How Templeton Rye is produced

Key to Templeton Rye's brand is Keith Kerkhoff, the company co-founder whose family bootlegged one of Templeton's many rye whiskeys during the Prohibition era.

"Starting with a formula born out of a family's need to maintain their livelihood during the Prohibition era, our master distillers utilize the original Kerkhoff family recipe — unique for the remarkably high rye content of its mash," Templeton Rye's website notes.

The Kerkhoffs' recipe inspired Templeton Rye, company President Scott Bush said, but it isn't followed to a T: Replicating and selling the Kerkhoffs' whiskey in the U.S. would be illegal because it doesn't adhere to federal requirements.

The whiskey is first distilled by food and beverage ingredient company MGP at its factory distillery in Indiana, according to a stock rye recipe also used by other whiskey brands.

The whiskey is then barrelled and aged for about four years before being emptied from the barrels and cold-filtered. Next, it's transported to Templeton Rye's facility in Templeton, Ia.

From there, Templeton blends the rye whiskey with other whiskeys and ingredients that augment the taste. The added ingredients are called "blenders," Chairman Vern Underwood said, "things that we add to it to make it as close as we can to the recipe that Keith's father had."

The whiskey also is mixed with water, to lower the proof, before being bottled at the Templeton site and labeled.