Bourbon Blended With Rye: What Is It Legally, and Does It Taste Like Rye Whiskey?

Blending bourbon with rye is no longer a niche experiment. The latest example landed at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival on September 11, when Pursuit Spirits and Shortbarrel poured Found Footage, a 112.4-proof marriage of Shortbarrel's maple-finished Sapsquatch bourbon and Pursuit United Double Oak Rye. It's a collaboration bottle, but it's also a sign of how blenders now use rye: as a seasoning inside a bourbon-led whiskey, not only as a label of its own.

That raises two fair questions every rye drinker eventually asks. What is a bourbon-rye blend legally, since it can't be both? And when you pour one, does it drink like rye whiskey or like bourbon with a little extra kick? Here is the straight answer, with the federal rules and the bottles to try.

Quick answer

A bourbon-rye blend, often nicknamed "bourye," is a mix of finished bourbon and finished rye whiskey. Under the federal standards of identity (27 CFR 5.143), a mix of straight bourbon and straight rye is labeled "Straight Whiskey" only when every component is straight whiskey made in the same state with nothing else added; otherwise it becomes a "Blend of Straight Whiskies" (also written "Blended Straight Whiskies"). It can't be called straight rye, because that type only covers whiskey from a mash of at least 51 percent rye, and the bourbon share never came from one. In the glass, most blends land between the two styles: bourbon's caramel and vanilla up front, with rye's spice and herbs on the finish.

What "bourye" actually means

"Bourye" is a portmanteau of bourbon and rye, and the name is tied to High West, the Utah distillery. It released a blend of straight bourbon and straight rye under the Bourye name around the turn of the 2010s. The bottle gained a cult following, disappeared for stretches, and returns now as an occasional "Limited Sighting" release. Because Bourye is a High West brand name, other producers describe their versions with terms like "blend of straight whiskeys" or simply "American whiskey."

The 2026 Bourye edition, according to High West, is 101 proof and built from straight bourbons and straight ryes aged at least 10 years, at a suggested $124.99. So whiskey drinkers use "bourye" loosely for the whole style, but on a shelf the capitalized name points to one specific bottle.

How TTB classifies a bourbon and rye blend

The federal rules sort whiskey by how each spirit was made, and a blend inherits its label from what went in. Three designations matter here, all from the whisky table in 27 CFR 5.143.

Label designation	What it means for a bourbon + rye mix
Straight Whiskey	Every component is straight whiskey (at least two years in new charred oak), all made in the same state, with no coloring, flavoring or blending materials added.
Blend of Straight Whiskies / Blended Straight Whiskies	A mix of straight whiskies that doesn't qualify as "Straight Whiskey," for example components from different states or a blend with permitted blending materials. Every component is still at least two years old.
Blended Whiskey	Only 20 percent straight whiskey is required; the rest can be younger whiskey or up to 80 percent neutral spirits. A true bourbon-plus-rye blend of straights sits well above this category.

The practical takeaway: the word "blend" on a bourye doesn't mean neutral spirits were added. "Blend of Straight Whiskies" means every drop in the bottle was aged at least two years as straight whiskey. The cheaper "Blended Whiskey" and "Blended Rye Whisky" categories are the ones that allow neutral grain spirit.

Found Footage is a good example. Pursuit Spirits describes it as "a blend of straight whiskeys," which fits a bourbon from one maker and a rye from another, one of them maple-finished.

Why a bourbon-rye blend can't be labeled straight rye

This trips people up, especially when a blend is mostly rye. Straight rye whiskey is defined by its mash: at least 51 percent rye grain, distilled at 160 proof or less and aged two years in new charred oak. That is covered in detail in our guide to what straight rye whiskey is. Bourbon comes from a mash of at least 51 percent corn, so once bourbon goes into the vat, part of the whiskey was never made from a rye-dominant mash.

The rules do allow "Blended Straight Rye Whiskies," but only for straight ryes mixed with other straight ryes. Add bourbon and the blend moves to the general straight-whiskey categories above. That is why Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye, a blend of roughly 70 percent rye and 30 percent bourbon, is labeled Blended Straight Whiskeys rather than rye.

The same logic runs the other way. A bourbon made with a lot of rye in the mash is still bourbon, which is what high-rye bourbon means. Our explainer on whether rye whiskey is a bourbon covers that boundary in more depth.

Does it taste like rye whiskey?

Usually, not quite. A bourbon-rye blend tends to taste like bourbon that has been sharpened. Corn-driven bourbon brings caramel, vanilla and a rounder, sweeter body. Rye adds baking spice, black pepper, dill or mint, and a drier finish. How much each side shows depends on the ratio, the ages and the proof.

Rye-heavy blends like Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye read as rye-forward, with bourbon filling in the mid-palate. Softer, lower-proof blends like Basil Hayden Two by Two drink more like a gentle bourbon with a spiced edge. Found Footage pushes sweet: Pursuit's notes mention brown sugar, Belgian waffles and ginger syrup on the nose, then cinnamon candy and anise on the finish. That reads like maple bourbon first and oaky rye second. The single-sourced tasting notes are the brand's, not ours, until we taste it.

If you want to train your palate, pour a bourbon and a rye side by side first, as in our bourbon vs. rye tasting, then try a blend. You will spot which half is doing the talking. Our guide to the difference between rye and bourbon maps the flavor split in detail.

Found Footage: the details so far

According to Pursuit Spirits' announcement, Found Footage is bottled at 112.4 proof in a 700 ml bottle with a suggested price of $99.99. It debuted at the Pursuit Spirits booth at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown on September 11, with later availability through Seelbach's and Pursuit's Whiskey Row location in Louisville. It is a limited edition, and quantities at the festival were limited.

The 700 ml size is worth a note. It has been a legal U.S. spirits size only since TTB's standards-of-fill update at the end of 2020, so most American whiskey still ships in 750 ml. At $99.99 you are getting about 7 percent less whiskey than a standard bottle, which is worth factoring in when you compare prices. No age statement has been published for either component.

Practical tips: bourbon-rye blends worth pouring

• Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye (113 proof): a rye-forward blend of roughly 70 percent rye and 30 percent bourbon, labeled Blended Straight Whiskeys. RyeCentral Consensus Score 3.7/5. See the Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye review.
• Basil Hayden Two by Two (80 proof): an easy, low-proof introduction to the style. RyeCentral Consensus Score 3.0/5 in our Basil Hayden Two by Two review.
• High West Bourye (2026, 101 proof): the bottle that named the style, with components aged 10 years or more, per High West.
• Pursuit United Rye (108 proof): taste the rye half of Found Footage's family on its own. It's a blend of straight ryes; see our Pursuit United Rye review.
• A control pour: put a high-rye bourbon such as Redemption 10 Year Barrel Proof High-Rye Bourbon next to a bourye. It shows how rye in the mash differs from rye in the blend.

The bottom line

A bourbon-rye blend is its own category: legally a straight whiskey or a blend of straight whiskies, never a straight rye, and usually a bourbon with rye's spice riding on top. If you like that middle ground, other multi-grain blends are worth a look, like Brothers Bond American Blended Rye and the rye, wheat and barley blend in WhistlePig HomeStock. If you want pure rye character, head to our high-rye whiskeys collection. Each review page shows where to buy.