WhistlePig 10 Year Old Straight Rye Whiskey

Professional Reviews

Staff Reviews

DO

David Othenin-Girard

David Othenin-Girard

K&L Buyer

Whistle Pig has become an industry leader in the rye resurgence. Maybe the first distillery to release a Canadian Straight Rye as a craft style brand. Now they're growing rye, having it contract distilled, and stocking their warehouses with farm to barrel rye whiskey of the highest order. Why they don't highlight how and where they get this wonderful whiskey is their marketing departments problem. My main concern is how it tastes. Brimming with rye spice, the 100 proof WP always keeps you on your toes. Not soft or overly sweet, it's one of these that really hits the balance between intensity of flavor and textural complexity. The overlying theme is bold dry rye flavors. Behind the earthy rye, some sweet floral and exotic herbal tones. A great example of why Canada (via Vermont?) is still the Rye capital of the Whisk(e)y world.

Notes

Whistle Pig Farm is a distillery and Farm in Shoreham, Vermont. Created by David Pickerell, who served as master distiller at Maker's Mark for more than a decade, Whistle Pig does things differently. While most distillers produce a white spirits or young whiskey to pay the bills while their good stuff ages, David went out and found some old barrels distilled in Canada and finished them for two years in new charred American oak. Suddenly he had a bunch of old Straight Rye whisky. It was a miracle. His idea to bottle 100% Canadian-distilled rye aged in the American style is perhaps the most innovative decision in the modern era of whisky. This rye is for big flavor hunters in search of traditional rye character. The nose is rich and enticing, and the color of the whiskey itself is a dark amber that just looks like it's loaded with caramel and barrel spice. The first sip lets you know that it actually is, brimming with vanilla, orange peel, and baking spices. This is big, mouth-coating rye that finishes long and creamy, though never loses that spicy kick. It is a staple of American whisky that owes almost every scent to the great and kind man we loved so dearly, Mr. David Steven Pickerell.