Oxford Rye Review – from The Oxford Artisan Distillery

Oxford Rye Review – from The Oxford Artisan Distillery

I’m sure most of us know the lyrics to the song American Pie and the lines that go:

“So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye”

Until this month, I had not come across rye in real life though! Rye is a type of whiskey that needs to meet a few criteria. They vary in different countries but the main one is that they need to be at least 51% rye (US rule). Rye has been popular in the US for a long time and has been growing in popularity here in the UK and the rest of Europe over the past few years too. Generally, you can expect a spicier and fruitier flavour from rye compared to other whiskeys.

The one my husband and I have tried is Oxford Rye from The Oxford Artisan Distillery, which is one of the UK’s most progressive and eco-friendly distilleries. It’s a unique spirit made using ancient heritage rye that has been resurrected by the distillery and now grown in vibrant and genetically diverse fields around Oxford, using a highly sustainable practice.

The Oxford Artisan Distillery is working with the land and soil, boosting biodiversity and helping wildflowers, birds and insects along the way too. The reward is a crop that results in a pure, high-quality spirit. It’s also one of very few distilleries here in the UK that is “grain-to-glass”, that grow and distill their own crops instead of buying neutral spirit.

“We like to call this ’liquid rye’. The purest expression of our ancient heritage rye, the grain is harvested, twice distilled and then rested in American Oak to bring out its best characteristics. Our Oxford Rye has an intoxicating aroma of sandalwood and vanilla, whilst on the palate the delicate flavour of creamy praline, nuts and sourdough is followed by a finish of cloves, nutmeg and smooth spice.”

The Oxford Artisan Distillery

We weren’t quite sure what to expect taste-wise from a rye but it’s definitely similar tasting to whiskey but with very clear tastes of warming spices and nutty sweetness coming through too.

You can drink rye neat or over ice or use it with mixers to make a cocktail. We sampled it neat to really experience the flavours and have since tried it with a few different combinations of mixers. We found that it worked well served with ice and ginger ale, topped with a bit of lemonade. A slice of lime would work very well too.

Have you tried rye? If not, rye not give it a go?

Find Oxford Rye (£40.00. RPP/70cl) stocked by theoxfordartisandistillery.com, Master of Malt and Amazon.co.uk.

We were kindly gifted a bottle of Oxford Rye for this review. As always, all my reviews are 100% honest and all thoughts and opinions are my own.