NY Distilling Co. Ragtime Rye - 3 Years Old
A City-Born Rye with Street Smarts and Structure
The mashbill leans classic: 72% rye, 16% corn, 12% malted barley - a composition that leans into rye's spicy verve but tempers it with a touch of warmth and roundness. Aged in full-sized, new American oak barrels for three years, this is not a rye trying to disguise its youth - it celebrates it.
The nose is vivid and lively: cracked pepper, caramelised banana, and a tangle of dried orange peel and cinnamon bark. There's a charming rawness here - not harsh, but expressive. Like the smell of a bustling bakery that shares a wall with a record shop: vanilla sugar, leather jackets, toasted rye bread, and a trace of apple cider vinegar.
On the palate, it hits with rhythm: toffee apple, ginger snap, and a snap of black licorice. The grain is front and centre - grain-forward, assertive, but not unkind. There's a clove and nutmeg warmth that spreads through the mid-palate, along with a flicker of burnt sugar, and the wood steps in not with heaviness, but with grip and punctuation. You can almost taste the rickhouse - and the ambition.
The finish is medium, punchy, and dry: cocoa nibs, spice box, and a faint echo of charred oak and cherry bark. It leaves the mouth tingling, alive - a finish that doesn't overstay, but doesn't slip out the back, either.
Rye for the Jazz Age and the Subway Age
This isn't a contemplative, fireside dram. It's a shaker, a cocktail partner, a rhythm section in a bottle. Ragtime Rye shines in a Manhattan, sings in a Boulevardier, and still has the guts to stand alone, neat or with a rock. It's as flexible as it is fiery - the kind of spirit you keep at arm's reach, not behind glass.
And for a young rye, it shows discipline. No false sweetness. No heavy-handed oak. Just energy, structure, and the brash beauty of American grain.
Final Thought
Ragtime Rye is a whisky for movement - quick steps, sharp minds, city lights. It may be three years old, but it's already got stories to tell. Not refined, but real. Not quiet, but confident.
It's not just a rye.
It's Brooklyn in a bottle - fast, fiery, and full of soul.
