geologyjane
Whistlepig 18 Year Double Malt Rye (1st Edition)
Rye — Canada
Reviewed
December 9, 2019 (edited December 18, 2021)
It’s been a while, friends! Tis the season for vacations.... and holiday parties.... and +1’s.
I will keep this brief as holiday parties are neither the ideal place for detailed notes nor Glencairns. But I do consider myself lucky for getting to test the limits of just how “open” the open bar was. It was pretty open considering I got my hands on a very generous pour of Whistlepig Double Malt Rye 18 Year Old...
Very light and fresh herbal nose. Surprising lack of spice. Soft, creamy, and relatively light bodied on the palate, with predominantly herbal notes. Vanilla, lemongrass, mint, and other garden herbs. The finish was nice and long, with oaky chocolate and a bit more spice coming through.
All in all, an inoffensive offering but it didn’t really jump out to me as extraordinary and it definitely didn’t make me want to run out and drop $600+ for a bottle (even if it has a very classy, hand-pressed top). I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a bottle - try to find a pour first if you are deeply curious about it but even then I’d hesitate to pay the asking prices.
I’d rank this along with other drams that are fairly well executed but also not all that memorable. Thank goodness I didn’t have to pay the iron price to sample this!
3.5 ~ Above Average
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Thanks for weighing, guys! @dubz480 - Yep, I went with a middle of the road rating, somewhere between a 3 and 4 and above average. It’s hard to be much more precise than that in a public setting, but I didn’t want to be overly harsh. I can’t say that I’ve seen a store pick in the wild here.
You were kinder to this one than I would have been.. to me it was earthy and underwhelming.. I would take a 10yr store pick over it for $75 all day!
@dhsilv2 that’s a good point——Macallan and Pappy have generations of quality, and have proven their laurels. This...not so much. No one buys a Whistlepig hoping it’ll retain its value or go up in time like Macallan or Pappy. It just isn’t in the same league.
@PBMichiganWolverine True, even their 15 is a hard age statement to match, but still they just haven't shown the quality to justify their premiums. At least macallan and van wink,etc have earned the reputation
@dhsilv2 @geologyjane I think the lure of this particular one is “18”...that number is really hard to come by in rye. But, Lock Stock & Barrell has it for 1/2 the price.
Everytime I can get a sample of a store pick I've done it and I've had a sample from a friend of the boss hog. I simply can't understand how they keep selling whisky at these prices without the quality to back it up. They make simple average whisky and charge between moderately reasonable but high side to just stupid over priced stuff.
@PBMichiganWolverine - Agree 100%. Much to my shame (or satisfaction), I have never paid for a pour of Whistlepig and I can’t imagine dropping the coin for a bottle. I tried this amongst multiple other drams, all of which stood out more to me. Very grateful I got to experience it though as generally I’m the kind of lucky person that gets an open bar with JD, Chivas, JW Red, Maker’s Mark, etc.
I’m not a huge fan of Whistlepig—-seems like severely overpriced offerings for sourced products.