Mad About Rye
The first thing most viewers notice about AMC’s Mad Men TV series is the faithful recreation of an early 1960s “white shoe” ad agency. The costumes, the hairstyles, and the furnishings all seek to immerse the audience in a far-off, but still modern time. For those of us who pay attention to such things, the volume of drinking too (in the office, at lunch, after work) has a lot to say about Mad Men’s era, too.
My ears perked up when I first heard main character Don Draper order “rye”. I thought that perhaps the show’s creators had spent too much time in 21st century cocktail bars, and had transported the current rye craze back to a time where it did not belong. But turns out the makers of Mad Men knew better than I what they were doing. In the 1960s USA, as in Canada to this very day, Canadian whisky went by the moniker “rye”, owing to a historically high rye content. And Don Draper,a man whose very life is about brands and branding, is partial to Canadian Club (CC). Like other Canadian brands, CC no longer consists mainly of rye, nor is it required to in order to bear the name. In the US, whisky must contain at least 51% of the grain to bear the moniker “straight rye”.
Even though Draper’s rye doesn’t’ go by that name anymore in the States, he is, like hip rye drinkers nowadays, charting a slightly non-standard course for himself. As Don sips his CC, colleagues tend toward bourbon, or a generic “whisky”.
Though you’ll most often find the CC in Don’s desk or office bar, the ad man has been known to order cocktails at lunch or after work. His favorite seems to be the Od Fashioned. Interestingly, he doesn’t specify rye, or even CC. But perhaps, in the plush circles where Don travels, the barkeeps know him, and the whisky of choice is assumed.
As it happens, Canadian Club is celebrating a little history in the here and now. The brand marks 150 years of production in 2008, all of it in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. And they’ve released a commemorative 30-year old bottling to celebrate. I haven’t tried it, but Men.Style has a review. For more on Canadian Club and its history, take a listen to this episode of Mark Gillespie’s excellent WhiskyCast podcast.
So here’s to the past, both celebrating the longevity of whisky brands, and recreating it on television.
Great post. Mad Men is a fantastic show and rye is a great spirit! Just so your readers know, there is a lot more rye being produced in Canada besides Canadian Club (or their 30yo bottling) - I picked up a fantastic bottle of Century Reserve 15yo last week and of course the Alberta Premium 25yo is outstanding value.
Unfortunately rye is not nearly as available as other types of whisky, as I’m really getting a taste for it!