Great whisky beyond the world of barley

Stick with Single Malt by all means, but you're missing out on a whole world of flavour...

Hello Whisky friends,

Lacking the confidence or know-how to broaden your horizons beyond classic barley-based whiskies? Here’s an entertaining and fascinating introduction to the delicious possibilities of oats, rye, wheat and corn, written by the Irish distiller Peter Mulryan. Peter is the co-founder of Blackwater Distillery, an innovative craft producer based in West Waterford, Ireland, that makes incredible traditional Pot Still Irish whiskey. I highly recommend.

It’s a long and meticulously researched piece, so you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to read it. Why not sign up for a few pounds and join the growing Whisky Rocks gang.

Many thanks, as always, for reading and supporting our writing on Substack and over on Barley, home of our nourishing longer reads on whisky, travel, culture and more.

It’s the mid 90’s and for a whole afternoon I’m at a loose end in San Francisco. There’s no internet, let alone Google and I’m in search of an illusive whisky I’ve been told I must try. I hit a few bars, then a few more, until in the dimness of a plush hotel I spot my quarry – a whisky made not from malted barley, but 100% malted rye. It was one of the first bottles of Old Potrero.

I still remember my nostrils tingle as I swirled and sniffed, pretending I knew what I was doing, though it quickly became apparent I did not when I took a swig and it exploded out my nose. It was quite possibly the most disgusting whisky I had ever tasted. If barley is the beating heart of a whisky, then I had licked the sweaty armpit.