rock and rye is an American liqueur and, depending on the bottling proof, can also be classified as a flavored whisky. Comprised of rye whisky and rock candy or rock candy syrup, rock and rye can be traced to the early 1800s, when it was used as a pharmaceutical to treat the common cold, and most likely also to smooth the rough edges off of young rye whisky. It first came to market as a proprietary cordial in the late 1870s, after the New York Sun printed an anecdote about the New York political orator Ellis B. Schnabel (1813–1900), where he recommended “rock candy and whisky” as an infallible remedy for tuberculosis and gave himself as proof. The Sun’s article was widely reprinted, and the newspaper was deluged with requests for the article. Brands sprang up immediately to capitalize on the public interest. Proprietary rock and rye formulas sold as nostrum medicines at pharmacies proliferated through the rest of the 1800s. Although its medicinal reputation endured well into the twentieth century, at least on a folk level, a reclassification of the rate at which it was taxed from the low “proprietary medicine” rate to the higher “beverage” one in 1883 laid the foundation for its evolution as a recreational beverage, although American bartenders continued to “prescribe” it for sore throats and coughs.
The beginning of the twentieth century saw the addition of modifying flavors, and over time various branded bottlings for rock and rye have included any number of the following ingredients: large pieces of rock candy in the bottle, honey, horehound, balsam of tolu, cinnamon, citrus, stone fruit, and pineapple. Rock and rye almost disappeared at the end of the twentieth century. The beginning of the twenty-first has, however, brought some signs of its revival, primarily as ready-to-drink pre-mixed cocktail, not a cold remedy.
See also liqueurs and whisky, rye.
“Fighting over Rock and Rye.” New York Sun, February 3, 1879, 1.
“A Lecture in a Horse Car.” New York Sun, December 23, 1877, 3.
“Rock-and-Rye.” Ogden (UT) Standard, July 13, 1883, 2.
By: Chad Solomon