Vermont Whiskey at Last: WhistlePig Farmstock Rye

Seven years or so after coming onto the market, WhistlePig finally has made some of their own whiskey. Since its founding, most of WhistlePig's product has been Canadian rye made at Alberta Distillers, though they have also bottled some MGP rye from Indiana. Farmstock, their newest product, includes both of these but also some Vermont rye, presumably made at their own farm distillery.

WhistlePig's Farmstock whiskey is made up of 49% five year old Alberta rye, 31% 12 year old MGP rye and 20% one year old Vermont rye (and kudos to WhistlePig for disclosing all of this right on the label).

WhistlePig Farmstock Rye, Crop 001, 43% abv ($85)

The nose is typical WhistlePig and very nice, spicy with some pickle juice notes. The palate starts with some spice but very quickly turns bitter with raw wood notes which lead to a bitter finish.

This stuff is pretty bad. The nose has some nice qualities but the palate is flat and bitter like many craft whiskeys.  If you are going to drink it, give it lots of air, which takes off some of the rougher edges.

Dear WhistlePig, if this is what your Vermont distillate tastes like, please go back to sourcing your whiskey.

Sincerely,

Sku

WhistlePig Boss Hog: Have You Seen the Little Piggies?

A lot of times when I write about craft whiskeys, I really like the people who make the whiskey, but I don't like the whiskey itself.  With WhistlePig, a non-craft whiskey dressed up in craft clothing, it's the opposite. I like the whiskey, but the guy who sells the stuff is a real piece of work. The owner of the brand is Raj Bhakta, a reality TV star and failed politician who was mentored by Donald Trump, which explains a lot. Bhakta recently gave an embarrassing interview to Bloomberg News in which he came out with gems like, "If you look at American whiskeys, traditionally speaking, you don't see an age statement on the bottle."  Er, what?  And in the whole interview, he talks a lot about American whiskey but never mentions that his whiskey is made in Canada.

All of that being said, I very much liked the first iteration of WhistlePig, though that likely has very little to do with Mr. Bhakta and everything to do with WhistlePig "Master Distiller" Dave Pickerell, formerly of Maker's Mark, who is the brains behind many successful whiskey start-ups.

WhistlePig's latest release is the Boss Hog, a 12 year old cask strength, single barrel rye that is finished in bourbon barrels and sells for an eye popping price. As with all of the WhistlePig whiskeys, it's 100% rye, which indicates it is likely of Canadian provenance, though the bottle has no statement of origin.  The bottle lists a series as well as a barrel; keep in mind that as with all single barrel offerings, the different barrels may vary.


WhistlePig Boss Hog, 12 years old, Spice Dancer series, Barrel 3, 67.3% abv ($160)

The nose has a whiff of that pickle juice that's typical in these Canadian ryes but with a bit of  vanilla as well. The palate has a nice balance of sweet and spicy rye notes, caramel and plenty of brine but the brine overwhelms by late palate.  A drop of water brings out the vanilla notes and really enhances it, smoothing out some of the rough edges.  The finish is briny and slightly bitter.

This is very similar to the standard WhistlePig.  It's exactly what you would expect from a cask strength version.  I actually prefer the standard 10 year old which has more balance.  The brine in this one tends to take over.

While this is a good rye, it's hard to recommend at this price point.  I don't see many advantages of this over the regular ten year old, which is half the price.  Then again, if you really want a 10 to 15 year old cask strength rye, there aren't a lot of other options.

Whiskey Wednesday: WhistlePig and Covert Canadians

Because of our porous northern border and common popular culture, Canadians often come to seek fame and fortune in the United States. Once here, unlike many other immigrants, they tend to assimilate quickly to such an extent that the American public doesn't realize that they hail from the nation to the north. They remain here, indistinguishable from US citizens, until they utter the stray "aboat" or drop a reference to a "bag of milk." Who are these covert Canadians? Well, there are too many to name, but they include Peter Jennings, William Shatner, Pamela Anderson, Jim Carrey, Alanis Morissette, Dan Aykroyd, the late Leslie Nielsen, Dr. Whisky and many others.

Add to this list another covert Canadian: WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey. It looks American, is bottled in Vermont, uses the American spelling of whiskey and has the American designation of "straight rye," but this seemingly US whiskey is actually Canadian.

WhistlePig is the brainchild of Dave Pickerell, formerly the Master Distiller of Maker's Mark. Pickerell started the WhistlePig Distillery in Vermont, but like many craft distillers, he chose to bottle a sourced whiskey as his first product. He found one in Canada. I should note that while there has been some confusion about WhistlePig, Dave is open about its sourcing and the back label states, albeit in small type, that it is imported from Canada.

WhistlePig is a 100% rye whiskey, and it really is a straight rye, albeit one with an unusual high rye content in the mashbill, as opposed to a typical, blended Canadian whisky. Even Canadian whiskies that are 100% rye are often blends of a "flavor whisky" and a higher proof, more neutrally flavored whiskey used as a blending agent. WhistlePig is solely composed of the flavor whiskey without any of the blending whiskey. That is what differentiates WhistlePig from other Canadian whiskies bottled by US companies, such as Pendleton or Snake River Stampede. Now, let's taste it.


WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey, 10 years old, 50% abv ($72).

There is a fabulous nose on this with, unsurprisingly, a big kick of rye spice. I also get some briny notes, like pickle juice. The flavor starts sweet, then you get the rye kick, much more in the traditional rye fashion, followed by some herbal and medicinal notes, and then the brine, which fades into the finish. This is a very nice rye, and very unique tasting due to the briny notes, which I enjoyed. If I had to compare it to anything it would be some of the High West whiskeys with very high rye contents. I love these high rye mashbills because they really come out swinging with plenty of big, spicy rye.

This Canadian has fully assimilated into the American style. There is no question that it is much closer to straight rye than any Canadian whisky. I guess that's why they spell it with an "e".