Credit: Lost Cargo
Pikesville Rye is a rye whiskey produced by Heaven Hill Distillery. The brand traces its roots back to 1895, and Heaven Hill began bottling this iteration of Pikesville Rye in 2015.
This expression is bottled at 110 proof, and has a six-year age statement on its back label.
Pikesville rye whiskey was first distilled in 1895 by L. Winand & Brothers Distillery in Maryland. After the repeal of Prohibition, the brand was acquired by Monumental Distillery, located in Landsdowne, MD, a few miles south of the town of Pikesville. Today, the front label of Pikesville Rye features an illustration of the Monumental Distillery building, flanked on each side by the name of the now-defunct distillery’s parent company, Standard Distillers Products Company.1Pikesville Maryland Rye: The End of an Era – ellenjaye.com
Production of the Maryland-distilled Pikesville rye ended in the 1980s, but the brand was acquired by Heaven Hill in 1982. They have produced a three-year old, 80 proof Pikesville Supreme Rye Whiskey ever since, which is now available exclusively in Maryland.
Throughout its history, Pikesville has always been a Maryland-style rye whiskey, meaning it uses a recipe of approximately 51-65% rye, with the addition of both corn and barley. Pennsylvania’s Monongahela-style rye whiskeys, by contrast, are 75% rye or greater and use no corn in the recipe, just barley.
Each of Heaven Hill’s ryes use the same Maryland-style recipe, consisting of 51% rye, 35% corn, and 14% malted barley. The same recipe is is shared by Heaven Hill’s 100-proof Rittenhouse Rye.
“Pikesville Rye is the text book example of the traditional three-grain American Straight Rye Whiskey that laid the foundation for Rye’s current renaissance,” says Potter. “To set it apart from other Ryes, I selected barrels at a minimum of 6 years old from high storage and bottled it at a proof that allows the most character from the barrel to come through without overpowering the spicy grain notes”
– Denny Potter, Heaven Hill Brand’s Co-Master Distiller
