Tasting notes

nose

caramel, vanilla and oak with burnt orange and allspice, then clove, gingerbread, toffee and a little honey

palate

warm and slightly creamy; butterscotch and caramel give way to black pepper, clove, leather, a touch of tobacco and a raw-almond bitterness

finish

very long; rye spice, oak and pepper hold, with tobacco and cardamom lingering as the heat slowly recedes

Mash bill

100% rye. The whiskey was distilled in Alberta, Canada, from an all-rye mash, and WhistlePig has not published the rye variety. That all-rye recipe is the same grain base as the WhistlePig 10-year, here given five more years and a finish in the farm's own oak.

Awards

• 97 Points — Wine Enthusiast

Why it's craft

The oak is the point here: WhistlePig harvests trees on its own farm in Shoreham, Vermont, has them made into barrels and uses them to finish fifteen-year-old rye. The rye itself was distilled at Alberta Distillers in Canada and bought in, and WhistlePig does the finishing and hand bottling on the farm. The farm, a former dairy bought in 2007, now also grows rye and distills its own on pot stills.