Rye whiskey now on the menu at American Fifth Spirits

LANSING - Behind the penny-decoupage bar in the tasting room of American Fifth Spirits, Rick Wyble is showing off a bottle of his newest creation.

"Whiskey is huge," said Wyble, who is the owner of American Fifth and its head distiller. He's holding a fifth of Fat Five Rye Whiskey, which the distillery will release to the public on Friday.

"Bourbon, being America’s whiskey, is sort of king, but anything brown and whiskey at this point, the trend is very popular." 

American Fifth opened in 2015, starting out with vodka, gin and white whiskey. 

"Vodka and gin do not have to age," Wyble said. "That is why a lot of new distilleries start out with those. The white whiskey only saw a touch of oak. That is one of the legal requirements for it to be whiskey."

Now, they've been in business long enough for the aged spirits to have matured. 

"We always intended on doing rye," he said. "We actually had bourbon in barrel before the rye, but the rye matured must faster.”

Rye was the country's most popular whiskey up until Prohibition. President George Washington distilled it at Mount Vernon. But, after drinking became legal again, rye didn't rebound. It was supplanted by bourbon, which is sweeter.

But rye's popularity has surged in recent years. Rye sales in the U.S. grew by 536% by volume from 2009 to 2014, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. 

Which was inevitable, says Kris Berglund, a professor of chemical engineering at Michigan State University, the owner of Red Cedar Spirits and, in many ways, the godfather of the state's distilling industry.

 "The increased popularity of bourbon preceded it, but rye is bourbon's sibling, so it makes sense. I think rye has some features that are unique.

"Its spicy flavor is the most pronounced," he said, "This makes bourbon drinkers looking for more flavor or variety inclined to move onto rye. As bourbon expands, it more completes the spectrum of flavor of whiskies, so it is a natural choice for those seeking additional variety and flavor."

A rye whiskey must be made from at least 51 percent rye. American Fifth Spirits uses 60 percent rye, 40 percent malt, "which is a far different mash bill than most ryes people are familiar with," Wyble said. 

"Most rye I’ve come across is going to be closer to 90 to 95 percent rye. Rye has a spicy quality to it, which I think draws the rye drinker to it. So we have that up front, but because of the amount of malt that we have in our mash bill, there’s a very smooth, warm, malty finish to it, which is, I think, unique."

American Fifth's rye is aged 12 months in 30-gallon charred white American oak barrels, slightly smaller than what larger distilleries use. It is 90 proof.

They only have 150 bottles and plan to sell the majority of those by the bottle, out the door. Whatever is left, Wyble says they'll incorporate into tasting flights or serve neat or on the rocks. They may even throw together a cocktail or two.

Right now, American Fifth has about 1,200 gallons of whiskey in barrel, and they sit there until they are ready. The bourbon will be released on May 13, the day American Fifth will celebrate its two-year anniversary. The next batch of rye whiskey should be available in October. 

They pull samples of the whiskey at the beginning of every month and check where things are, make notes.

"When I’m tasting it, I’m looking at how well the oak is integrated into it," Wyble said. "It needs to be not too powerful or too tannic or basically too alcoholic. So if it still needs to go, then there’s too much alcohol showing."

Other new products coming to American Fifth Spirits in the next few months include I Wish Riskey, an Irish-style whiskey that will be available on St. Patrick's Day; Spring Capital Gin, the first in American Fifth's line of seasonal gins using seasonal botanicals; and Fat Five Spelt Whiskey, made with spelt, an ancient grain and the great-grandfather to wheat. 

Contact Vickki Dozier at (517) 267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter@vickkiD.

American Fifth Spirits

112 N Larch St, Lansing; (517) 999-2631