WhistlePig

WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey is one of the few 100% rye whiskies available today. “Rye is the brat of whiskey grains. The higher the percent rye you get, the worse it behaves,” says Pickerell. “It gets sticky. It foams. A lot of my colleagues laugh at me for persisting to work with 100% rye because the nuisance level of going from 95% to 100% is unbelievable. Most people stop at 95%. We go ahead and push the envelope and make it 100%.”

After the rye is fermented and distilled, it is aged for ten years — first in new American oak casks and then in second-use bourbon casks. This decade of maturation rounds out the flavors of the rye, and gives it just a hint of sweetness. After aging, WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey is brought to 100 proof and bottled by hand at WhistlePig Farm in Vermont.

WhistlePig Rye has already received a number of accolades: it received a perfect five out of five stars from F. Paul Pacault’s Spirit Journal, it earned a score of 96 points from Wine Enthusiast (the highest score a rye whiskey has ever scored), Details Magazine called it “America’s Best New Whiskey” and it was named among the top five whiskeys of the year by The Wall Street Journal.

WhistlePig Rye is 10/100/100 — 10 year old, made from a mash of 100% rye and 100 proof.

Founded in 2008, WhistlePig is now the most awarded rye whiskey maker in the world. Their remote 500-acre hard-working farm in bucolic Shoreham, Vermont, is the perfect place to perfect their experiments with blending and finishing, ultimately leading to a portfolio of deeply complex rye whiskeys. In 2017 WhistlePig was awarded the coveted “Best In Show Whiskey” title from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Until his passing in 2018 the WhistlePig farm had been home to the founding father of craft whiskey, Master Distiller Dave Pickerell.