Templeton Rye Goes National

Templeton Rye—the provincial whiskey that has gotten a lot of attention in the past few years for its homespun tale of its clandestine Prohibition origins and having supposedly been Al Capone's favorite booze—will go national by the end of the year, it was announced.

Until now, you could only get Templeton in Chicago. That, of course, was part of its allure—its unattainability.

One has to be one's toes when taking in the Templeton tale; it just sounds too good not to be a piece savvy marketing. But the general story is that tiny Templeton, Iowa (pop. 300 or so), illegally made rye whiskey during Prohibition to get by. The hooch developed a reputation for relative quality during the time. Flash forward to the 21st century, Scott Bush and co-founder Keith Kerkhoff, descendants of the original families that produced Templeton Rye before Prohibition, tracked down the recipe and started producing it again.

The liquor is actually made in the huge Lawrenceburg Distillers in southeast Indiana, but it's bottled and labeled in a facility in Templeton, thus retaining the liquor's connection to its roots. Templeton actually provides profiles of its various "bottlers," who all look like the sort of moms you want to be making you cookies.