// Style · Bourbon
High-Rye Bourbon
A bourbon mash bill with an elevated rye percentage, pushing spice and pepper forward.
At a Glance
- Category
- Bourbon
- Flavor Direction
- Spice, Oak & Wood, Sweet & Dessert-Like, Herbal
- Related Styles
- Traditional Bourbon, Rye Whiskey
What Makes It Different?
- High-rye bourbon increases the rye component relative to a traditional bourbon mash bill; commonly around 60-68% corn, 20-35% rye, and 5-12% malted barley, compared to a traditional recipe's roughly 8-12% rye.
- The added rye tends to push spice, pepper, and herbal notes forward relative to a lower-rye bourbon, while still meeting bourbon's 51%-corn-minimum requirement.
Flavor Profile
Production
A higher proportion of rye in the mash bill -- often 15-35%, well above the low-rye norm -- brings more black pepper, baking-spice, and dried-fruit character forward. Four Roses' own "B" recipe (60% corn / 35% rye / 5% malted barley) is one of the most-cited real examples of how far a mash bill can lean into rye while still legally being bourbon.
Explore Bottles
This style spans too many distilleries' own mash bills to reliably match specific bottles here without guessing. Explore real core-lineup expressions in the Distillery Directory, or build your own grain bill in Find Your Perfect Pour.
Related Distilleries
Try It Yourself
Trying a high-rye bourbon? Use the Guided Tasting experience to walk through aroma, palate, and finish while it's actually in the glass -- a more useful way to learn what this style tends toward than reading about it alone.