to establish a new rye designation for the state. It would
pay homage to the region's tradition of rye whiskey without presuming to recreate what's been lost to history. They
settled on the name Empire Rye and came up with a set of
standards. To qualify, a rye must be mashed, fermented,
distilled and aged at a single facility. It must also meet New
York's Farm Distilling Act criteria, which call for 75 percent
of ingredients used-in this case, rye-to be grown in New
York. The national standard for rye whiskey is 51 percent
rye grain, sourced from anywhere.
" It felt like I had never really tasted rye until I tried
Empire Rye, " says Kings County Distillery co-founder Colin
Spoelman, who makes his Empire Rye out of Brooklyn. " All
I'd ever had were these commercially distilled products that
tend to have a high corn content. "
Spoelman finds that his rye softens over time in barrel,
but he prefers it young. At two years, the rye, blended with
20 percent malt barley, is grassy, with hints of bergamot
and baking spice. Coppersea makes several rye expressions.
Its Bonticou Crag Straight Rye Malt is fruity and spiced,
with a breath of fresh herbs at the end. Both distilleries use
Danko, the de facto variety for Empire Rye. Bred in Poland
in the 1970s, it has no known historical connection to New
York; experts can't say what variety, if any, was once preferred in the state. Danko has been found to grow well in
New York-and it produces good whiskey.
" When it comes to provenance, you don't want the tail to
wag the dog, " says Williams. He and his fellow Empire Rye
producers are less interested in recreating the past-including claiming some heritage variety with a tenuous connection to the region-than forging a meaningful future for
rye whiskey in New York.

BARRELS AT THE
KINGS COUNTY DISTILLERY WAREHOUSE,
IN BROOKLYN, NY

Local Ryes
MINNESOTA:
Far North Spirits
Røknar Seed Vault
Series (47% ABV;
$45/750 ml)

COLORADO:
Laws Whiskey House
San Luis Valley
Straight Rye (47.5%
ABV; $54/750 ml)

NEW YORK:
Coppersea Bonticou
Crag Straight Rye
Malt (48% ABV;
$75/750 ml)

ERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUS-or, oncefamous-rye in America was the Monongahela style, from western Pennsylvania.
Blended with malted barley, the style is
being revived by a handful of distillers.
" Pennsylvania was the historic home
of American whiskey and rye whiskey,
in particular, " says Herman Mihalich of

Dad's Hat Rye.
Growing up, Mihalich could see the Monongahela River
from his bedroom window. His father ran a tavern that
served local rye, and Mihalich now makes his own to capture that flavor. His Pennsylvania Straight Rye has an oatcake sweetness and a whiff of barnyard. Mihalich's research
into Pennsylvania's distilling history led him to Rosen rye,
a Russian variety introduced to the U.S. in 1909. No one
farmed it anymore, so Mihalich turned to the federal seed
bank. What started as five grams of seed has, in a few years,
grown into acres. Mihalich hopes to make his first Rosen
rye whiskey next year.
" Perhaps Rosen rye will turn out to be interesting, " he
says. " But, more importantly, I'd like to see Pennsylvania
farmers become integral to the supply of rye grain for the
whiskey industry. As rye whiskey grows, the demand for
the grain will grow, too, regardless of which variety it is. "
Whiskey producers can be wary of using the word terroir-even if they believe their product expresses something essential about place. Because whiskey making
involves so much manipulation, so many biochemical
transformations, its expression of provenance relies heavily on a factor that proponents of terroir prefer to avoid:
human culture. Reviving old rye varieties and styles is more
than just a neat trick. It's an exercise in connecting different human endeavors. American rye is as diverse as there
are varieties, soil types and microclimates, but also farmers
and distillers, malthouses and local cooperages. Bringing
back rye at the local level feeds them all. ●
NEW YORK:
Kings County
Distillery Empire
Rye (51% ABV;
$99/750 ml)

PENNSYLVANIA:
Dad's Hat
Pennsylvania
Straight Rye (47.5%
ABV; $55/750 ml)
WINE & SPIRITS

MICHIGAN:
Two James Catcher's
Rye (49.4% ABV;
$50/750 ml)

APRIL 2021

Wine & Spirits - April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2021