Oregon’s Rogue Ales Draws From Its Own Rye Crop For New Rye Whiskey

The folks behind Rogue Ales in Oregon have long dreamed it seems like of having as many ingredients as possible in their beers and spirits be something they have a hand in the growing of. They have a motto of “from ground to glass,” which is something you can already see in their whiskey courtesy of their young single malt expression. The distillers at Rogue now have a new whiskey up their sleeves coming out at the beginning of December made from their own rye.

Known as Rogue Farms Oregon Rye Whiskey, this new bottling was distilled by Rogue from rye it grew and malted on its own farms in Oregon. The initial harvest of this rye produced just 374 cases of whiskey, which are being distributed nationwide in limited numbers.

Rogue recently detailed on their blog some information about the rye whiskey, saying the spirit was three years in the making and something they were totally involved in, down to being “floor malted, micro-malted, mashed, distilled” and aged by them. This multi-year period doesn’t reflect the age of the whiskey itself in barrel which, according to its label, was “ocean aged” in new oak barrels at its Newport, Oregon-based distillery for somewhere between four months and a year (the time frame being drawn together from the label as well as information from the blog).

The three year marker instead seems to refer to fact the first rye crop was planted back then in Oregon soil. From their first successful harvest they began making a rye beer, laying down the foundation for the recently produced rye whiskey. What’s in bottle now clocks in at 90 proof, making it young and aggressive and something that will be worth checking out in the coming weeks.

Rogue, by the way, looks like they are working on a bourbon as well made from, of course, their own farm grown, hand shucked corn.