It may be called “Old Tahoe,” but this small batch Rye from the Old Tahoe Distillery in Silver City, NV is a new addition in the Rye boom. It’s the vision of Mark Tavertini, who came to distilling with his family experience in wine making and a successful venture in craft brewing (the Spanish Peaks Brewery, opened in 1991) under his hat.

The Old Tahoe Distillery’s website opines that “Rye is the new Scotch.” and the blurb on the back of a bottle of their Rye does the same. Perhaps there is some justice to that, since the Rye craze has introduced new Rye expressions of comparable quality and sophistication to even the super premium single Malt and blended Scotches. The question is where does Old Tahoe measure up among all those new Rye offerings?