I have been pondering the grain recipes of whiskey of Kentucky and Pennsylvania and I thought I would share some of these thoughts. I am sure that I can count on a few people to comment on these thoughts as well.
It is often argued that corn became the basic grain for bourbon because that was what they grew in Kentucky. Rye was not used because rye could not be grown in the state. This is not true. As matter of fact rye is a very popular cover crop even today. Rye was being grown in the state as early as the 1790's. It was a conscience choice by early Kentuckians to make their whiskey out of corn with rye and barley. All three grains were grown here in Kentucky.
As far as I know, the people of Pennsylvania did not have any trouble raising corn in that state. Rye and Barley will also grow there. So why did they choose rye as their main grain to ferment and distill, when Kentucky was distilling corn?
There are a couple of possibilities for the difference. The first is that in Pennsylvania the population was heavily influenced by Germanic culture (the Pennsylvania "Dutch") who brought a tradition of distilling rye from the home countries. At the same time in Kentucky the people settling the frontier were raising corn as the easiest crop to put in on newly cleared land. Excess corn was distilled and there was a lot of excess corn.
As the years moved on and whiskey started to be aged in charred barrels, geography may have come into play. It gets hotter in Kentucky in the summer than it does in Pennsylvania and it is colder in the winters in Pennsylvania than in Kentucky. This has an effect on the aging process of whiskey. Rye whiskey might simply age better in the cooler climate than corn based whiskey. The difference in geography should probably be considered when tasting a rye such as Old Overholt that was made in Pennsylvania versus the modern Kentucky distilled Old Overholt. An interesting experiment might be to age some rye in Kentucky and Pennsylvania for four to six years and then compare their attributes. The same experiment could also be done for a bourbon.
It is also curious that there never was a huge amount of distillation of Barley / Barley Malt whiskey in either state. The same is true for wheat but that is most likely because wheat is a much more popular and versitle food grain and people would not want to distill such a valuable grain. Once again I I have to ask myself, if the Scots and Scotch/Irish people were of such a big influence on American distilling, why do we not see more barley malt whiskey?
Just some thoughts to be considered. I am open to comments and discussion.
Mike Veach