Character
Our brand is our family, and vice-versa. Things up at the ‘Pig are hands-on and laid back. WhistlePig Farm is extremely diverse, but the rye always takes center stage. As with people, a whiskey with a lot of character often lacks smoothness. And a smooth whiskey all too often lacks character But what you look for in a best friend – an authentic, unapologetic character AND smoothness – makes the best whiskey.
In true, rugged farm form, we’re hands-on to the nth degree. Character abounds in our whiskey, our company, our farm, and our people. Master Distiller Dave Pickerell puts the liquid through an arduous crafting process to transform the beautiful heritage liquid into the even more precise perfection that is WhistlePig. Aging of the distillate begins in New American Oak barrels. The ‘Pig later comes of age in early use bourbon barrels. This mellows the rye with hints of the sweeter bourbon notes, infusing WhistlePig with a complex, awe-inspiring flavor and weight that dances about your mouth like Ginger Rogers in heavy silk chiffon. Much like our family and our farm life, the character of our whiskey is bold, unapologetic, and full of nuances. And frankly, isn’t life more interesting with rare, unabashed characters?
Quality
WhistlePig is made from 100% rye grain (the majority of brands are 95% rye or less); it is aged at least 10 years (far more than the 3-6 year norm); it clocks in at 100 proof… KABOOM. The good news: rye is the most flavorful grain for whiskey. The bad news: from a business standpoint, rye takes greater investment because it demands more time to reach its fullest maturity in a whiskey. But given patience, this problem child becomes the robust head of the class.
Courage
It takes courage to go whole hog. WhistlePig entered the marketplace with a 10-year old rye whiskey. When we launched the brand, the rye whiskey category was all but dead. Whatever rye was in the market wasn’t luxury, high-proof whiskey, pure and well-aged.
