Wight’s Old Reserve Maryland Straight Rye Whiskey (1951) Review

Don't like ads?

No ads

While Bourbon might be a uniquely American spirit, the history of rye whiskey is just as important in the history of our nation. One of the biggest differences between the two seemed to center on which side of the Appalachian Mountains you lived. If you lived west of them, bourbon would have been your drink of choice. If you lived east of them, rye whiskey was probably in your cupboard. And while there were many rye whiskey distilleries up and down the east coast, only two states were the primary producers of it: Pennsylvania and Maryland.

It is unfortunate that distilleries in those two states were the first to succumb to declining whiskey sales in the United States. After World War II, the public’s preference for barrel-aged spirits fell year after year. The brands that made rye whiskies were either sold to larger spirits conglomerates or simply went out of business.

Many of the Pennsylvania or Maryland brands eventually ended up in the hands of Kentucky distilleries. Rather than continue on with the traditional recipes, the Kentucky distilleries changed the mash bills to their own style which utilized a high amount of corn in the mash bill.

This brings us to the subject of today’s review: Wight’s Old Reserve Rye Whiskey. Does this brand ring a bell? No? Well how about if you saw a couple other label’s that Wight’s was responsible for?

If these labels look familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen them on something more recent:

That’s right, these were the same labels that were recently revived by Justin Jarvis and Doc George Fotis for their Maryland Heritage Collection. But we’re not here to talk about the story of the brands they resurrected. Instead, let’s go back and look at the story behind the original distillery and its place in the rich history of Maryland Rye Whiskey.

The state of American Whiskey in 1945

Let me set the tone of what the mood was like for American drinkers after World War II. For the past 25 years, the country had witnessed an outright ban on alcohol (Prohibition) followed by a brief stint where producers were finally starting to make spirits again (1933-1941) followed by a war where alcohol production was curtailed due to a world war.

That means that for the last 25 years, not much alcohol production occurred. People drank what they could, when they could. If you were a spirits drinker, clear spirits were the cheapest and most accessible. Aged whiskey were less so. And since American Whiskey supplies were so low, the country was importing more and more whiskey from Canada or the UK.

The point I’m trying to make is that Americans had become estranged to the taste of proper bourbon or rye whiskey for over a quarter of a century. Imagine how it would be if all of the pigs in the world died off and we replaced it with extremely cheap goat. How much appetite would the population have for pork and ham if it suddenly came back 25 years later? You might say to yourself “I’d eat it again!” but many people who got used to the taste of goat would probably decline. Plus, you’d have an entire generation of people born since then who never knew the taste. You’d have to somehow convince them that pork was the superior meat.

This is what the rye whiskey industry faced. With World War II over, there were a handful of distilleries that were ready to make actual rye whiskey the way that it used to be made. I’m talking about using a majority of rye in the mash bill along with some sort of malt. No corn. And most importantly, aged in new charred oak barrels for as long as they could wait.

All of that would take a lot of time. Americans were ready to drink NOW. Producers began to crank up production, but they were quickly losing sales to customers who decided to buy clear spirits or cheaper imported whiskey instead.

Frank L. Wight resurrects his rye whiskey distillery

Frank Wight was ready to resume whiskey production at his distillery in Cockeysville, Maryland. But he had a fear that Americans would reject the taste of rye whiskey the way it used to be made. After all, so little of it was left after World War II ended. What had taken its place was Canadian Rye Whisky. Just like it is today, most Canadian “Rye Whisky” is in name only. A large part of it is made up of Grain Neutral Spirits (GNS), aged in used barrels and contained color and flavor additives. Some of them didn’t even use rye grain in the mash bill at all!

What came next was a big idea at the time. Wight preemptively bought advertisement space in the newspapers with the purpose of educating the population about rye whiskey. He hoped to educate the masses what it took to be classified as a true rye whiskey and what to expect in terms of flavor. He was doing this before his stocks of whiskey were even ready to sell as a way to persuade future customers to buy it once it came out. Was all this necessary? I ask that you take a look at your own journey with rye whiskey and tell me if it’s a taste that you were instantly hooked on. I know it took me a while to get used to it myself, so this was a smart decision by him.

Frank’s recipe for Wight’s Old Reserve and many of the sub-brands that he distilled may be lost in the sands of time, but it is highly likely that it contained a huge amount of rye with only a touch of malted rye or malted barley. He did not use any corn. As an aside, this would mean that Justin Jarvis and Doc George Fotis’s decision to source 95/5 MGP rye whiskey for use in their resurrected Sherbrook/Sherwood/Mount Vernon series of rye whiskey was way more accurate than I originally thought.

What is Maryland-Style Rye Whiskey?

