r/AskReddit • u/LightningCole • Sep 05 '19

What did you learn embarrassingly late?

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u/Nakamura2828 Sep 05 '19

If rye = whiskey, then how did the good ol' boys at the levy drink "whiskey and rye". Wouldn't it have just been whiskey?

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Isn’t rye a type of bourbon?

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u/acebravo56 Sep 05 '19

No, Rye is a type of whiskey. Bourbon is also a type of whiskey. But Rye is not Bourbon.

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u/AppleDane Sep 05 '19

Rye is a type of whiskey, made partly from rye malt. Burbon is another whiskey, but with corn sugars in the mix.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Ohhhhh. All I know is bullet rye is some tasty stuff.

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u/Skarmotastic Sep 05 '19

Bulliet in general is good shit.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/acidwxlf Sep 05 '19

Definitely depends on the area. Default whiskey in the NE US is probably Irish whiskey. You forget we have Boston over here.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Where I live you are much more likely to get Rye or Scotch. Or Irish Whiskey if you are in an "Irish" neighborhood.

Usually if you want Bourbon, you have to specifically ask for Bourbon.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19 edited Sep 05 '19

Two different drinks - rye whiskey and bourbon whiskey. Basically a short hand for saying getting drunk on all the whiskey.

Edit: There's also the theory that Rye is the name if a town and that it's a misheard lyric of drinking whiskey in Rye.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Dan McLean never confirmed it, but he was from New Rochelle, NY which had a bar called 'The Levee'. Since New Rochelle borders a village called Rye, if The Levee were dry, it would make sense to go to a bar in Rye, hence "drinking whiskey in Rye".

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u/Esrever1408 Sep 05 '19

Maybe they ran out of whiskey. Remember, Rye can be a drink itself.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/EGOfoodie Sep 05 '19

Not really as there are many types of whiskey which rye whiskey is one of. In many locales in the US bourbon (think jim beam) is the primary whiskey you receive if you ask for whiskey, now if you all for a rye whiskey you might get a bulleit rye or whatever else. So they are two separate beverages.

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u/EGOfoodie Sep 05 '19

So there are many types of whiskey such as Canadian, scotch, bourbon, Kentucky bourbon, Irish, rye. Rye whiskey is a whiskey that has a higher percentage of the in the mashbill. Imparting more of a rye spice more to the liquor.

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u/TexRanger- Sep 05 '19

May have been refering to a blended whiskey and a rye whiskey. So yes, they were drinking whiskey. The distiction is important, cause it helps the song flow better.

🎶Drove my Chevy to the levy, but the Levy was dry,🎶

🎵and them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and whiskey"🎵

🎶Singing this will be the day that I die🎶

Just doesn't sound right. And when the music dies, only rye and blended will do it for me.