WhistlePig Old World Cask Finish Rye 12 Year

This was a little pricy but very good. Everything about this hit the mark for me. I love a spice rye with a long finish.

First - the Distiller website may have an error, or Whistlepig has evolved. The 12 yr bottle I have says on the back and the front that the whiskey inside is from Canada. Presumably Alberta distillers. Distiller says it is MGP - this is not true, at least for my bottle. It may be that the newer bottles are from Alberta. Either way, I think the Alberta flavor profile is much better than the MGP 95/5 so I am grateful. I got this bottle as a gift from my brother-in-law as a generous gift. Gifting me whiskey is a hard task - but this is a hit. It is a bottle that I had never had and would never buy on my own. The nose has the classic canadian rye profile: more fruit than spice, with grape soda/cola/jolly rancher flavors abounding. It is notably more fruity and sweet than other Canadian ryes I have had, so I attribute that to the wine cask finish. The palate turns a touch more spicy and earthy, but clearly not a pepper/dill that many american ryes tend to have. It's again more of a root beer/cola profile: sweet, almost syrupy, and complex. The finish is pretty short, but some of the jolly rancher/sugar raisin flavor does linger. This is a really solid bottle - however, to me, the cost is prohibitive. Single barrel selections of their 10 year offering can be up to 15-17 year old Alberta juice, bottled at cask strength, for about 30 bucks less. Sure, it doesn't have the wine cask finish - tasting the two side-by-side, the 12 is noticeably sweeter and fruitier. If money was no object, I would buy it especially to keep on hand for newer whiskey drinkers. It is lower proof, sweet, complex, and an excellent intro to Canadian rye. A similar profile would be low proof, low rye content mashbill ryes. With a fruity side, JD rye comes to mind, but that has more barrel influence. Michter's rye would be a good comparison, but does miss on some of the fruit. Barrell does offer a lot of Alberta rye products at barrel proof - Barrell Seagrass is pretty similar on the nose, overall much better and cheaper, but clocks in at higher proofs. I guess I'm trying to say: good, but too expensive to earn a 'buy' recommendation.

Sweet and woodsy.