Michter's Pot Still Sour Mash Whiskey, which was the company's most popular expression before it declared bankruptcy in 1919, is made in accordance with original sour mash tradition. By using sour mash, which refers to the art of using a small amount of spent mash from an older batch of whiskey in order to catalyze fermentation in a new batch of whiskey, Pratt is able to maintain consistency with each bottling. While Magliocco readily admits that he wanted to pay tribute to the original Michter's Sour Mash, which was comprised of a mash of 50% rye, 38% corn and 12% barley, the current release isn't an attempt to reproduce it exactly. Rather, it was inspired by the older version, but with the intention of improving it. "If it was like everything else," says Magliocco, "we wouldn't have released it."

Woodford Reserve Rye uses a pre-prohibition style ratio of 53% rye in its mash bill to pay homage to history's original rye whiskeys, making spice and tobacco the dominant note among a sea of fruit, floral, and sweet aromatics, which yields a nice sweetness and overall balance. Our rye whiskey can deliver complex flavors- neat, on ice, or in a cocktail. A balanced rye makes a more balanced cocktail.