The story of recreating Bently rye to once again distill whiskey from this lost grain might as well be an adventure movie.
The tale of recreating a special Michigan rye includes everything from odd rights battles over a shipwreck to "black ops" scuba diving missions. Some brewers heard that an extinct but rumored tasty variety of rye grain was preserved in the cold depths of Lake Michigan. A plan quickly arose to once again distill whiskey from the grain aboard the wreck of the Bently.
"We just happen to know one of, maybe a handful, maybe two, three individuals who own a shipwreck in the Great Lakes. So it's rare to have this opportunity," added Ross.
That custody that Paul won, included a haul of extinct rye.
Ross got Paul in contact with Chad and Air, and a plan was starting to grow.
"The thought of being able to get rye out of the ship and see what it see what it's like when you regrow it, and how that would perform as distillate, was super intriguing to us, and fits right into our mission here of kind of discovering and or creating the best rye we can," said Munger.
Michigan State was on board, with MSU Associate Professor Eric Olson ready to head the growth efforts.
Fox17
Watch a video of the news story here.
Previously:
• Pittsburgh's first new distillery since prohibition
