Bob McDermott, owner of The Beer Bistro in the heart of the West Loop in Chicago talks about why he likes Templeton Rye and how he serves at his bar.

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Centenarian Art Rix shares a story about taking a trip to Omaha during the prohibition era and how he and his wife ended up at a speakeasy that served Templeton Rye.

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Michael Killmer, Templeton Rye Brand Manager and Brand Ambassador for Chicago, demonstrates how to make a Shirley Templeton.

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Dick Prall performing at Rock & Rye

The second annual Rock & Rye Summer Music Festival was held on Saturday, August 8th in Templeton, Iowa, and was a great success. The day started at the Templeton Rye distillery with a fermentation and distillation demonstration by Assistant Master Distiller Keith Kerkhoff and distillery tours led by TR Founder & President Scott Bush. Guests were treated to a BBQ lunch prepared by award winning BBQ team the Woodfellas and wonderful beer, including Templeton Rye barrel aged products from Court Avenue Brewery and Rock Bottom Brewery. Local Carroll County winery Santa Maria was on hand as well.

The festival featured a variety of great musical acts. The Nadas played a terrific acoustic set in the distillery on a stage constructed from used whiskey barrels. Outside, Brian Joens played a great acoustic set and was followed by the lively and talented brass swing band The Prairie Cats. Fans rushed to see local favorites Aged Spirits perform their own rock version of Templeton Rye by The Nadas. Dick Prall wowed with a incredible set, and Hairball left no doubt that they came to rock the house. It was a great day in Templeton.

Scott & Keith explaining fermentation and distillation to guests.

Fans enjoying The Nadas in barrel warehouse.

A view of the stage from above.

Fans beginning to arrive.

Kevin and Scott with a member of Hairball.

Hairball being introduced by their biggest fan (Kevin Boersma).

Festival attendees rocking out to Hairball.

Jeff Donahue of Province in Chicago shares the story of the restaurant and how Templeton Rye fits in perfectly.

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Join us this Saturday, August 8th, for the 2nd Annual Summer Music Festival brought to you by your friends at the Templeton Community Betterment Association and Templeton Rye Whiskey. This year’s lineup will feature The Nadas, Manning’s own Brian Joens, The Prairie Cats, Aged Spirits, Dick Prall and the world’s ultimate “80’s Rock” impersonation act, Hairball. Listen to what Templeton Rye President Scott Bush had to say about the upcoming event in a recent interview with Jenna from SingleMalt.TV in this video. See full schedule of events below.

Tickets are available for $20 each at the Templeton Rye Distillery or online at the Templeton Rye store. After purchasing your tickets, you will receive a wristband in the mail. Shipping is free for this item. Only 2,000 tickets will be sold for this event. PLEASE NOTE: Tuesday, August 4, is the last day we can mail out tickets. You may still purchase your tickets online and pick them up at the door (Will Call) at the distillery.

Schedule of Events:

12pm: Pre-party for ticketed concert goers at the Templeton Rye Distillery, including all access tours, refreshments and award winning BBQ prepared by Woodfellas from Ankeny, Iowa. There will also be samples of various Iowa products including Santa Maria wines and Award Winning 21st Amendment Ale produced by Court Avenue Brewery in Des Moines and aged in used Templeton Rye barrels.

2pm: Acoustic performance by The Nadas in the distillery featuring hit songs Templeton Rye and Goodnight Girl.

3pm: Beer garden opens at concert site adjacent to distillery. All proceeds benefit the Templeton Community Betterment Association.

4pm: Manning’s own Brian Joens performs a grab bag of Americana, bluegrass and tremelo-laden musings about classic rock dinosaurs, outhouses, stray dogs and roads (dirt and paved), all with his unique Iowa perspective.

5pm: The Prairie Cats are an 8-piece band hailing from Omaha that deliver an all-original “pop-swing” mix of jump-blues, big band, rockabilly, latin and bop, delivered in an all-out rock attack.

6:30pm: Aged Spirits is a Templeton based band playing a mix of classic rock and blues. Joining the band is special guest Katie Klocke, also a Templeton native.

7:30pm: With a deft pop sensibility, Chicago-based singer/songwriter Dick Prall sings about the good, bad, and fugly moments he’s encountered in life and relationships, turning them into subtle parables that linger longer on the heart and go deeper than most surface-bound pop hits.

9:00pm: Hairball is the world’s ultimate “80’s Rock” impersonation act, recreating the good-time party atmosphere of the decadent decade with unmatched authenticity. They cop the personas of the era’s legendary front men while rapidly changing elaborate costumes, then complete their transformations with dead-on visual and vocal performances.

Please plan ahead and travel safely to and from this event. Hotels are available in nearby Carroll, Iowa.

Patrick Poncher of Five Star Bar in Chicago, Illinois, talks about how he prefers Templeton Rye whiskey over Bourbon and how their patrons are hooked on The Good Stuff.

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We recently welcomed several teams of riders from Iowa’s big bike ride across Iowa to our BootLEG Tour at the Templeton Rye distillery. We really enjoy this unique event, and it’s a great way to welcome folks to Iowa and showcase our state and people. Many thanks to everyone who came by for some tours and fun, and all our best to the riders for a fun and safe ride across our great state.

Bob Hoffman of Carroll County, Iowa, talks about growing up in Templeton and how he and his friends would capitalize on the success of the bootleggers by redeeming their empty bottles for five cents each. Once they redeemed the bottles, the hotel clerk on Main Street would put them in a storage shed on his lot for safekeeping. Find out in the video below how Bob and his friends “liberated” the bottles to keep them moving.

