Another round for Rock ‘n Rye

As the Mammoth Rock ‘n Rye festival enters its second year, one begins to see not only the personal stamp of Heather and Robert Schaubmayer on the event, but also a nod to the now-departed Mammoth Bluegrass Festival, which enjoyed a two-year run in 2012-2013.

As the Schaubmayers explain, the theme of Rock ‘n Rye is Americana, as expressed in roots music (blues, rock, country, bluegrass) and barrel-aged whiskey.

To illustrated the point, the Saturday headliner, The Yawpers, bills itself as being “American as F*$k.”

The festival this year has been moved up a week to Labor Day weekend and extended from two days to three. There will also be two tastings instead of one; a reserve tasting on the gondola sky deck from 5-8 p.m. on Saturday and the Grand Tasting from 3-7 p.m. Sunday.

The event is being hosted by the Village at Mammoth and Lakanuki is helping sponsor the event.

When asked who booked the entertainment for the weekend, Heather and Robert looked at each other and laughed. “We’re the booking agency,” replied Heather, noting that the pair spent more than 100 hours on youtube vetting bands.

The upshot? You’ll see bands from Dallas (Friday’s headliner Somebody’s Darlin’, Denver (The Yawpers), Austin (Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash), Houston (Sunday’s closer Folk Family Revival) and L.A. (Reverend Tall Tree) this weekend.

Bastard Sons is not what you might expect in that it’s not a Johnny Cash cover/tribute band. Further, while Cash was alive, he gave his blessing to the band to use his name in their title.

In other words, they’re pretty damn good.

So how does all this great music get paid for? Well, this is where you come in—and you are invited to come in at any level, from a simple trip to the Rye Bar to buying an all-festival pass for $75, which is good for both tastings.

There is also a special beer-only Grand Tasting ticket (select among 15 breweries) for just $20.

As far as the Reserve tasting is concerned, one wrinkle added this year is the beer and whiskey pairings. For example, said Robert, they’ll have Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout (which is cured in a Wild Turkey barrel) paired with Wild Turkey’s Russell’s Reserve, a 6-year old small batch straight rye.

Being a booze geek has never been so rewarding … and acceptable.

Tickets are available for purchase at the event.