Oppidan Malted Rye A Rare Bird Among Malt Whiskey Types

There’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