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The Green City Market is Chicago’s only year-round farmers’ market promoting local, sustainable farmers, producers and chefs. Last night I joined over 75 of Chicago’s most innovative chefs at the Green City Market Annual Chef’s BBQ in Lincoln Park. It was a celebration of all things local, from farm to plate.

The chefs shopped the market Wednesday morning, and then went back to their kitchens in a giant tailgate-like setup to create the freshest dishes in the city. Chef Rick Gresh from David Burke’s Prime House even included a little of The Good Stuff in his dish. All of his ingredients originated from less than a thousand miles from Chicago. He started with dry aged prime ribeye, topped with fingerling potatoes combined with Templeton Rye to make a warm potato salad. It was amazing!

While the chefs were busy firing up the grills, I was busy with 3 of the top mixologists in Chicago batching cocktails. BOKA’s Dan De Oliveira and Sepia’s Josh Pearson and Peter Vestinos all volunteered to create special cocktails for TR, Death’s Door Spirits and Casa Noble Tequila. Josh from Sepia created a Templeton Rye cocktail called the R&R Smash, which included fresh-pitted cherries supplied by Pete from Seedling Fruits in South Haven, Michigan.

R&R Smash Templeton Rye:
Templeton Rye
pitted cherries
rosemary leaves
lemon balm leaves
lemon juice
simple syrup

BOKA’s Dan De Oliveira and Sepia’s Josh Pearson and Peter Vestinos making the R&R Smash cocktail

The event was a huge success and we made lots of new fans. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello and who are embracing the “farm to table” movement.

Cheers,

Michael Killmer, Brand Manager

The Templeton Rye team recently welcomed some special visitors to the distillery, Troy Cobb and Zach Snavely. The duo set out from Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, on their bicycles and are headed all the way to Oregon. Needless to say we were impressed with their dedication. You can track their ride at crazyguyonabike.com/troyandzach.

Troy and Zach ran into some Templeton Rye fans in eastern Iowa, who suggested they come through Templeton. We gave the guys a tour and treated them to a nice lunch at the Corner Station to help fuel their ride. We also gave them a couple of Templeton Rye shirts to wear at their various stops. Best of luck to Troy and Zach and thanks for stopping by the Templeton Rye Distillery.

Templeton Rye’s own Merlyn Zubrod shows us his handmade custom Templeton Rye bottle displays and talks about the inspiration behind them.

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Benjamin Schiller from In Fine Spirits talks about their appreciation for Templeton Rye and demonstrates how to make his signature cocktail.

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The Templeton Rye team recently welcomed a group of bartenders from Ames to the tour the distillery. Our visitors consisted of folks from Es Tas, Legends, Mickey’s Irish Pub and Thumbs. They toured the distillery and learned a lot about the history of Templeton Rye, dating back to the Prohibition Era. They also received a cocktail tutorial featuring the Classic Manhattan and TR’s own Shirley Templeton. After the VIP tour, the group had a great lunch at Templeton’s own Corner Station and went on a tour of the town. We invite all of you to check out one of these great bars the next time you are in the Ames area.

If you have a bar that is interested in a tour of our facility, please email us at info@templetonrye.com.

We’ve been having a great time meeting new folks and seeing old friends at the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market so far this summer. We’ll be back at the market again on July 11, July 25, August 15 and September 12, selling wood barrel smoking chips and TR merchandise. We hope to see you there! Here are some video highlights:

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The Templeton Rye team was honored to be involved with our friend Steve Cannon as he courageously ran all the way across Iowa in The Run to Cure Cancer. We are always on the lookout for folks in Iowa doing special things, and we were happy to allow Steve to use our bus as his support vehicle.

We are pleased to report that Steve completed his run on July 2nd and has raised valuable funds to support research. Congratulations to you, Steve, and thanks for making a difference! You can track Steve and help support his efforts at http://theruntocurecancer.com.

Templeton Rye was a proud sponsor for the 2nd year in a row of the Mods vs. Rockers vintage motorcycle and scooter rally in Chicago on June 20th. The rally is based at Delilah’s, the world famous whiskey bar. Below are some highlights:

Don Westoff of One North in Chicago talks about Templeton Rye whiskey.

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We continue our 4-part TR story series this week with part 3 of Happy Hour at The Plaza. In this video, a resident of The Plaza named Hilda shares a few stories involving the revenuers, drunk hogs and her father hiding Templeton Rye under the swing set.

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Back in April, our blogger friends Marshall Fawley and SeanMike Whipkey announced a contest on Scofflaw’s Den that challenged their readers to create and submit spring-inspired rye whiskey cocktail recipes. Each submission was graded on a ten point scale for the following categories:

-Does the cocktail have a spring theme?
-Is it a rye whiskey base?
-Taste
-Color/Presentation
-Uniqueness

A big congratulations to to the winners, Craig, Jeff, and Gabe. See all three winning cocktail recipes here. We’d like to thank Marshall and SeanMike for creating the contest in our honor and for sharing The Good Stuff with their first place winner, Craig “Dr. Bamboo” Mrusek, who received a bottle of “Marshall’s Mountain Moonshine Bitters” and a bottle of Templeton Rye. Here’s his winning cocktail recipe.

Jetpack by Craig “Dr. Bamboo” Mrusek

1 oz Rye
1 oz Zubrowka Bison Grass vodka
.5 oz Schladerer Kirschwasser (I used Clear Creek)
.5 oz simple syrup
.5 oz lime juice
1 dash Fee’s Mint Bitters

Shake all with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

For more Templeton Rye recipes, be sure to check out the Barkeep page on our website.