Sagamore Whiskey, the Baltimore-based brand rooted in Maryland’s historic rye tradition, has just released its Bottled in Bond Straight Rye nationwide.
It’s an eight-year-old, 100-proof expression distilled, aged, and bottled entirely at Sagamore’s Baltimore distillery — which might not seem like a big milestone, but it’s actually something special. Stick with me.
Distilled in spring 2018, the whiskey meets every requirement of the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897: made by a single distiller, at a single distillery, in one distilling season, aged at least four years, and bottled at exactly 100 proof.
It blends Sagamore’s high-rye and low-rye mash bills, the same proprietary approach behind the brand’s Maryland-style rye; this is Sagamore’s second major national release this year, following the July launch of its Sagamore High Rye Straight Bourbon.
Sagamore is weaning itself off Indiana whiskey
When Sagamore launched in 2016, its whiskey wasn’t actually made in Maryland at all.
Like a lot of brands just starting off, Sagamore started out buying distillate from MGP, the massive Indiana contract distiller that quietly supplies whiskey to dozens of labels that market themselves as small and local. Sagamore built its whole brand around Maryland’s rye heritage while its own Baltimore distillery was still getting its juice up to speed.
Rather than switching over all at once, Sagamore chose to blend its own Maryland-distilled whiskey into the MGP stock gradually, batch by batch, so the flavor profile wouldn’t shift dramatically on customers who’d already found a bottle they liked.
That slow transition took years: the flagship Small Batch Rye didn’t go fully Maryland-made until 2024, Cask Strength followed earlier this year, and this new Bottled in Bond release is another checkpoint in that same walk toward an entirely Maryland-made portfolio.
Sourcing from MGP isn’t a scandal — it’s standard practice across the industry, and it’s part of what makes Sagamore’s rye one of the better bottles on the market even during its transition years. But plenty of brands leave that detail out of the marketing entirely.
Sagamore’s willingness to frame this release as a milestone in an ongoing transition, rather than pretending it was always fully Maryland-made, is a bold move.
Where to buy it
The Sagamore Bottled in Bond Straight Rye Whiskey is available now nationwide at select retailers and at the Sagamore Whiskey distillery in Baltimore, priced at $59.99.
