Type Rye Whiskey | Producer Bulleit Distilling Co. | Region USA > Kentucky > Shelbyville | ABV 45% | Volume 700 ml | Price (AUD) ~$75
House notes
Bulleit Rye is the bottle that makes a Manhattan taste the way a Manhattan should taste: spicy, dry, slightly bitter, unapologetically American. 95 percent rye in the mash bill, which gives it that cracked-black-pepper and gingerbread top end that bourbon can’t do. Less caramel, more bite. Slightly hot neat, which is a feature not a bug. In a cocktail it shoves vermouth around in the best possible way. Cold Manhattans live or die on rye selection and this is the no-brainer under $80. The bottle itself looks like it should be behind an Old West saloon counter, which is marketing, but the liquid is the real deal.
What it pairs with
The Manhattan bottle. Also extremely good in a Sazerac (swap the bourbon for rye, add a Peychaud’s rinse, hold the absinthe in the glass) and a Boulevardier made with rye instead of bourbon. Pairs with pastrami sandwiches, smoked trout, cured meats, a properly salty cheese board. Also works in an Old Fashioned if you like it drier and peppier than the bourbon version. Not the sipping bottle of choice for most people; save Bulleit for cocktail duty and spend the same money on a Woodford for neat pours.
About the producer
Bulleit Rye is sourced and bottled by Diageo, originally contract-distilled at MGP in Indiana and now increasingly produced at the Bulleit Distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky. The high-rye mash bill goes back to Tom Bulleit’s nineteenth-century family recipe, or at least that’s the story on the bottle.