Tomorrow is fRYEday, so here are my top 8 available bottles, plus 3 more you can snag if you are quick!

Hello from your local rye lover with too little shelf space and too much of an opinion. I keep seeing absolute gems of ryes sitting in the shelves not making a single sale, while people line up for bottles that taste half as good and cost twice as much. So I feel compelled to let you know about some of my favorites that I think you should try.

I’m not blessed with a palate that can give a dozen notes on a bottle, but that doesn’t make me any less picky! I’ll try to give some general notes and profiles. If you are interested but don’t trust me, swing by front row or another fine establishment to give it a taste. If you want to commit and buy a bottle, make sure to support the local store that does their best to support you with great picks and orders of the unusual.

8 great and available (Washington/Multnomah county) ryes, in no particular order:

1: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye. $75. Available at Baseline Liquor and many other stores

Notes: caramel, cherry, vanilla, rye spice. This gives me dark, sweet, rich, and spicy profiles. A very bourbon forward rye. Some might call it a bourbon drinkers rye, but I’d also call it a rye drinkers bourbon, as to me it’s like a better ECBP bourbon. You don’t need to take my word for this bottle, it has rave reviews everywhere online.

2: Middle West Cask Strength Pumpernickel. $70. Available at Hyland Spirits and a few others (Edit: Normally. Not showing on OLS currently).

Notes: juicy fruit gum, white sugar, rye bread, rye spice. Profile is rich, sweet, and spicy. I love a good Reuben, and I was excited to find this at CS when I hunted it when it hit Oregon. Fun, unique, and affordable. Why aren’t more stores carrying this?

3: RY3 Toasted Barrel Cask Strength. $70. Available at Hillsboros Best Beverage.

Notes: brown sugar, oak, stewed fruits, herbs, spice. Profile is balanced and complex, sweet and spicy. I always tell my boys that I don’t have a favorite, but I give my bottles no such grace. Season to season things may vary, but most often, this bottle comes out on top for me. It’s got a little of everything. Do yourself a favor and try it. There are often 4 different variants available, but this is my favorite. Go rum if you want less oak and complexity and more sugar.

4: Jack SBBP Rye. $66. Available at Baseline Liquor and most places.

Notes: brown sugar, cherry, tobacco. Profile is dark, sweet, and complex. Another bourbon lovers rye, and an internet darling. A very safe bet, I feel like nobody will feel bad to have this on their shelf. Worst case, you can make the world’s best jack and coke.

5: Russel’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye. $75. Available at Baseline Liquor and a few others.

Notes: Black tea, lemon, caramel, wild turkey+cinnamon (aka WT funk). Profile is earthy, refreshing, and unique. As someone who dislikes RR bourbon, I was shocked how much I like this. Ask yourself: would you love a whiskey that tastes like mostly black tea with a hint of herbs tea? If yes, buy this. If no, probably a safe skip. A pro (or con) is that the usual turkey funk is present but very buried.

6: Barrell Seagrass. $85. Available at Baseline Liquor and many others.

Notes: caramel, apricot, and spice. Profile: sweet apricot candy. This is a rather simple one-note pour. But that note is really really good. Try a pour if you are feeling iffy about the price, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like this when they want something fun and sweet.

7: Rossville Union 7 Year Rye. $70. Available at Left Coast Beverage and a few others.

Notes: Honey, Caramel, loads of herbs, light spice, light citrus. Profile is sweet, refreshing, and light. I found this bottle when hunting for barrel proof 95/5 MPG rye. (Let me know your favorites). The cork snapped in half when I opened it, how long had this gem been sitting there? It’s amazing and gives me the herbal notes I love. It’s scary how fast this bottle went from full to empty.

8: Angel’s Envy Rye. $85 (on sale now for $75?). Available at Baseline Liquor and many others.

Notes: brown sugar, maple syrup, more maple syrup, vanilla, rye spice.Profile is extremely sweet and heavy and rich. This won’t be for everyone. And most nights I don’t reach for it. But when you want to drink thick, sweet maple syrup candy with a kick, this is the bottle for you. As a point of reference, I find stuff like Penelope Havana too sweet. But maybe because this feels thicker I’m not off-put. Probably try a pour first, but worth a try.

3 more amazing ryes you can find now, but maybe not for long!

1: EH Taylor rye. (Sorry for the clickbait, it’s actually Sazerac Rye 100 proof baseline pick). $40/L. Available at Baseline Liquor. 2 other stores have picks.

Notes: honey, herbs, licorice, and a hint of spice. Profile is sweet and herbal, with punch for 100 proof, that is bright and fun to sip. As for the clickbait, Josh let me know that this is the same mashbill (and of course proof) as EH Taylor rye. I have done quite a few side-by-sides, and for me this saz pick easily comes out on top. They are clearly the same mashbill, but EH Taylor heavily sands off the honey and herbal edges, making for a smoother sip. But half the flavor is lost in that endeavor, which is a poor trade-off for me, a barrel proof lover. The EH Taylor also has a black pepper finish, which is luckily missing from this bottle. This is an absolute steal at $40/1L

2: New Riff 6 Year Malted Rye. $60. Available at Baseline Liquor and a few others.

Notes: cotton candy, herbs, spice, citrus, brown sugar, stone fruit. Profile is a little bit of everything, balanced and complex. The second 100 proof bottle on the list. Normally they fall flat for me, but I can’t believe how much I get from my bottle. My friends also agree, so I’m probably not crazy. I was tempted to swing by a store in Bend later this month to get a replacement, when suddenly 2 weeks ago this shows up on the shelf at baseline liquor! (Lucky for me that the taters just look at the allocated barrel and head back home). I asked Josh if this was going to be a shelf staple, and he said that he was special ordering this and getting as much as he can, but he can only get very limited quantities. And yet here we are, and 3 bottles are STILL sitting there. Absolute madness.

3: Peerless Double Oaked Rye. $120. Available at sporadic locations (was baseline but I took too long to post this).

Notes: Oak, oak, brown sugar, stewed fruits, rye spice. Profile is complex waves of oak and sweetness; very rich with a perfect hint of spice. This is twice the price of most bottles I listed. Is it twice as good? Not to me. But if you highly value oak, and waves of complex oak at that, this will be worth the price tag easily. This bottle doesn’t stick around for long each year. It might be worth trying a pour first as the tag is quite high.

Thank you for reading! I hope to convert everyone here into being a rye enjoyer as well. If you have some favorite bottles I didn’t list, let me know!