Bulleit Celebrates Rye With a 20 Year Old Release

When Bulleit launched its rye in 2011, it lent credence to a style that, while once omnipresent in U.S. whiskey back before Prohibition, became overshadowed by bourbon. Up until that point, the brand had hung its hat on high-rye bourbons, bottling sourced distillate with a mashbill of 68% corn, 28% rye, and 4% malted barley since its founding in 1987. The first rye—a 95% rye, 5% malted barley variant sourced from Indiana’s MGP—therefore represented a seismic shift for Bulleit, and the whiskey’s rapid ascent into bars across the country (and at home) helped give the style a firmer foothold in the U.S. Today, Bulleit is celebrating the revival of American rye with a 20 year old, its oldest yet.

The 20 year old was sourced from MGP and made from a 95% rye, 5% malted barley mashbill, as all Bulleit ryes have been, and will be (while Bulleit operates two distilleries in Kentucky, they are for the production of bourbon, not rye). It matured entirely in Kentucky, and its barrel selection was overseen by Nicole Austin, director of American whiskey liquid development, together with the Bulleit team, resulting in this limited release of just 1,776 bottles.

At 137 proof, it’s a heady whiskey, punctuated by heavy spice, dried fruit, and toasted sugar sweetness. Bulleit 20 year old rye is available for $300 in limited quantities at the Bulleit Distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and in select markets nationwide.

The new ultra-aged Bulleit rye comes at a watershed moment for American whiskey—an industrywide correction means that, while there may be growing pains for distillers as they sit on excess barrel inventory, a surplus of aged whiskey is creating greater availability. That’s often meant older American bourbons. Ultra-aged ryes have been represented, though that’s not to say they haven’t appeared. (Michter’s, for instance, infrequently releases 20 and 25 year old ryes). Bulleit previously offered an age-stated rye with a 12 year old, which debuted first in 2019 and then once again in 2024, as well as with its 10 year old, which also came out in 2024.