The whiskey wash logo
The World's Most-Visited
Whiskey Website
The World's Most-Visited
Whiskey Website

Oppidan Malted Rye A Rare Bird Among Malt Whiskey Types

A young Illinois distillery has debuted its version of a malted rye whiskey, putting it in a niche category of whiskey style.
  • Nino Kilgore-Marchetti, founder of The Whiskey Wash, is an award-winning whiskey journalist, expert, and judge
Search

Trending Stories

Like Conversation
reading time
OppidanWhiskeyThere’s a new whiskey distillery that recently surfaced out of Illinois with an interesting young rye whiskey just released for your consideration. What’s most interesting about it, if nothing else, is the fact the new Oppidan Malted Rye Whiskey is 100 percent rye malt, which is something of a rare bird among whiskey types.
Most of the time when one thinks of malt whiskey, a traditional single malt made from mostly malted barley comes to mind. Malted barley is at the heart of Scotch, for example, as well as many American single malts. Malted ryes, in the meanwhile, look to be made only by a handful of distilleries that I’m aware of, with Old Pogue and Anchor Distilling being among the more well known in this niche space. There’s an interesting discussion over at reddit if you want to learn a little more on this.

As for the Oppidan offering, I was told by the distillery it is a bottling of just over one year in age, with it being noted to me as well they have this whiskey aging in “15, 25, 30, and 53 gallon barrels.” The rye malt is said to be enjoyed either neat or mixed in a cocktail, the later of which is likely due to the fact rye whiskies in general make good mixed drink ingredients.

Bottled at 46% ABV, the Oppidan Malted Rye is pricing around $45 for a 750 ml bottle over at Binny’s right now if you want one. Official tasting notes for it are below, described more by general taste characteristics versus your usual nose, etc. style breakdown.

• Chocolate
• Pepper
• Honeysuckle
• Leather
• Clove
• Vanilla

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is the founder of The Whiskey Wash, an award-winning whiskey lifestyle website dedicated to informing and entertaining consumers about whisk(e)y globally. As a whisk(e)y journalist, expert, and judge, he has written extensively about the subject, been interviewed in various media outlets, and provided tasting input on many whiskeys at competitions.

All Posts
The whiskey wash logoLatest On The Whiskey Wash
The whiskey wash logo