I was just at WhistlePig Distillery last week. I’ve been making drawings and doing engineering calculations for years, and finally construction is in full swing. It is exciting to see dreams and drawings transform into bricks and mortar. The construction foremen and workers are unquestionably a top notch team and I have utmost confidence in their ability to bring our dreams to reality.The amount of detail required to construct any distillery is daunting enough, but add in making it a world class visitor attraction and the complication increases exponentially. I was hoping that we would be able to celebrate the 4th of July with the first batch of whiskey from our new still. Well, we DID celebrate the 4th of July in true WhistlePig fashion, but it looks like the construction schedule will result in start-up pushing back to late September. We did get the still built last weekend. For me, building a still is the most fun thing ever… like a tinker toy set for adults!  The transformation of an old barn into a distillery certainly adds meaning to the term making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. The summer is flying by as I eagerly look forward to the first mash.I have been having a lot of fun traipsing all over the US introducing people to WhistlePig’s 12 Year Old World Finish Series. It was particularly rewarding and exciting to see the Sauternes Finish receive a double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and be selected as Best Rye in show. The great list of rye entrants makes this selection extremely special. The reception of the individual Sauternes, Madeira, and Port finishes has been nothing short of amazing.  Now that the married finish is being released nationwide, I can say that its reception is also stellar. This is the culmination of 3 years of work, and I would be remiss if I didn’t expressly thank all of the bartenders who participated in focus groups to help us get all the details sorted out.

Always Yours,