J. Rieger & Co.

O! So good! This Whisky is back and it’s better than ever!

In 1881, two brotherly states were separated by an ungodly law that made alcohol illicit in Kansas, but not in Missouri. But there was a place in Kansas City, right on the border between the states, where the good people of Kansas could come to taste some freedom and quench their thirst. Known fittingly as the Wettest Block in the World, it was here that Jacob Rieger established J. Rieger & Co, a fine Whisky distillery that soon became the largest mail-order Whisky house in the country. But in 1919, Prohibition joined the whole nation in sorrow and forced the Rieger family to close down the operations and switch to banking. It wasn’t until 2014 that Andy Rieger, Jakob’s great-great-great grandson together with a local bartender, Ryan Maybee, re-opened J. Rieger & Co. to return some honor to the family name by starting to make some delicious booze again.

This limited-time-only expression celebrates the two pillars of Midwestern history: the game of college basketball and the Rye Whisky, the best of which can be found in Kansas City. Made from a mashbill of 96% rye and 4% malted barley, this Whisky is distilled twice before maturing for five years (hence the depth of flavor) in new charred oak barrels in the Kansas City rickhouse. Cut at 88 proof - a tribute to the 1988 Kansas Jayhawk Basketball Championship - this is a fine example of the booze-making skills Kansas is famous for.