Rye whisky’s history goes hand in hand with the rise and fall of the classic cocktails it did so much to establish. After a turbulent ride, the spirit is now back in the hands of the discerning bartender and home cocktail enthusiast, but it has taken a circuitous route from its earliest origins in the United States where it is believed to pre-date the arrival of Scottish and Irish settlers by some 50 years and the production of bourbon by 100.
Its first surge in popularity came with the outbreak of the American Revolution and the end of the supply of cheap rum from the British Empire. Patriotic Americans were forced to look closer to home and developed a strong taste for locally made rye whisky, so much so that cocktail historian David Wondrich describes it as the ‘spirit of the Revolution’.
By the turn of the 20th century, the golden age of
