Florida, like Connecticut, is a state slowly awakening to craft whiskey development. One distillery in particular there which has garnered some attention is Florida Farm Distillers, producing small batch whiskey under its Palm Ridge label. Up to this point this micro operation, located on a small cattle farm, was producing only a bourbon style whiskey, but recently those behind it ventured into a new rye release.
Palm Ridge Rye, according to the distillery, is distilled small batch style much like the bourbon is, with the distillation and bottling both happening on site under the watchful eye of co-owners Marti and Dick Waters. It is created on Florida Farm Distllers’ copper, 60 gallon reflux column still before being aged for an undisclosed amount of time.
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The rye, as I said, is pretty new, so it will be very hard to find outside of Florida right now. I’ve only seen one retailer selling it for around $50 for a 750 ml bottle. It is a strong whiskey, having been bottled at 100 proof, and is described as having “the essence of rye grain” as well as being “very smooth with all the wonderful spiciness and deep finish” you would expect a rye to offer.
Florida Farm Distillers, by the way, is on the map amongst the more elite craft whiskey distilleries in the US, at least according to renowned whiskey writer Jim Murray. In his most recent Whisky Bible edition he rated the distillery’s Palm Ridge Reserve bourbon style whiskey a 94.5 out of 100. If you want to find a bottle of that, you might have a little more luck until the rye hits greater distribution.
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