BEHOLD! WORKHORSE RYE COCKTAIL WHISKEY! 

For those who like to drink less and drink better, a new type of whiskey for Highballs showing off the glorious flavors of California heirloom Gazelle rye, Floriani red corn & Admiral malted barley.

ORDER BOTTLES HERE

A careful blend of heirloom rye, Floriani red corn, and floor-malted barley all grown regeneratively in California comes together to bring a luscious and spicy flavor profile when sipped neat, in a Highball, or an Old Fashioned. Before you try this spirit, expect this: the assertive spice from American rye, the delicate sweetness and savoriness from clean distilled corn whiskey or Bourbon (though not the roughness in “moonshine"), and the earthy length of a non-peated Campbeltown Scotch. We are a bartender-founded and run organization, our name is both reflective of how we operate and who we value: the worker, the farmer, the bartender. We have collectively designed this to be something truly new and exciting for those who like to both sip and mix interesting drams.

These heirloom grains are incredibly rare for the whiskey world, they are far more expensive than even conventional organic grains but worth the cost in a hundred ways, specifically the farmers get paid equitably and the land gets treated with true respect to keep it healthy for the next generation of all living creatures. The flavor profile is so unique because the grains are so unique and we age this whiskey mostly in used casks as to not mask the beautiful notes of the grains with sugar and flavor compounds from oak. Just like a dark roast covers whatever flavors could have been in the coffee (both good flavors and bad flavors, but covering the latter is the principal goal), oak can do the same to a whiskey and before you know it, the flavors are a product of process rather than natural ingredient. We prefer to not heavily oak our whiskeys, instead letting the dense compounds found in the heirloom grains do most of the talking. Most other whiskeys need to be heavily oaked because they are made with flavorless and old (i.e. silo stored and fumigated, not fresh harvested) industrially grown grains, that is why you hear so many corporate distillers say “more than half of whiskey’s flavor comes from the cask”. It doesn’t have to be that way: source and distill better grains! 

We take The Highball very seriously, and we know our supporters do too. This is the beverage of choice as of late, for those who want to sip quality spirits but also drink lightly. Most spirits lose character when diluted, because there isn’t much flavor from industrial or conventional organic grains but in this bottle, miles of flavor. To learn how to make a calculated and delicious Highball, we prefer the recipe and information from PUNCH DRINK.
Conversely, the easiest “set it and forget it” highball recipe: open a bottle of Topo Chico or Purely Sedona Sparkling, drink some of it, and toss in 1 or 2 oz whiskey… DONE!

Because we use grains with inherently more flavor than typical craft whiskeys, dilution reads as elongation instead of, well, dilution. This whiskey shows off its full spectrum of colorful flavors even when diluted with soda water or mixed in a simple cocktail. But, this whiskey is quite pleasing when drunk neat as well so just as a bartender does, first smell and taste the spirit neat and then build your cocktail off of what you taste and what your mood is.

This is not the whiskey to be mixed with a Cola or a seven ingredient cocktail; instead it is a whiskey for cocktails in which the spirit is the main point of the drink, with a small dose of simple ornaments like maple syrup and bitters or a dash of fresh Meyer lemon juice in a Highball, or with a quality vermouth in a Manhattan.

This whiskey is relatively high proof at 52% ABV and can subsequently pack more of a flavor contribution than the standard 40% ABV bottling proof. Thusly, 1 oz (30 mL) goes a long way in a Highball, we often recommend that quantity for using our spirits in general, which means the 750 mL bottle provides ~25 cocktails.

CALIFORNIA & ARIZONA BOTTLE SHOP/BAR WHOLESALE INFORMATION VIA RESERVATIONS@WORKHORSERYE.COM

BATCH ONE NOTES

Mashbill
"Gazelle” rye from Woodhouse organic farm Tulelake CA - 53%
“Floriani” red corn from Fritz Durst in Capay CA - 27%
Admiral Maltings barley, floor-malted in Alameda County, grown in Yolo County CA - 20%

Fermentation
The final blend comes from various fermentations throughout summer, fall, and winter, which yields different complex flavors in different seasons mostly because the temperature will dictate if it ferments in four days (summer) or up to ten days (winter). We brew with mineral rich tap water (boiled first to release any chlorine) which is relatively direct output from the Hetch Hetchy in the Sierras. We pitch a simple ale yeast but we open top ferment, so plenty of other yeasts and bacteria get their chance to contribute extra nuanced flavors which we love.

Distillation
300 gallon copper pot still, single distilled on the grain.
As is our standard practice, to get as much grain flavor out of these epic grains we do not separate the grains from the liquid, we distill “on the grain” as a whole mixture. Single copper pot distillation, keeping only the most beautiful segments of the spirit run (imprecisely and highly subjectively called “hearts”) to increase density of flavor and to avoid headaches which come from drinking lower quality compounds specifically toward the end of the distillation. Distillers focused almost solely on capital (read: American whiskey distillers) will get as much out of their spirit as possible, resulting in less beautiful spirits but more ROI; we care about quality and ethics over anything else. This whiskey was distilled and blended by WHR founder Rob Easter in Alameda County from 2016 to 2020. It was bottled and hand labeled by Kristen Gentilucci in Los Angeles at The Spirit Guild in 2020.

Aging
80% used American oak, second and third fill whiskey casks, 53 gallon casks
10% Broc Cellars used natural wine cask
10% New American oak 53 gallon cask made from 3-year air dried staves by Kelvin Cooperage

Average age of blend: 3 years
Proofed to 52% ABV / 104 proof with reverse osmosis water
355x bottles produced in Batch 01

Label

Designed by the almighty Kevin Tudball, printed on paper recycled from coffee bags.

Note on subsequent batches: Expect the batches to change slightly based on farm/grain and cask availability, but Cocktail Whiskey will reliably be: mostly rye, a big dose of heirloom corn, and a small dose of malted barley aged in mostly used American oak casks with a dash of some new oak. The flavor profile will be 80% consistent, 20% flexing.