On 1/7/2017 at 1:59 PM, Rafa said:Until recently, Pikesville was a legacy product, one of the few surviving such ryes in the wild, a whiskey enjoyed by working class people in Baltimore, Maryland (where the brand originated some hundred+ years ago) and unheard of by just about everyone else.
Now that product's been discontinued, and the brand has migrated up the shelves to where it currently sits, as the 6 year old, 110-proof older sibling of Rittenhouse Rye.
Nothing wrong with such a product, of course, but it's a shame that one of the last reliably very affordable ryes on the market had to perish so we could have another $30+ 'premium' rye.
I haven't tried the new one, but I've heard good things.
But the Pikesville Rye of which you speak, a rye truly made in Maryland and considered a Maryland style rye, hasn't been made for a long time. The Pikesville version that existed before this new iteration came along, which has now largely disappeared, was also made by Heaven Hill in Kentucky (I don't think Heaven Hill has ever confirmed it is gone for good. But it probably is.).
As I recall was basically the same thing as Rittenhouse only at 3yo and lower proof. Although it was surprisingly good for a young, inexpensive bottom shelf rye.
