Growing up down south, I was always intrigued by the “whiskey and rye” passage in Don McLean’s iconic song, “American Pie.” Rye was obviously liquor, but unfamiliar in Tennessee, a bit exotic and, in tune with the song’s nostalgia, perhaps something forgotten.
I’m unsure if Mr. McLean actually referred to American rye whiskey, a tradition of the Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast that Prohibition indeed almost wiped out, or the misleading moniker for Canadian blended whiskey (which often contains little or no rye grain). Whatever his intention, that American rye whiskey has made a comeback (the segment grew by 30 percent in 2008, on small volume) is something to celebrate, for historical reasons, and in the glass.
