‘With a Nod to the Past and an Eye Toward The Future,’ Nelson’s Green Brier Announces New Rye Whiskey

Nelson’s Green Brier announced the latest release of the Tennessee whiskey brand’s first rye expression since Prohibition. (Photo: Nelson’s Green Brier)

On Tuesday, Nelson’s Green Brier announced the launch of a new rye whiskey expression, a first for the resurrected Tennessee-based distillery.

“We could not be more thrilled to finally release a rye whiskey to a national audience for the first time since Prohibition,” co-founder and head distiller Andy Nelson said in a news release from the brand. “We’ve always had a mind to reconstruct Charles Nelson’s original portfolio of spirits with a nod to the past and an eye toward the future, and this release of Nelson Brothers Rye represents the next step in accomplishing that.”

The Nelson Brothers brand was launched in March 2022 by two brothers: Charlie and Andy Nelson. The duo aimed to resurrect their family’s ancestral bourbon business, which dated back to before Prohibition. The brothers’ great-great-great-grandfather, Charles Nelson, made rye whiskeys and other spirits in the 1800s.

The brand started with two bourbons: a classic and a reserve expression.

The Spirits Business reported that in August, Charlie Nelson announced his departure from the brand and this rye whiskey is the first expression under Andy’s exclusive stewardship.

Andy Nelson in conjunction with the team made the decision to flip the percentages of corn and rye in the bourbon mashbill, claiming the corn percentages balanced the rye’s inherently spicy flavors. Andy Nelson expressed the team at Nelson’s Green Brier was “excited to provide classic bourbon drinkers a reason to venture into rye.”

According to the release, the expression hosts a 92.5 proof and a suggested retail price of $37. It is described as a bourbon-lovers rye, with a balance of spicy and sweeter, bourbon-driven qualities.

In addition to rolling out new rye, Nelson Bros debuted a release in the brand’s cask series, a Cognac cask-finished whiskey.

Both bottles are available at Nashville Distillery Mercantile and will roll out in markets across the U.S. in due course.

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