Whiskey Michter's 10 Year Kentucky Straight Rye

Deep notes of vanilla and toffee, toasted almonds and cinnamon with an ample dose of crushed pepper and a hint of orange citrus.

One of our most limited production items, Michter’s 10 Year Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Rye continues the legacy of America’s first whiskey variety (rye) from America’s first whiskey company (Michter’s, originally known as Shenk’s). After a nearly three year absence from the market, Michter’s then Master Distiller Willie Pratt finally gave the green light for the re-release of Michter’s 10 Year Straight Rye in April 2014.

Originally known as Shenk's and later as Bomberger's, the whiskey company which ultimately became known as Michter's was founded by John Shenk, a Swiss Mennonite farmer, in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania in 1753. In its earliest days, Shenk's produced whiskey from rye grain, a favorite local crop in the Pennsylvania Blue Mountain Valley where the distillery was located.

According to Pennsylvania historical lore, commemorated by the Lebanon Valley Coin Club in 1978, this particular rye whiskey was so valued that when the Revolutionary War broke out, General George Washington visited the distillery and purchased whiskey to fortify his men as they hunkered down in their camp through the long, brutal winter at Valley Forge. Over 200 years later the Michter's Pennsylvania management would say Michter's was "the whiskey that warmed the American Revolution."

In the mid-1800s, Pennsylvania Dutchman Abraham Bomberger purchased the distillery and it became known for many decades as Bomberger's.