I don’t usually review specific liquors, because I really don’t want to get into all the minutiae about the merits of cold distilling, charred barrels, or whether the sun was shining when the grapes were picked.  There’s value in being thorough, but in this forum, Tessin endeavors to deliver the bottom line on what’s important to making and serving great drinks in your home.  Please allow me this exception (besides, I’ll still skip almost all the details).

Templeton Rye takes the lead on my whiskey shelf.

Templeton Rye is from Templeton, Iowa.  My father-in-law turned me onto Templeton when we visited Des Moines over Christmas, and I became an instant convert (I sampled my first glass at Sbrocco, a really wonderful restaurant where you can buy your wine retail from their well-stocked basement).

The back of the bottle shows Templeton’s provenance (note the recent bottling date, 12-05-09 — this does not sit on store shelves long).

The trick with Templeton is that it can be challenging to obtain.  It is basically sold-out in Iowa, and even the restaurants that carry it run out.  Miraculously for those of us who live in states that allow online purchases of liquor, Templeton is also sold from Illinois by Binny’s.

Here’s what it all boils down to: Order it today.  Order a lot.

Templeton has a deeper and smokier flavor than I have encountered in other ryes.  It also has pedigree with a recipe dating to Prohibition.  And, oh yeah, it only cost me $35 a bottle!

As if all that weren’t enough, the TR initials and logo are perfect for Tessin Rinpoche:

Dahlia rocks my Templeton Rye logo hat

(sorry about the green eyes - my software has red-eye correction, not dog-eye correction)