rye whiskey

WhistlePig Old World Rye Whiskey Review
Photo courtesy of WhistlePig.

Photo courtesy of WhistlePig.

Dave Pickerell and the folks at WhistlePig have been experimenting with cask finishes.  For newbies, cask finishes involve a brief second maturation, usually in ex-sherry or port casks.  In this case, WhistlePig finishes 12-year-old rye whiskey (distilled in Indiana) in a blend of three different casks:  French sauternes, madeira, and port.  More specifically, this expression is comprised of secondary maturation in 63% madeira, 36% French sauternes and 7% port casks.  WhistlePig Old World is bottled at 86 proof and retails for around $70.

The nose here is mostly fruit forward:  cherry, berries and plum, with a slight cherry-flavored cough syrup character.  A sweet rye grain with some herbal qualities is present.  Taste-wise, this whiskey can be best described as sweet, fruity and dry.  The wine casks finish shows its hand early, as fruit notes burst on the entry.  They don’t dominate, however, as a sweet rye grain note comprises the majority of flavor.  A bit of toffee and a hint of mint round things out.  The finish is candy sweet and quickly becomes dry.

Regular readers of this blog know I’m a fan of cask-finished whiskey.  It’s a great way to couple flavors of whiskey together with sherry, port or other influences.  However, it seems to be slightly overdone here.  The ‘old world’ cask finish almost wipes away any spiciness usually associated with rye whiskey.   The fruit sweetness of his expression from WhistlePig comes across as more of a whiskey to have with dessert.  This is an interesting whiskey, but I prefer WhistlePig’s standard 10-year-old 100 proof rye whiskey.

7.5/10
(Note: A review sample was provided by WhistlePig.)

Highspire Whiskey Review

Highspire Rye

What business does California winemaker Austin Hope have making whiskey?  Given the surge of craft whiskies on the market, Hope thought he could bring his palate and ideas to the world of whiskey.

Highspire is a very old brand of Pennsylvania rye whiskey dating back to the early 1800s.  Like countless others, the distillery was shut down for Prohibition and the brand simply died.  Enter Austin Hope.

After spending a couple of years nailing down a mashbill, Hope finally settled on a 100% rye mashbill, sourced from a farm close to his distillery.  In an interview with The Whiskey Jug’s Josh Peters, Hope said he ages his whiskey in used-wine barrels for 130 days hoping to preserve its young, fruity rye characteristics.  According to the brand’s website, a blend of oak staves are added to barrels to help accelerate or enhance the short aging process.

This young whiskey isn’t intended to replicate the original Highspire.  Instead, Hope pays homage to the 100% rye mashbill of the original Pennsylvania Highspire whiskey.  This new Highspire whiskey is bottled at 80 proof and runs around $35 for a 750 mL bottle.  So, how does it taste?

The first thing on the nose is a young, strong rye grain aroma.  Very expected given the mashbill and brief aging.  An oak-aged white wine note (chardonnay?) plays right underneath the rye.  There’s also a bit of young-ish oak and a slight fruity note in the background.  The entry starts a little thin and watery.  The young oak and wine note mingle with the rye grain right up front, as suggested by the nose.  A touch of candy sweetness, vanilla and fruit add to the tasting experience.  Towards the end and going into the finish is a bit of rye spice.  The finish is of medium length, with white wine fruitiness lingering.

I don’t hate this whiskey, but I also don’t love it.  All in all, Highspire Rye is not a bad whiskey.  It’s fruitier than any other rye-based whiskey I’ve tasted up to this point.  It’s simply a different experience,  I do applaud Austin Hope for giving us something interesting.  However, I can’t help but wonder what a year or two in the barrel would do to this whiskey.  In addition, I’d love to see this bottled at a higher proof.  It would help the slight thin mouthfeel and add more punch to the flavors.

That said, if you’re a big fan of white wine and whiskey, this may be right up your alley.  Try a pour at your local watering hole (Highspire’s website lists locations that carries their product).

6.0/10
(Note: A review sample was provided by Highspire.)

Whiskey & Cigar Pairings

A while back Anthony at CigarsCity.com reached out to gauge my interest in writing a whiskey and cigar pairing article.  I’m not really a cigar smoker, as I’ve only had a handful of them over the years.  Cigars and whiskey pair together really well, as they share a lot of similar tasting notes.  They seem to have been made for each other.  Anthony offered to send over a few cigars.  In the spirit of research, I thought, “Why not?  Let’s do it.”

From the start, I decided to stick to American whiskies for these pairings.  I either picked a whiskey that shared one or more of the tasting notes with the cigar, or a whiskey that would compliment the cigar.

Rocky Patel Fusion

This medium-full bodied cigar had cocoa, pepper and earthy notes, and uses an Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper.  I tend to get a cocoa note from some older whiskies.  Here, I paired this cigar with Elijah Craig 18-year.  It’s sweet woodiness and long finish fit nicely with the slightly spicy Rocky Patel Fusion.

My Father Connecticut

A milder stick that uses Connecticut Shade as its wrapper, My Father Connecticut was described to me as earthy and nutty, with a white pepper note.  With that description I went straight for Basil Hayden.   The bourbon, produced by Jim Beam, has a high percentage of rye in it’s mashbill.  It’s also bottled at a low 80 proof.  It paired with My Father Connecticut beautifully.  Neither overpowered the other.

Camacho Ditka Signature

Anthony threw this cigar in the mix because Mike Ditka once coached the New Orleans Saints.  God, I still can’t erase that image of Ditka and Ricky Williams in a wedding dress.  Anyway, this stick features Honduran Criollo as a wrapper and is medium to full bodied.  Tasting notes here are black pepper, cream and fruit sweetness.  I had to find something that can stand up to those big flavors, and went with Pikesville Rye.  This 110 proof offering from Heaven Hill has a beautiful sweet and spicy combination of flavors, and is strong enough to handle the Ditka Signature.

Crowned Heads Jericho Hill

In terms of strength, Crowned Heads Jericho Hill sits right in the middle of the pack as a medium-bodied cigar.  It uses Mexican San Andres as its wrapper, and carries cocoa, buttery notes with earth and honey.  I paired this stick with Blanton’s.  The whisky is nicely rounded – not too sweet, spicy or woody.  Again, attributes that didn’t compete with the cigar, but rather complimented them.

Montecristo Platinum

Full-bodied, Montecristo Platinum features strong wood notes and some sweetness.  A cigar with a personality this big deserves a giant bourbon, and there’s no stronger bourbon readily available than Booker’s.  It’s vanilla and barrel char notes compliment the cigar’s flavors without overpowering.  My favorite pairing of the bunch.

Thanks to Anthony at CigarsCity.com for the cigars!