Rye whiskey Canadian Club Chairman's Select, which are made from 100% rye mash. Canadian whisky must be aged in wooden barrels that are not larger than for at least 3 years, and the barrels do not have to be new oak or charred. This requirement differs from regulations for U.S. blended whiskey, in which the bulk base spirits are not required to be aged. Rye whiskey Rye whiskey can refer to two different, but related, types of whiskey: In the United States, "rye whiskey" is, by law, made from a mash of at least 51 percent rye. (The other ingredients in the
Whiskey Rebellion distilled beverage in the 18th century, so the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax". Farmers of the western frontier were accustomed to distilling their surplus rye, barley, wheat, corn, or fermented grain mixtures into whiskey. These farmers resisted the tax. In these regions, whiskey often served as a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the federal government maintained that the taxes were the legal expression of Congressional taxation powers. Throughout Western Pennsylvania counties,