Finnish Distillery Gets Into Rye Whisky Game With New Release

The world of rye whiskey, as we saw recently in Scotland and England, is no longer limited to just American and Canadian expressions. It is truly becoming a global type of whiskey, and now one distillery in Finland specializing in using rye grains has debuted its first rye whisky.

Kyrö Distillery, housed in an old dairy in the somewhat remote Finnish village of Isokyrö, has so far made a name for itself with its rye based gin. Whisky, however, was the inspiration behind the company, which traces its origin story to the day a group of friends gathered in a Finnish sauna and came up with the idea for making spirits. The use of rye across their product line seems to make sense, as it is said by Kyrö that “Finns consume six times more rye than the world average and rye bread is the official national dish.”

The rye whisky in question, bottled at 47.8% ABV, is said to be a 100% rye grain mash bill that was first aged in new American oak casks for three years. This was followed up with further aging in first fill bourbon casks and, just before bottling, some additional time in ex-Marsala wine casks.

Kyrö, noted for being the world’s northern most gin and whisky distillery at the moment, has made a very limited edition first run of the Kyrö Rye Whisky available for around £60, or about $80 USD. You’ll find limited official tasting notes below for your consideration.

notes of rye bread, beeswax, apricot, raisin and spice on the nose, followed by notes of sweet oak, fruit and robust spiciness on the palate.