Chris Morris: rye whiskey growth reliant on bars

The long-term growth of American rye whiskey in the US will be dependent on a “thriving on-trade”, believes Woodford Reserve’s master distiller emeritus, Chris Morris.

Speaking to The Spirits Business last month, Morris said the category’s growth was “dependent on the presence of a thriving on-trade craft cocktail culture”, and noted markets with “limited cocktail innovation” might struggle to grow the rye whiskey category.

Morris said “established craft cocktail” markets such as the US, the UK, Germany, France, Australia and Canada have been successful for Woodford Reserve Rye, which was “now one of the leading super‐premium rye whiskeys in the US”.

He also said the category would “continue to grow slowly unless it cultivates a wider off-trade consumer base”.

Morris continued: “Currently, rye whiskey sales are driven by on-trade promotion and usage.

“I believe that this is due to the fact that many of the new rye whiskey brands are crafted with very high-rye percentages in their recipes, making them very spice-forward.

“While this can work in a cocktail it might be too much for the neat or on the rocks at-home consumer.”

Morris said the company couldn’t produce enough Woodford Reserve Rye to meet “current and foreseeable future demand”. As such, there are no plans for new rye expressions beyond those planned for the brand’s rare Distillery Series, Morris explained.

The brand sources its rye from Europe, Canada and northwestern US, but over the last five years some of its rye has come from Kentucky.

Woodford Reserve recently made a five‐year commitment to buy rye grain from local farmers to bring rye production back to Kentucky, in partnership with the University of Kentucky.

Morris noted the main concern of using Kentucky rye: “Will Kentucky‐grown rye change the fermentation yield or change the flavour of Woodford Reserve?

“Therefore, the goal of the Kentucky rye initiative is to identify a rye strain that will be interchangeable with the current rye types commonly used today. We have been pleased with the results of our research.”

In February this year, Woodford Reserve owner Brown-Forman appointed Elizabeth McCall as the whiskey brand’s new master distiller, taking over from Morris.