Time for another whiskey, and it's a fun one. I'd already been wondering how Whistlepig, a little distillery in Vermont, rose to such prominence in the American market. Today it's something we'll explore together.
Altogether Whistlepig is less than 20 years old. In 2007 entrepreneur Raj Bhakta purchased a 500-acre farm in Shoreham, Vermont (on Lake Champlain, across from Fort Ticonderoga) with designs of building a distillery. He hired Dave Pickerell, formerly of Maker's Mark and a big name in craft whiskey, to be its first master distiller. The brand launched in 2010 and its first product, the 10 year Rye, was released in 2015. If you're paying attention, those numbers don't add up. From the start Whistlepig sourced their whiskey, meaning it was distilled (and partially/fully aged) elsewhere, before being bottled on site. Their original source was Alberta Premium, a Canadian distillery, which is an interesting setup. This means they couldn't make Bourbon (with that spirit), something that must entirely be made in the United States. Today Whistlepig has two of its own stills and does make its own, but it still also sources much of what it bottles, from Alberta Premium and American powerhouse MGP of Indiana. Though the distillery isn't open to the public, they have tasting rooms in Quechee, VT and at the ski resort in Stowe, VT. The property's farm remains an active one, where they grow rye grain, have maple/ oak trees and raise livestock, including two live pig mascots.
All this is nice but there's something else that made Whistlepig special, and I think the best way to describe it was a bit of ingenuity. Whistlepig, it seems, invented (or was only on the very cutting edge) of premium American Rye whiskey. As we've talked about previously (in Whiskey 201), Rye was the original American style, going back to revolutionary times, and was more popular than Bourbon until Prohibition. After the Volstead Act things flipped and it's mostly stayed that way, with an ever-increasing number of Bourbon brands and price points. Rye, until quite recently, remained only on the low end and with limited options. Enter Whistlepig, who offered a high quality, 10 year Rye. It was expensive, comparatively, but quickly earned a good reputation to justify its cost.
A few comments about the 10 year Rye, that first product and the focus of this post. Neither the bottle itself or the company's website has many details on how it's made. By law 'Rye whiskey' made in the U.S. must come from a mash of 51+% rye grain, but we know this spirit was made in Canada where there's no minimum percent for Ryes. A number of other reviews have this listed as a 100% rye, but I don't see any evidence of that myself. The bottle also says it's a 'blend of straight Rye whiskeys,' meaning a mixture of at least two different whiskeys differing, for example, by age or mashbill. I'm taking a small leap here but I have to assume each whiskey in the blend actually qualifies, per the American definitions, both as a Rye and as a 'straight whiskey,' since they're using those terms. To me it'd make no sense that a distiller could entirely get around American regulations just by sourcing from out of the country (and if that's actually the case all bets are off). As for anything more specific, we don't know a lot about what's in there. It's all very confusing, tbh, but in the end it doesn't really matter if it's good whiskey.
Other expressions from the distillery are pretty diverse, and ever more premium. They do offer something less expensive, the 'Piggyback,' which comes in both Rye (a true 100% rye) and Bourbon (~$50 for either). If you want to try the in-house spirit there's the 'Farmstock' bottles (~$75), which generally combine distillate from Vermont and Canada, though there's at least one that entirely comes from the farm (grain, oak for the barrels, etc). There's a 10 year 'single barrel' (~$95) too, often seen as a store pick unique to your local liquor store. Then they have 12 year ($180), 15 year ($280) and 18 year ($400) Ryes and a special yearly release on top of that. Called the 'Boss Hog,' these are numbered (2023 will be #10, or Boss Hog X), highly sought and absurdly priced. For a small distillery Whistlepig certainly has a lot of options, including more (Roadstock, Smokestock) that look extra gimmicky.
Alright back to the 10 year, the one we're sampling here and now.
Stats:
ABV - 50% (100 proof)
Mash - Unknown, assuming each whiskey in blend is 51+% rye
Maturation - Unknown, assuming new charred oak barrels
Age - 10 years+
Location - Calgary, Canada and Shoreham, Vermont
Price - $80 (for 750ml, my bottle is 375ml)
Tasting Notes:
Nose - Orange, some spice but pretty clean, no whiff of cheap booze
Color - Good color but on lighter side, more yellow than red
Taste - Opens with caramel and vanilla (like Bourbon), then hits with rye
Finish - Very smooth, most disappears pretty quick, just a bit of lingering dryness
Final Thoughts:
There's no doubt the 10 year Whistlepig Rye is really good. It's flavorful and complex, exuding rye spice, but is also refined and delightfully easy to drink, a combination you don't often encounter. They accomplished what they intended to do, build a better and more premium Rye and it deserves its popularity because of it. I didn't previously know the spirit for this came from Canada, so that'll be funny to me for a while, but its source in no way negatively impacts the final product.
The only problem is money, we are discussing a premium offering here. I doubt I'll ever buy a bottle of Whistlepig 10y myself considering the $80 price tag. I've gotten it a couple times as gifts (it's a nice gift!), enjoyed it thoroughly and that's enough. For my money the best value from Whistlepig is the Piggyback Rye, a great bottle at $50. Those Farmstock bottles are intriguing as well, I'm definitely curious about what they're making themselves, but I haven't tried any yet. The 10 year single barrels (just finished a store pick, 117.5 proof) are better than the standard 10y, if you're into the hotter stuff, though they're about the same value considering the even higher cost.
Have a good weekend everybody, cheers!
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