Rock Creek Rye is the first rye whiskey made in D.C. since Prohibition. (Photo courtesy of One Eight Distilling)
Washington is churning out enough spirits to fill liquor cabinets from Northwest to Southeast, from navy-strength gin to vodka made on U street and even Italian amari. You can now add rye whiskey to that list, courtesy of the team at One Eight Distilling (1135 Okie St. NE), which recently launched its Rock Creek rye whiskey after nearly two years of labor.
Rock Creek rye is the first rye whiskey made in D.C. since Prohibition. It’s also produced in-house, from grain to glass—something most distilleries can’t say.
Many familiar brands around the country buy their rye whiskey from a large distiller before giving it their own twists through processes like blending, aging, and filtering. Similarly, a few D.C. distilleries sell bourbon marketed under their own label (District Distilling’s Backroom bourbon, for example), but these spirits are also made with whiskeys distilled outside of D.C. that have been blended or finished to create a unique product. Both Jos. A Magnus and District Distilling have said they hope to to release their own completely made in D.C. whiskeys in the future.
That it is rye whiskey is another important distinction. “It’s kind of one of those funny things in the distilling business, widely acknowledged from distilleries big to small, that rye is just one of the more difficult spirits to make,” says Alex “Sandy” Wood, co-found and CEO at One Eight.
There a few reasons for this. For one, buying rye is more expensive than buying corn or wheat. It’s more viscous and gummy and can muck up or ruin distilling equipment if not properly dealt with. One Eight had a bit of a leg up in that was already using rye in its white whiskey, gin, and vodka.
Wood told DCist that the distillery had been planning to do a rye whiskey since long before it opened, spurred by an interest in the Mid-Atlantic’s history with the spirit (especially in Maryland and Pennsylvania).
“It was kind of obvious to us that we wanted to make that connection and then come up with a new take on rye whiskey,” he says.
Rock Creek Rye (94 proof) represents that new take. It’s a 20-month-aged mash build using local grains and has a final composition of 60 percent rye, 30 percent malted rye and 10 percent corn. That high rye composition gives the spirit the distinctive spicy flavor you’d expect with a rye as compared with wheat or corn spirits. Think about the difference between eating a slice of rye bread instead of sweeter corn or wheat bread. And the relatively higher percentage of malted rye is a departure from the norm and lends a richness and depth that cuts some of the burn that many drinkers associate with rye whiskey.
Wood says they wanted the whiskey to be approachable to a variety of drinkers, and describes it as a “a full-bodied whiskey with the spicy characteristics of rye balanced with a little sweetness and rich malted flavors.”
Rock Creek rye is available for purchase ($50) at the distillery and at area liquor stores. You can also get a taste during Saturday tastings and free tours.
Down the line, One Eight has some plans to release some different variations on rye, from malty and sweeter to 100 percent rye whiskeys with more spice and bite.
One Eight Distilling is located at 1135 Okie St. NE. It’s open for tours and tastings Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free and no reservations are needed.
