Eight Mile Rye

The starting point

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Sam Wieland Owner/Distiller

Having taken an interest early on in whisky and rye whiskey in particular (the distinction between the two spellings being that rye whiskey is primarily a North American product and this spelling is a nod to that rich heritage of Pennsylvanian Rye)

I decided on this path of production before the distillery was even a thing. During planning, 100% Rye whiskey was at the top of the list. But how to make it work.

It happened that a friend mine had a farm at Mangalore (between Shepparton and Seymour in Victoria) and he (Rick Griffith) was quite intrigued by what I was planning to do and was happy to help out by planting 500kg in 10 acres of unproductive land.  As it turns out, that first 1000kg of vampire rye set the scene for both the ongoing production of the raw grain and the foundation of the distilleries first casks for maturation in 2024 2 x American oak 225L cab sav casks and 1 x French oak 300L shiraz cask.

We have now started planting bevvy rye to try and get the plant growth a bit shorter and the grain yield up, but that's another story.

It is interesting when doors open and you walk through, what can happen. It turns out that rye corn has very deep roots, chokes out weeds and puts a hell of a lot of nutrients back into soils. With the advent of no till planting, Ricks farm is finding that where ever the rye is planted, the next crop needs much less weed spraying and performs much better in general.

So Ricks farm is on the Eight mile creek, and as you might see on the label, the background is a topographic map of the creek and surrounds where the grain is grown, the silver line is the creek winding its way through the farm.

If you want to find out more about the specifics of production of the rye whiskey, the challenges and why/how it is so special click on the production link below.