After 100 Years, Red Top Rye is Back

Red Top Rye has one of the great American whiskey origin stories. In the late 1800s, a German immigrant named Ferdinand Westheimer set up shop in Missouri and quickly built one of the largest whiskey operations in the country. His flagship brand was Red Top Rye, and Westheimer was every bit as relentless a marketer as he was a businessman.

He got Red Top onto Pullman train cars, handed out samples at the 1904 World's Fair, and plastered ads with slogans like “Going, Going, Gone” and “The whiskey that leaves no regret” across every surface he could find. This man had eleven children. He had to move bottles.

And move them he did. Red Top was massive by 1900. Westheimer kept buying distilleries to keep up with demand and died a millionaire. When he passed, just before Prohibition, his children declined to keep the brand alive. Red Top Rye disappeared.

It surfaced once more in the 1990s, when Julian Van Winkle III owned Commonwealth Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and pulled Red Top out of the trademark graveyard. He relaunched it as a 15-year single barrel rye, a one-time, much-celebrated run. Then gone again.

One throughline across every era: the rye was exceptional. Which is exactly why Old Commonwealth is bringing it back.

Most rye whiskey is built on a 95/5 mash bill: 95 percent rye, 5 percent malted barley. It's a reliable formula, and a lot of great bottles have come out of it. But it produces a very specific profile: spicy, herbal, minty. The flavor most people picture when they say “rye.”

Red Top Rye isn't that. The mash bill is 100 percent rye, a rarity for a Kentucky rye — distilled and aged for seven years, stored at the top of the rickhouse where temperature swings are more extreme. Higher heat means more interaction with the wood and a higher average proof at cask strength. The result is a rye that's fruit-forward in a way that'll pleasantly surprise even experienced rye drinkers.

When Andrew English, Old Commonwealth's founder, and his team tasted these barrels, the call was easy. “We knew we had to have them,” English says. “This isn't the rye people expect. But it’s one they'll remember.”

Nose: Dried fruit notes — raisin and fig — lead, followed by dried flowers and a hint of fresh rose petal. Barrel spice rounds things out with cinnamon, cardamom, and white pepper. Go deep and there’s a savory note of fresh-baked rye bread with a pat of whipped honey butter.

Palate: Even parts dried flowers, clove, and ginger up front, then fresh rose petals, white pepper, steeped pear, and a touch of barrel spice at the finish. It’s lighter liquid that still coats the mouth decently.

Finish: Fig and milk chocolate lead a decently long fade.

Old Commonwealth's 2026 Red Top Rye releases on our website on Thursday, June 4 at 11am ET.

Red Top Rye is an always-on product and will also be available at select retailers. Old Commonwealth's online shipping partner services customers in 40 states.

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