Rittenhouse Rye Review (and History!)

The Philadelphia Eagles are about to play in the Super Bowl (#flyeaglesfly), so this week seems like a good time to review a whiskey with some Philly origins—Rittenhouse Rye.

Philadelphia… Rittenhouse… American rye whiskey… these things seem to warrant a dive into a little history…

Before bourbon became America’s native spirit, rye was the original American whiskey. Rye was a plentiful and popular grain in the Northeast US, and its popularity naturally led to distillation. Aged rye whiskey became popular in the 19th century, and rye continued to be the most popular whiskey in the US until 1920… and Prohibition.

Historically there were two predominant styles of rye whiskey—Pennsylvania rye and Maryland rye (although rye whiskey was also made in other states before Prohibition, including Kentucky). Pennsylvania rye was made famous by the rye makers in the Monongahela Valley of Western PA. It was typically made with a high amount of rye and no corn, whereas Maryland rye usually included some corn in the mashbill (and possibly other ingredients and rectifiers, depending on the time period). If you want to know more about Monongahela rye, Whisky Advocate recently published a terrific article on the subject.

The temperance movement’s ill-conceived (and thankfully temporary) ban on alcohol in the US nearly killed rye whiskey. When the 18th Amendment was finally repealed in 1933, many of the country’s rye whiskey distillers had long since closed up and moved on, never to reopen. Several Kentucky bourbon makers had survived Prohibition one way or another, and soon bourbon became king, and rye was mostly forgotten. Nonetheless, a handful of companies continued to make rye whiskey.

The Continental Distilling Corporation in Philadelphia, PA, which was formed once Prohibition ended, introduced “Rittenhouse Square Rye” in 1934. It was named after Philadelphia’s famous Rittenhouse Square, which itself was named after David Rittenhouse, a renowned astronomer, inventor, and mathematician. (I think it’s kinda neat that Rittenhouse Rye, although indirectly, is named after a scientist.) The “Square” was dropped from the product’s name in 1948, and it’s remained known as Rittenhouse Rye ever since.

By the 1970s, whiskey had become less popular in America, as clear spirits—vodka in particular—grew in popularity. Bourbon sales were dropping and rye became nearly extinct. The few original rye makers that were still around in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere) struggled and began to close. Continental went out in flames in the early 1980s. Heaven Hill Distillery swooped in and bought the rights to several rye brands, including Rittenhouse, as the original distilleries went out of business.

Heaven Hill introduced their version of Rittenhouse Rye in the 1990s. Although Heaven Hill is, of course, famous for being a bourbon maker, the company deserves a lot of credit for keeping rye whiskey alive in the US. Even when bourbon started to become a popular drinking choice once again, rye was slower to reemerge. For many years, Heaven Hill spent only a single day per year distilling rye whiskey—the rest of the year was devoted to bourbon. But they kept it alive, even if only once a year.

Over the last few years, rye has finally become popular again (although still nowhere near as popular as bourbon). Kentucky distilleries are devoting more time to making rye, and craft distilleries all over the country are introducing young rye whiskeys. Perhaps the most exciting development in American craft distilling is the reemergence of Monongahela-style rye.

Although Rittenhouse was originally made in Philadelphia, it may have been more of a Maryland-style rye, using corn and a lower rye mashbill. I don’t know the original mashbill from its Continental days (I’ve seen speculation that it was about 60% rye, but I can’t confirm that as fact), but many of the Philadelphia-area rye makers of yesteryear may have had more in common with the Maryland distilleries than the Monongahela distilleries of Western PA—Maryland is geographically closer to Philly than the Monongahela Valley, so it makes sense if that were the case (it’s surprisingly difficult to find good information about the history of rye whiskey and the differences between Pennsylvania and Maryland style rye). Today Rittenhouse Rye is made in Kentucky with a “barely legal” mashbill of only 51% rye. It’s a bottled-in-bond whiskey, making it at least four years old (there is no age statement, but to be BIB it has to be aged at least four years).

OK, enough history—let’s take a closer look at the whiskey itself!

Rittenhouse Rye Review

Type: Rye
Region: Kentucky
ABV: 50%
Bottled-in-Bond

Nose

Rye spice. Spearmint. Mexican street corn. Salsa. A bit astringent, with notes of ethanol and wood varnish. Floral, rose in particular. Chewed gum. Hints of fruitiness, especially peaches.

Palate

Toasted rye bread. Spearmint. Spicy butterscotch. Sweet rose. Quite a bit of apricot. Whoppers. Corn pudding. Caramelized bananas. Rich and robust, spicy and sweet, with a fairly full and gritty mouthfeel. This is quite the well-balanced rye.

Finish

Fruity and a little floral. Spice. Hard caramel candy (Werther’s). Slightly astringent. A bit woody. Medium in length.

Overall

This is a benchmark rye whiskey. It’s good. It’s not mind blowing, it’s not incredibly complex, but it’s the best rye available in it’s price range (around $30), in my opinion. And not only that, it’s simply a do-it-all whiskey. Need an affordable bottle to make great cocktails? Rittenhouse. Looking for a good daily sipper that’s easy to find and won’t break the bank? Rittenhouse. A little spice? A little sweet? Rittenhouse and Rittenhouse.

For the last few years, I’ve personally used Rittenhouse Rye primarily for cocktails—and holy cow does it ever excel in cocktails. If you’re looking to make a great Manhattan, Old-Fashioned, or most any other whiskey-based drink, it’s hard to do better than Rittenhouse. But as good as it is in cocktails, lately I’ve been rediscovering how much I really enjoy drinking it neat too. No matter how you want to use it, it’s a good whiskey.

When I drink other rye whiskeys, regardless of price, Rittenhouse is what I use as the baseline for judging them. It’s an American classic.

SCORE: 87/100

Final Thoughts

There was a brief period of time a few years ago when Rittenhouse Rye was difficult to find. Heaven Hill was in the process of switching the actual distillery where their rye was distilled. For a while, all of Heaven Hill’s rye whiskey was contract distilled by Brown-Forman, due to the tragic Heaven Hill fire in 1996 that resulted in the loss of over 90,000 barrels of whiskey. (I was going to get into that story in the intro, but the intro was already way too long). Once they restored their capacity to distill a sufficient amount of rye and let it age, Heaven Hill began selling their own distillate again. But during that same time of transition, rye was beginning to get more popular, and Rittenhouse in particular was in high demand due in large part to the craft cocktail movement. Word had got out that Rittenhouse was perfect for so many mixed drink recipes.

During that time, I was desperately trying to find a bottle of Rittenhouse, but every store in Middle Tennessee was sold out. One day I was at a liquor store in downtown Nashville that I’d never been to before, and lo and behold, they had a couple of bottles of Rittenhouse on the shelf. Strangely, the price tag on the bottle stated $90. I assumed it was a mistake and took the bottle to the cashier in order to determine the actual price. The cashier thought the price was right, but scanned the barcode to appease me. $90, he confirmed. I told him it had to be a mistake, this is a $30 whiskey at most. It was no mistake, he said. I laughed and put the bottle back on the shelf, telling him no one in their right mind would ever buy it at that price. (This same store routinely marks up all of their “allocated” whiskey by ridiculous amounts.) A few months later, Rittenhouse was back on the shelves of every store in town for $30, and it’s resided regularly on my shelf ever since.

Buy again? Yes. Rittenhouse is staple in my house. I always have at least a couple of bottles on hand.

Drink This Not That: Drink this if you’re looking for a solid all-around rye at an affordable price, especially if you’re looking to use it in a cocktail.

Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.

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