Indiana looks to make a name for itself with ‘Indiana Rye Whiskey’

(The Center Square) – Indiana isn’t known for whiskey, but it could be in the future.

A state representative from southern Indiana introduced a bill in January to brand “Indiana rye whiskey” and define it as a whiskey made in Indiana from a mash containing at least 51% rye, distilled to no more than 80% alcohol by volume (160 proof) and aged in new, charred white oak barrels for two years.

Rep. Chris May, R-Bedford, says he introduced the bill to establish standards for Indiana rye whiskey and boost the growing number of distillers and the growing popularity of rye whiskey.

“We want Indiana to be as popular for its rye whiskey as it is for basketball and racing,” he said in a statement. “Establishing that market, both in sales and tourism, might one day put the success of our state’s distilleries on par with that of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.”

May says he worked with Jeff McCabe, one of the owners of Hard Truth Distilling Co. in Nashville, Indiana, in putting the bill together.

In February, it was added to another bill that would ease some restrictions on craft distillers and brewers. The bill passed the Indiana House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate.

It’s a big step forward for Indiana, a state that’s never been known for distilled spirits, though perhaps it should be.

The biggest producer of rye whiskey in the United States is in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on the Ohio River, just across the water from Cincinnati. It’s a company called MGP of Indiana (Midwest Grain Products), which operates the large distillery that was once owned by Seagram’s.

MGP sells most of its spirits to other companies like the multinational beverage corporation Diageo, that bottle it and market it under different brand names. But it also produces Redemption Rye, a rye whiskey that it sells under its own label that’s frequently rated as one of the top rye whiskeys in the country.

Rye whiskey had a low profile for most of the last century. But it has a long history in this country, having been produced by George Washington himself at his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia beginning in the late 1700s.

After prohibition, rye whiskey was almost forgotten and through the 1980s and 1990s and into the new millennium, few bars in the United States kept a bottle on hand, stocking mostly bourbon, Scotch and also sometimes Irish and Canadian whiskey, and using blended whiskey for classic cocktails like Manhattans.

But the rise of craft distilleries and the interest in crafted cocktails made with small-batch spirits has changed everything.

The reconstructed Mount Vernon distillery now produces the kind of rye whiskey that Washington once made, and 375-milliliter bottles of it with Washington’s visage on labels can be purchased online for $98 apiece.

The Mount Vernon distillery is considered the first stop on the American Whiskey Trail, and the trail’s “gateway.”

In 2009, just 88,000 cases of rye whiskey were sold in the United States, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. In 2019, 1.2 million cases were sold, an increase of 1275% in just 10 years.

The big liquor companies have noticed the trend and the changing taste for a whiskey that is a bit sharper, with Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Knob Creek all now making a rye whiskey.

“Establishing our own brand is an opportunity for the Hoosier state to stake its claim in a fast-growing market,” said May, pointing to a study showing that Kentucky’s bourbon industry brings in $8.6 billion annually and generates more than 20,000 jobs.

Indiana now has more than 30 distilleries, including a few making and selling rye whiskey, like Cardinal Spirits of Bloomington, which released a “Straight Rye Whiskey” in the fall of 2020, made with a mash bill that is 95 percent rye.

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