J Rieger & Co launched the 2023 expression of Monogram Whiskey, the seventh release in the Monogram series, and the first under the moniker “Kansas City Whiskey – Solera Reserve.”
From the early days of J. Rieger & Co., oloroso sherry has held an extremely important role at the distillery. Dating back centuries, sherry was regularly added in the blend of American whiskies; the Kansas City-based distillery picked up this historic practice and made sherry a key ingredient in the blend of its flagship whiskey, Kansas City Whiskey.
In 2015, J. Rieger & Co. obtained several rare 500-liter oloroso sherry botas – which are large, very old sherry casks – from Williams & Humbert Solera Especial in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, and have been using the solera method for an annual Monogram Whiskey release ever since. The solera method uses fractional blending to age the whiskey, which is a continual process of removing a portion of the whiskey from the barrel, then topping it off with another batch, over many years. This “never-ending barrel” approach creates a unique yet consistent mixture of ages.
J. Rieger & Co. recently expanded its solera to ten casks between 50-100 years old. Straight bourbon, straight rye, and light corn whiskeys have been aging in the J. Rieger & Co. solera since as far back as 2015. Annually, J. Rieger & Co. blends, proofs, and bottles Monogram Whiskey from a combination of these botas. This year, for the first time, the recipe has been adjusted to a blend that qualifies as Kansas City Whiskey.
“Blending our annual Monogram Whiskey release is something I look forward to each year,” said J. Rieger & Co. Co-Founder Ryan Maybee. “We really ventured into uncharted territory with this project when we started it eight years ago, as there has never been an American whiskey produced this way. The evolution of this bottling over time has become one of my proudest moments in resurrecting the Rieger brand. The fact that this year, and moving forward, this will now officially be our ‘Kansas City Whiskey – Solera Reserve’ makes it that much more special.”
Rieger’s Monogram Whiskey, coming in at 100 proof, is available on a very limited basis in select markets, as well as at the distillery.
