The West Coast’s CALI Distillery recently released Three Rivers Rye, a new whiskey inspired by the ancient oak woodlands of California.
A statement from the distiller notes that Three Rivers is a dark, rich rye whiskey made and bottled in California. Its mash bill is 93 percent rye and 7 percent malted barley.
The distiller’s notes explain that the 7% malted barley is because the raw kernels of hard rye are low in natural amylase, which splits the starches into sugars for the fermentation process.
The malted (sprouted) barley provides the additional enzymes needed to create a sweeter mash and produce a tastier beer for fermentation.
For Three Rivers, this process produces dark chocolate, black coffee and caramel notes in the final product.
Three Rivers Rye is aged in new American oak and finished with toasted and charred oak. The golden-hued toasted oak lends sweet caramel overtones, and the blackened charred oak contributes a dark roasted grain bite to the flavor profile.
Three Rivers Rye is named for the Sierra foothills village where the Kaweah River’s three branches flow from the sequoias, through oak woodlands, eventually washing into the central valley, which in turn waters their orchard and farmland.
The name is also a hint at the three elements that come together to make whiskey … water, oak and grain.
Trending Stories
A statement from the Southern California beach town distillery explained that they bottle Three Rivers Rye at 95.5 proof as a “shout-out to the great Los Angeles radio station we listened to growing up – KLOS.”
As Three Rivers worked its way from grain to glass, it’s now ready for its first bottling.
CALI Distillery is a family-owned artisanal spirits company based in Gardena, Ca., just a few miles inland from the beaches of the South Bay in Los Angeles County.
Latest News