An ‘in-between’ whiskey, neither truly bourbon nor truly rye, Wyoming describes Outryder as “hard to brand but easy to drink”.
The whiskey was first released in 2016, born of a creative difference between the distillery’s co-founder and distiller. As the story goes, co-founder David DeFazio wanted then-distiller Steve Nally to make a rye for Wyoming. Nally didn’t want to make a rye, the grain being notoriously challenging to work with. Ultimately, Nally conceded and in 2011 casks of “rye” and more of bourbon made with rye were laid down.
When the time came to bottle, distiller Sam Mead, who had succeed Nally at Wyoming, discovered that the “rye” whiskey’s mash bill was only 48 per cent rye, and could therefore not be sold as a rye whiskey. Nally had seemed to capitulate, and yet had not truly made a rye, sticking to his decision. DeFazio said that nonetheless, the whiskey was “spectacular”.
Once bottled the result was Wyoming Whiskey’s Outryder, named for the outrider who stands apart in a group of horsemen to watch the herd’s flank.
The 2024 edition marks the first time in its history that the Outryder has been made with a 51 per cent rye mash bill; the six previous iterations have always used Nally’s original 48 per cent recipe.
David DeFazio said: “Our 2024 edition of Outryder is the first of its kind. It blends a traditional high-rye bourbon with a true rye whiskey. All of the barrels selected for this release were filled in early 2017 and have matured through the heat of seven summer seasons in our warehouses.”
He continued: “As is true for all of our batched products, we selected barrels for their excellence and their ‘Outryder’ flavor profile; they were not selected according to a set metric. This batch has a 2.5 ratio of bourbon to rye barrels and offers notes of cinnamon, chocolate hazelnut and candied walnuts, among other rich flavors. We can’t wait for people to taste the 2024 batch.”
Wyoming Whiskey Outryder Straight American Whiskey (50% ABV, 100 proof) is available exclusively in Wyoming for SRP $84.99.