It’s a popular misconception that Maryland-style Rye Whiskey was different from Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey because it used a certain amount of corn in the mash bill. But throughout my discussion with Laura Patrizio (maiden name Fields), she said that this rumor seemed to gain traction mostly through Dave Pickerell’s word-of-mouth. She has written extensively on the subject and has deduced that while a small minority of Maryland producers included corn in their mash bills, the majority did not.

I want to take a moment to point out that Laura has written some really amazing articles that go in-depth on all of this stuff. I was coming up empty with most of my searches for this Wight’s Rye Whiskey until a friend told me to reach out to her. Please give her a follow on Facebook and read what she has to say here, here, here and here.

I’m going to provide one more quote that I felt best sums up why rye whiskies of this style had all but disappeared. I think it also explains why there are so many modern distilleries in Pennsylvania and Maryland that are looking to resurrect this style. If you want to read the discussion around it, click on this Straightbourbon.com link, but I’ll share the best (and most eloquent) argument made about the fate of Pennsylvania (and Maryland) rye whiskies:

“I tend to agree most current ryes aren’t that good, and I’ll tell you why. All (save the idiosyncratic Old Potrero) are made from a mashbill combining rye and corn. Straight rye whiskey before the Second War wasn’t made like that. I think the mélange of corn and rye leads to that muddy palate in most cases (ORVW rye, and one or two others, are exceptions). Byrn in 1875 in his Complete Practical Distiller gave the classic recipe for true rye whiskey: 80% unmalted rye, 20% barley malt. I believe that recipe informed the great ryes which were made until the 1950’s (Emerson’s XXXX, Large, Mount Vernon, Guckenheimer, Melrose, etc. etc.). After the war though, I think those tasting young rye in the distillery and with an eye (increasingly) to perceived consumer taste felt rye whiskey needed to be tempered with corn to sell, and the traditional formulation was forever changed. But the classic 80/20 recipe at, say, 8-12 years of age was (I believe) a champion drink, one forever lost to contemporary taste.”

The bottle I am tasting today was generously provided by a friend that prefers to remain anonymous. It is likely 6 to years old and is bottled at 100 proof. As usual, I’ve tasted this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: I’ve had dusty bourbon before, but very few dusty rye whiskies. This is unique in the fact that I can automatically smell something is different in my glass. Every scent seems darker, richer and more mellow. Modern ryes have some of the same notes, but they’re brighter, more prickly and more assertive.

What I find here are notes of fir trees, seasoned oak and candied stone fruit. Sweet scents like brown sugar, honeycakes and gingerbread cookies swirl around. Each sniff also reveals a very floral fragrance that is joined with many herbal notes (mainly marjoram and mint). I can’t express how inviting I find every scent because they all seem to be kissed with a touch of sweetness.

Palate: This rye whiskey is a blast from the past. Most of the flavors in here have no modern-day equivalent. I’m talking about Christmastime fruit cake, crystalized honey, peppermint candycanes and old leather upholstery. They all have this old, musty aspect to them. Fruit notes like orange marmalade, cherry Kool-Aid, figs and musk mellow give me both expected and unexpected flavors. Then there are the more natural, floral flavors like dried tea leaves and geraniums. Everything is wrapped up in a very oily mouthfeel that has very little heat – if any at all.

Finish: Lingering notes of fennel bulb and cherry licorice combine with orange bitters, molasses and more leather. Strangely, I’m finding a flavor I’d describe as “talcum powder.” I’m not sure if that is a result of oxidation throughout the years or if its a feature of the whiskey itself. It’s not bad, just unique. The finish lasts for a very long time.

Score: 8.8/10

I know a lot of us drool at the thought of tasting dusty bourbon. But for me, I’d give it all up if I could only drink dusty rye whiskey. I already think that rye whiskey generally has more flavor per sip than bourbon does (gasp!) but multiply it with the sweet, aged funk from decades ago and it’s absolutely intoxicating.

I’m sure Wight’s Old Reserve wasn’t fully aged to the length of time he wanted it to be, but the intensity and sophistication that he managed to get out of a rye whiskey that was just six years old is a testament to the level of quality these old ryes used to be made at. I will forever wish for modern producers to find a way to make rye like this again.

Final Thoughts

Maryland rye whiskey had a rather unceremonious death when the last bottle of Pikesville (the real Pikesville) was bottled in 1980. At the time, there were not too many people who grieved its demise and other ryes like Wight’s Old Reserve before it. However, there is a spark in the industry that is happening in the Old Line State that is bringing back this style of rye whiskey. Can it return to its former glory? That remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure, they don’t make rye whiskies like this bottle of Wight’s Old Reserve anymore.