We’ve spent a lot of time discussing rye whiskey recently — single barrel, regional styles, affordable ryes, etc. We’ve been getting into rye because it generally has more character than bourbon, and it certainly holds up better in a cocktail — for example, a rye-based Old Fashioned is more complex and yet less sweet than its better-known bourbon brother. But much like bourbon, you’re going to find more depth (and more buzz) if you ignore the mainstream 80-proof releases and drink something with a little more ABV.
Our criteria for choosing the best high-proof rye whiskeys is a little different from what we've used in our in-depth look at sipping bourbons; there, we kept the proof range above 100 and below 120. While we do think the bottled-in-bond 50% ABV (100 proof) standard is a sweet spot for whiskey, we wanted to showcase ryes with a little more heat — ergo, the ones that range from 105 to a whopping 132.6 proof. We also stayed away from single barrel releases, as we’ve covered them recently and they deserve their own spotlight.
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