Have just tried - Colonel E.H. Taylor Rye

Rye can be argued to be the original American whiskey and was the most popular type of whiskey produced and drunk in the United States up to the advent of prohibition in 1920. Records show that there were various different Rye whiskies, each named after their area of production (i.e. Maryland Rye, Monongahela Rye etc) which suggests that each area produced it’s own distinctive style. Unfortunately we’ll never know if this is the case as Rye whiskies popularity declined after the end of prohibition in 1933 and many producers never resumed production.

Nowadays though, Rye whiskey is experiencing something of a renaissance with a lots of new different Rye’s now available and distillers struggling to keep up with demand. A lot of these whiskies are hard to come by in the U.K. as a lot of brands are kept for the home market but one such Rye that has made its way over here is Colonel E.H. Taylor.

New release – Cutty Sark 'Prohibition Edition'

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the end of Prohibition in the USA. 2013 also marks the 90th birthday of the Cutty Sark blended whisky brand. The Prohibition Edition has been created as a celebration of the earliest days of Cutty Sark, when it was smuggled into the USA during Prohibition by infamous bootlegger Captain Bill McCoy.  This is the man whose name was lent to the term ‘The Real McCoy’, as you knew the product was genuine and not a fake when he delivered it. McCoy was teetotal so his cargo, unlike many others, could be assured not to be ‘sampled’ and, as a result, watered down.