POSTS TAGGED : Vermont

Currently Sipping WhistlePig 10

I’ve been on a WhistlePig kick this week. So I thought I’d share this Friday’s tipple. Today we are enjoying the wonderful WhistlePig 10 year. As a big fan of the Farmstock bottlings, it’s been a while since I have sat down to enjoy this 10.

I have said before that we are very fond of the products that the Vermont distillery crafts. A wonderfully unique farm distillery that are doing a great job at elevating Rye whiskey to more fun and interesting levels. They started off their whiskey making adventures by importing all their rye from Canada, and in 2015 they started the adventures of distilling their own liquid.

The 10 year old is using 100% of the Canadian rye, that WhistlePig said they “rescued the stock from misuse as a blending whiskey.” After bringing in the liquid into Vermont it is aged in new American oak and then hand bottled. Using 100% rye is pretty rare these days, so it makes it that much more special. Maybe in 2025/2026 we’ll get 100% WhistlePig distilled spirit, until then I am happy to keep enjoying this.

This is a tasty full-flavoured rye whiskey. Fragrant whiffs of peppermint, charred oak, and fresh grown herbs. Big mouthful of butterscotch, cinnamon, sweet vanilla, and a tongue coating of the rye spiciness.

Try a bottle here if you are in the market for a rye! It’s no wonder it’s as highly awarded as it is.

WhistlePig Distillery

WhistlePig Distillery

If you are not already aware of the WhistlePig Distillery, we are here to help you with that! Transforming from a Vermont dairy farm into rye whiskey making powerhouse is not the normal distillery story, but it is one of the things that makes them special!

The distillery’s dream was to make WhistlePig a leader in bringing genuine rye whiskey back to the forefront of the American whiskey market. Their whiskey making journey started by buying up stock of a 10 year old Canadian blending whiskey, that they believe wasn’t being utilized properly. From there, the vision of WhistlePig was to become a distillery that handles all aspects of the whiskey making process. From growing the grain on the farm to bottling in-house, that was achieved!

They are using their 500+ acre farm in Vermont to experiment and produce some of the best rye whiskies you’ll be able to enjoy! And this isn’t one of those farms some companies use for marketing purposes, it is a fully working farm with a multitude of animals calling WhistlePig home. They even have 20 acres of maple trees that they tap for syrup. *Side note: Vermont maple syrup is delicious!

The way they look at improving and making their whiskey better, is how all companies should approach their own products. A lot can be said about how they strive to be better.

“With every step of the Whiskey making process we ask ourselves 3 questions:

“How was this done in the past?”

“Have we learned anything since then that can make this better?”

“Is there another way to do this that’s worth exploring?”

More often than not the answer is there’s always something worth exploring. We know the path forward isn’t always a straight line. So we push ourselves to innovate and we’re reassured by our mistakes. They’re what keep us great.”

Their whiskies include:

  • 10 year old – 100 proof
  • 12 year old – Finished in old world wine casks
  • 15 year old – Finished in Vermont estate oak
  • Farmstock – Made from their grain, wood, and water
  • PiggyBack – 100% Rye and 96.56 Proof
  • 18 year old – 79% rye, 15% malted rye, 6% malted barley
  • Boss Hog – Single Barrel, Barrel strength, and Finished in Umeshu Barrels