I don't drink much of it any more and my old favourite Rye Wiskey is no longer available (VO), but many years ago I found myself in a southern California tavern with some time to kill. Not knowing what brands they might carry I asked the bar tender for a rye, rather than specifying a brand. He gave me a foul look and said rather tersely "We're a respectable place. We don't serve that here."
I was shocked and he could tell so he said maybe we were having a misunderstanding "What brand are you thinking of?" I couldn't come up with a brand name right away so blurted out "Canadian Club."
"Oh" he said. "That's not Rye! That's Canadian Whiskey."
He pointed out there isn't a word on the bottle about it being rye and he was right, but in Canada it is known as Rye and has it printed on the bottles. At least 40 years ago this was the case. Darned if I know what's on the bottles these days but I noticed a section in the liquor store (in Canada) last week that was labeled "RYE".
