Old Pogue Five Fathers Pure Malt Rye Drops As Older, Bolder

We highlighted Old Pogue Distillery in a recent feature back in December. A proud member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour, you’d think bourbon would be what they’re known for – and they certainly are. But they are also dabbling in other whiskey styles, including the ever-interesting malted rye category.

This expression, known as Five Fathers Pure Malt Rye, had originally been available only at the distillery, but now an older version  in a larger bottle size is starting to pop up at retailers.

The Old Pogue Five Fathers Pure Malt Rye is so named because, according to John and Paul Pogue,

“Five Fathers is a tribute to our forefathers, all five of them. Four generations of Pogues before us, starting with our great great great grandfather, H.E. Pogue I, began distilling Pure Rye Whiskey in Maysville in 1876, on this very site. We felt this was a fitting way to honor our forefathers for their pioneering in the Kentucky whiskey business.”

When Five Fathers was originally released back in 2013, it was a youngster at just one year, and was only available in 375 ml bottles. This size eventually crept into retail channels as the rest of the whiskey, distilled and aged on site, slowly matured. Now, a sort of third wave is appearing at retail that’s been aged in 53 gallon, charred American oak casks for just over two years before being bottled in 750 ml containers at a nice 110 proof.

A relatively recent thread over at Straight Bourbon talks a little more about the jump of Five Fathers into an older, larger bottle size expression. Limited tasting notes I found at one retailer website suggest “an aroma of black pepper, cloves, ginger and spicy rye that give way to thick notes of oak, caramel and vanilla on the palate.”

Should you want to hunt down a bottle of the older Five Fathers Pure Malt Rye, expect to pay at least $50 a bottle.