Whistlepig CEO is whiskey idiot and proves it

[wadewood]

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/whistlepig-whisky-ceo-what-i-got-from-donald-trump-1QJTcwVrSRGRibswOGYdLw.html - watch this video to waste 4 minutes of your life. You will learn:

-there are no ryes above 7 years (or 8 or 9 or 10) old on market (VWFFR immediately comes to mind)

-american whiskies traditionally do not have age statements

I also just noticed Whistlepig bottles states "Finished in Bourbon Barrels" - does this mean they transfer product to used bourbon barrel? If not, would it not be aged in rye barrels?

[sailor22]

What an embarrassment, both for the reporter who didn't know enough to ask reasonable questions and follow up and for the CEO who is clearly either an idiot or a liar.

[theglobalguy]

hahahhahahahaaaaaa "Value Purchases...." good one. He surely isn't that dumb to not be aware what other products are out there? One thing to give CEO-type "we think we're great" responses, another to either flat like or be a moron.

Second favorite quote of the video... "Like Ethan Allen the furniture company?"...poor reporter.

[squire]

Watching this guy being interviewed on camera redefines the term comic relief.

[tanstaafl2]

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/whistlepig-whisky-ceo-what-i-got-from-donald-trump-1QJTcwVrSRGRibswOGYdLw.html - watch this video to waste 4 minutes of your life. You will learn:

-there are no ryes above 7 years (or 8 or 9 or 10) old on market (VWFFR immediately comes to mind)

-american whiskies traditionally do not have age statements

I also just noticed Whistlepig bottles states "Finished in Bourbon Barrels" - does this mean they transfer product to used bourbon barrel? If not, would it not be aged in rye barrels?

[squire]

I think the term 'Bourbon barrels' as being used here simply means oak barrels of the same type as used by Bourbon distillers.

[wadewood]

I believe that WhistlePig takes the rye that they get from Canada and runs it through some used bourbon barrels, presumably up on that buccolic farm in Vermont, for an unspecified time which is their gimmick to claim it is "American" whiskey.

[tanstaafl2]

If they do as you described, the the product should be labeled 'Straight Rye finished in bourbon barrels'. To call it just Straight Rye, if it spent time in used bourbon barrels, is violation of labeling laws. Though I doubt anybody at the TTB gets it or cares.

Edited February 14, 2014 by tanstaafl2

[squire]

Yet the Canadian sourced original was aged in new charred, e.g., Bourbon barrels.

[tanstaafl2]

Yet the Canadian sourced original was aged in new charred, e.g., Bourbon barrels.

Since he was making crap up left and right maybe that was what he was trying to claim. But to me a new charred oak barrel isn't a bourbon barrel by default. At most it is a whiskey barrel.

But mostly a new oak barrel is a new oak barrel! For that matter, as discussed here in the past, straight whiskey, be it bourbon or rye, doesn't have to be aged in an oak "barrel", just an oak "container" according to the TTB. If you can build a box (or a polyhedral for that matter!) out of oak that won't leak like a sieve apparently that qualifies.

Based on the labels for the older WhistlePig 11 and Boss Hog somebody knows the difference since it is noted as being "finished in bourbon barrels". That says used oak barrels that had first aged bourbon to me. And since the original 10yo doesn't say that on the label my guess is it didn't spend time in used bourbon barrels. Or maybe the newer bottles of 10yo do say that but I haven't looked at them in a while. Or maybe they can legally use up leftover labels and don't have to change until they need more labels.

It is all speculation on my part and I certainly wouldn't take anything coming from WhistlePig at face value. Some NDPs you can trust, some not so much!

[squire]

True about the containers, I think it was Seagrams who experimented with aging whisky in box shaped containers many years ago. The thought was square shapes could be stored more efficiently but what they discovered was barrels are more waterproof and when you have to move stock around barrels roll better than boxes.

[risenc]

Not that this changes anything, but just as an interesting side note, Dave Pickerell told me a few months ago that WP is now sourcing from inside the US, too. He wouldn't say where, but, duh.

[wadewood]

Not that this changes anything, but just as an interesting side note, Dave Pickerell told me a few months ago that WP is now sourcing from inside the US, too. He wouldn't say where, but, duh.

All Whistlepig labels still say 100% rye. As far as I know nobody was making a 100% rye in the US 10 years ago. So if they are sourcing in the US, then they are lying about the 100% rye (or perhaps using up old labels?).

[squire]

Wade is correct. What I find more intriguing is Dave claimed originally he searched the World to find the best rye whisky and found it in Canada. So is he saying now they are using second best?

[TunnelTiger]

Don't know what the numerous whiskey blogs are writing about WP but in the past eight months the popular opinion of WP has taken a series of hits on SB, IMHO.

[risenc]

Well, I should be more clear -- he didn't say that what is on the shelves now contains US-made 100 pct rye, only that WP is now buying it. My understanding was that this was most likely a forthcoming release.

[squire]

That's the way I took your point Clay, sourcing isn't bottling, yet did he say it's 10 year old 100% rye?

[jeffrey r]

Don't know what the numerous whiskey blogs are writing about WP but in the past eight months the popular opinion of WP has taken a series of hits on SB, IMHO.

Anecdotally, Whistlepig seems to have a pretty good name and buzz about it. Interestingly, it caught some chatter when it was featured in an episode of Breaking Bad, with a few of the DEA agents having pours. Look, I know WP will engender some resentment among enthusiasts, but I think it is a good product, albeit a bit overpriced. And sure the WP tales can be a bit much at times. But IMHO, even if someone were to pick up a bottle of WP for the buzz factor alone, anything that gets people out there to give Rye a chance is a good thing.

[tanstaafl2]

Don't know nuthin' about bottlin' no American made rye but I did find the WP label interesting.

My bottle of 10yo WP purchased when it first hit Georgia a couple of years ago says nothing about being finished in bourbon barrels. Instead it says "WhistlePig Farm Shoreham Vermont" on the left side of the label. Also still found a few like that on the shelf today that were delivered in October 2013.

But I also found presumably newer bottles of the 10yo that do say they were finished in bourbon barrels.

As best I can tell all the 11/111 WP and the Boss Hog both say they are finished in Bourbon barrels. No idea what that means about the 10yo version.

[jeffrey r]

Yes, my recent bottle of the 10yo has the yellowish label that mentions bourbon barrels.

[tanstaafl2]

Yes, my recent bottle of the 10yo has the yellowish label that mentions bourbon barrels.

Don't think the label color is any different. Just one with flash and one without! But the wording is definitely different.

[risenc]

That's the way I took your point Clay, sourcing isn't bottling, yet did he say it's 10 year old 100% rye?

No, he wouldn't go into any more details. My guess -- and this is a complete guess -- is that they are planning to release something younger, to pave the way for the release of their own rye, which they say is now just a few years away (obviously, if and when they do start distilling, they're not going to sit on the barrels for 10 years). They might even try a Solera-process rye, blending their stuff with something sourced, a technique Dave has championed at Hill Rock.

[squire]

Or what Brown-Forman did with Woodford. It's not a bad idea and makes more sense to me for micros who are building their brands on sourced product to blend in their own rather than bottle it young. I think that's how I would approach it.

[mbroo5880i]

Between issues with neighbors and questions about where they get their whiskey, Whistlepig seems to be building their business the wrong way.

[squire]

No reason why they can't build a distillery elsewhere, Vermont shares a border with Canada.