This Kansas City Distillery’s New Whiskey Pays Tribute to Baseball’s Negro Leagues
The Negro National League was established in 1920 by Andrew “Rube” Foster at a time when American baseball was racially segregated to exclude Black players from the major and minor leagues. To celebrate the league’s history and impact on civil rights and baseball, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum collaborated with Kansas City distillery J. Rieger & Co. on a new collection of four new whiskeys, each representing a different team with a unique label.
The Fielder’s Choice Collection comes in a custom-designed box, with each label repping the name and logo of a Negro Leagues team. A portion of the proceeds from the collection’s sales will go to benefit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, also based in Kanas City. “The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is an icon of Kansas City and we are beyond honored to be partnering with our friends there on this collection of spirits,” said Andy Rieger, co-founder of J. Rieger & Co, in a statement. “We want to see the museum continue to flourish, preserving the incredible legacy of Negro Leagues baseball, for generations to come. Our entire team at J. Rieger & Co. is really excited about this collaboration, from the special whiskey expressions and collectible labels to the upcoming launch event at the distillery.”
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The first bottle is a Kansas City whiskey finished in local brewery KC Bier Co. barrels, a tribute to the two-time Negro League World Series Champions Kansas City Monarchs. It was bottled at 94 proof as a nod to Buck O’Neil, a Monarchs player who died at age 94. The second release is a small batch straight bourbon blended from just two barrels, a first for the distillery, paying tribute to the St. Louis Stars. This whiskey was bottled at 95 proof. The third is a 100-proof light whiskey, a style we recently covered. This whiskey was made from a 100 percent corn mashbill (it’s supposed to taste like Cracker Jacks), and pays tribute to the Chicago American Giants. Last up is a small batch 100-proof rye whiskey celebrating the Homestead Grays from Pennsylvania, a state historically known for its rye whiskey.
The Fielder’s Choice Collection is available now for pre-sale from the J. Rieger website, and there will be a fundraiser and launch event on February 21 to celebrate the whiskey release and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. You can also find other J. Rieger expressions available to purchase from websites like Total Wine now.
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