the library

Rye whiskey

Spirits & brews· spirit

What it is

Rye whiskey is whiskey distilled from a mash of at least 51 percent rye grain.

What it tastes like

On the nose: dry, pear, apple. Among its measured molecules: ethyl myristate, rotundone, 1-butanol, 2,3-butanedione, 2-methyl-1-butanol.

Every one of its 15 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• acetaldehydearomaaldehydereads as pungent, fruity (PubChem)Measured in 18 of 341 ingredients.cite

  the abstract reports 'low concentrations of acetaldehyde (from 22.25 to 34.07 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol)'; the table spans 22.18-34.93 across all 32 distillates — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 5, column 'Acetaldehyde'; Abstract)
• 1-butanolaromaalcoholreads as dry, burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 13 of 341 ingredients.cite

  7.19-18.86 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; named in the prose among the higher alcohols of rye distillate — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 6, column '1-Butanol'; Results prose)
• 2,3-butanedionearomaketoneMeasured in 15 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.33-87.64 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; grouped by the paper with the Maillard/Strecker carbonyls — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 5 (Acidity and carbonyl compounds in tested rye distillates), column '2,3-Butanedione')
• phenylacetaldehydearomaaldehydeMeasured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.46-6.58 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; named among the Maillard/Strecker products of the rye mash — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 5, column 'Phenylacetaldehyde'; Results prose)
• 1-propanolaromaalcoholreads as burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  111.98-836.45 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol across the 32 rye distillates — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 6, column '1-Propanol')
• ethyl octanoatearomaesterMeasured in 24 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.08-17.73 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 7, column 'Ethyl Octanoate')
• ethyl decanoatearomaesterMeasured in 17 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.89-27.69 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; the paper notes higher ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate and ethyl tetradecanoate in distillates from organic rye — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 7, column 'Ethyl Decanoate')
• 2-methyl-1-butanolaromaalcoholMeasured in 15 of 341 ingredients.cite

  reported as a co-eluting sum with 3-methylbutanol, 612.26-3727.79 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; named in the prose as one of the four higher alcohols of rye distillate — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 6, column '2-Methylbutanol and 3-Methylbutanol'; Results prose)
• ethyl acetatearomaesterreads as fragrant (PubChem)Measured in 43 of 341 ingredients.cite

  the paper states that 'ethyl acetate predominated (from 109.15 to 223.05 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol)' among the esters of the rye distillates — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 7 (Esters in tested rye distillates), column 'Ethyl Acetate'; Results prose)
• 3-methylbutanalaromaaldehydereads as apple (PubChem)Measured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.24-7.28 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; the paper groups 2,3-butanedione, 3-methylbutanal, 2-methylbutanal and phenylacetaldehyde as 'Maillard reaction and Strecker' products — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 5, column '3-Methylbutanal'; Results prose)
• isoamyl alcoholaromaalcoholMeasured in 46 of 341 ingredients.cite

  reported as a co-eluting sum of 612.26-3727.79 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol across the 32 rye distillates — the largest congener group measured; the paper names 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol as the higher alcohols of these distillates — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 6 (Methanol and higher alcohols in tested rye distillates), column '2-Methylbutanol and 3-Methylbutanol'; Results prose)
• ethyl hexanoatearomaesterMeasured in 36 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.04-4.06 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 7, column 'Ethyl Hexanoate')
• isoamyl acetatearomaesterreads as pear (PubChem)Measured in 26 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.07-6.01 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol; the paper calls it 'the dominant 3-methylbutyl acetate, also known as isoamyl acetate' among the acetate esters — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 7, column '3-Methylbutyl Acetate'; Results prose)
• ethyl myristatearomaesterMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.44-4.21 mg/L of 100% v/v alcohol — Balcerek et al. 2026, Molecules (Table 7, column 'Ethyl Tetradecanoate')
• rotundonearomaterpenoidMeasured in 3 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.434 µg/L in a ~4-year-old rye whiskey; the paper states 'The rye from Bulleit contained one of the highest rotundone concentrations among the whiskeys evaluated' and identifies rotundone as the source of the spicy, woody, incense-like note of oak-aged spirits — Genthner-Kreger et al. 2021, Molecules (Table 2 (Concentration of rotundone in oak-aged distilled spirits), row 'Bulleit Rye Whiskey (~4 year)'; Results)