Another, historic, grain is giving barley a run for its money. John Letts is pictured above, courtesy of Fielden, where he is head of farming.
It’s got a certain swagger to it, rye. It’s not the sweetness of corn, the gentle fruit and nuttiness of barley. Rye crackles and fizzes, it smells of allspice and clove, is peppery and acidic. Sip a rye and you believe that you are tapping into what American whiskey must have tasted like in its earliest days. After all, this is the grain which gave American whiskey its identity, the most popular style until...