Kings County Distillery tells BourbonBlog.com they will release a new flagship offering, a Straight Empire Rye that will become a core part of its portfolio. While Kings County has released Empire Rye whiskeys in the past, they have been limited annual allocations.

This 90-proof rye whiskey bears a gold cap (an internal signifier for majority rye-grain distillate) as well as the Empire Rye insignia—a mark of provenance and quality launched by New York Distillers in 2017.

This release marks the first time the inventory is sufficient to create a steady supply.

Watch bourbon expert Tom Fischer and Kings County Distillery Co-Founder Colin Spoelman taste the Empire Rye in our archived video interview from 2022, click the link or watch below.

Empire Rye Tasting Throwback with Kings County (2022 Interview)

Where to Buy and August 13th Release at the Kings County Distillery

Bottles will be line-priced with Kings County’s Straight Bourbon, Peated Bourbon, and American Single Malt, with the suggested retail price of $69. The first bottles will go on sale on August 13th at the distillery’s tasting room, the Gatehouses, and online at kingscountydistillery.com, rolling out to New York stores and distribution later this month.

About Kings County Straight Empire Rye

Details at a Glance:

• 80% Danko rye (Ancramdale, NY)
• 20% English malted barley
• Double pot distilled
• Aged 3+ years in charred oak
• Grain-to-glass, made in the Northeast
• Honors rye’s American origins in the region

With no corn in this mashbill, this high-rye recipe offers notes of honeycomb, orange zest, and cinnamon on the nose while toffee brittle, dried apricot, and barrel spice overtake the palate, and a lingering finish of maple, anisette, and marzipan.

“If bourbon belongs to Kentucky, then rye whiskey belongs to the Northeast and New York in particular/ Almost 70% of rye comes from a single distillery in Indiana, and is bottled under a number of different names,” co-founder and distiller Colin Spoelman tells us. “A handful of craft distillers have come together to reintroduce rye production in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland, where rye originated and was long the dominant spirit until bourbon began to take over in the late 1800s.

Rye almost died out in the 1990s but has seen an important renaissance due to craft distillers and the resurgence of historical cocktails. 

This is really the culmination of the Empire Rye project, begun a decade ago in Denver at the American Craft Spirits Association’s convention and it has taken ten full years to have sufficient inventory to create a mainstream rye release which we believe honors the tradition of rye whiskey in New York and stands out from a crowded field of peers.”