WhistlePig 10 Year Single Barrel Rye

Extremely smooth

Rural Inn, Barrel 133199, 5/C/1 55.7% - wildflower honey, rye bread, spice, minty herbal notes, oak. 4/5⭐

Joyal’s Liquor Barrel pick

Lite Carmel taste. Better than Redemption Rye.

Bottled exclusively for: Indiana Liquor Group Vol. 1 From barrel #119984, Warehouse 6, Rick G, Level 6 116.7 proof, 58.4% ABV I truly will never understand the impulse to create an entire Distiller entry just for individual single barrels, and then watch as everyone slanders every last detail. Then again, they do just let anybody make new entries. That aside, I honestly don't know what compelled me to buy this. Unfortunately, I needed something to help celebrate a new job, and with pickings everywhere being what they are, I guess I went with this overpriced bottle. I actually like the 6 year Whistlepig quite a lot; it's a great rounded Canadian rye whiskey that's good by itself and mixed. Speaking of, Whistlepig should truly be proud of themselves for achieving the American dream: taking another country's product and putting their own name on it. I'd love to actually hear the defense for sourcing Canadian rye and then truly trying to pass it off as their own, but in reality, if I could trick chumps into paying more for a product than it's worth, I'd certainly do it too. Either way, we've got ourselves a proper rye that's cask strength, but I fear there may actually be too much age in this for me to enjoy it. Step 1 on identifying this as a Canadian rye: the color is super light and extremely translucent, likely from aging in an ex-bourbon barrel or other light, non-charred cask. I don't like the idea of missing these charred oak notes, especially since they aren't present on the nose. In it's place, I get some bright grain (disturbing after 10 years) that almost has corn notes to it (god help me if there's corn in this). The rye is here, but very mellowed from the age, taking away any harsh spice or herbaceous notes typical of the grain. Given that the barrel is also only providing light, somewhat floral flavors, there is a lot of empty space here that's taken up by mostly the ethanol and a little spiced rye. Thankfully, the muted notes from the nose do come alive in the mouth, with initial flavors being a little floral along with some honey. It does not take long for the rye to get into the gums, with a medium amount of overall penetration. A little barrel sweetness does actually sneak in near the finish (tasting like a used bourbon barrel), allowing a small amount of caramel to peak through. The finish, however is where the rye really hits, thanks to the cask strength, giving the full bodied spice notes expected of the grain, combining with a mildly dry finish, and numbing the gums like you're about to get a filling from your dentist. Man, Canadians know how to make some rye whiskey. Having said that, I can tell that I would definitely not enjoy this if it weren't cask strength, since the rye really only comes out in the finish, which would be far more muted at a lower proof. Not to mention that it's a cardinal sin to dilute anything that's been aged for an entire decade (looking at you, Jim Beam, and your 10 year Basil Hayden's rye at 80 proof). It's not quite simple, yet not quite complex, but great for high proof lovers of non-American rye, only because it's missing those heavy char notes from a new barrel. Considering I'm not an advocate for heavily aging rye, this is definitely a great offering for a 10 year, and makes me want to seek more Canadian rye cask strengths to compare it to. That said, the price point of this is abysmal, and should never be supported unless you absolutely cannot find a cask strength Canadian rye within a few hundred miles, because any other Canadian distillery will likely be a much better offer.