Title:
WhistlePig The Boss Hog Xl
Description:
Single Barrel: Each bottle comes from a unique single barrel, ensuring that every release has a distinct flavor profile.
Bottled at Proof: Uncut and unfiltered, this whiskey is bottled straight from the barrel at its natural proof, delivering a bold, unadulterated rye experience.
Limited Edition: As with all Boss Hog releases, this whiskey is produced in very limited quantities.
When I first read about the new Boss Hog release, WhistlePig’s annual rye whiskey that retails for about $600, I thought it might be a terrible mistake. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration—it’s only whiskey, after all—but it just sounded like a cask finish that had gone awry, an over-the-top experiment that should not work. Turns out I was wrong. This whiskey is one of the best in the series, and here’s why.
The 11th edition of Boss Hog is called the Juggernaut, and as always it’s a version of the distillery’s sourced Canadian rye whiskey that has been finished in an unusual type of cask. The program started in 2013 as a series of single barrels that were selected by the late master distiller Dave Pickerell. Over the past decade, there have been some hits and misses, but if nothing else Boss Hog has always been big in flavor and concept. Last year’s Commandments release was a weird one, finished in casks previously filled with frankincense and myrrh-infused spirit along with mead barrels. Boss Hog VII, Magellan’s Atlantic, was a disaster due to the use of amburana casks, although there are many who would dispute this.
On the bright side, the eighth release, Lapulapu’s Pacific, was a success—an 18-year-old rye finished in rum barrels. Boss Hog IV, the Black Prince, was also quite good, a 14-year-old rye finished in Armagnac casks (something that WhistlePig founder Raj Bhakta, who was forced out in 2016, would fully embrace with his current company Bhakta Spirits). The Juggernaut joins these triumphs, and here’s what makes it so interesting. After initially aging in new oak barrels, the rye was put into what the distillery calls Thandai whiskey barrels. Thandai is an Indian drink made from milk and spices, and since it is not aged in a barrel the team had to get creative. They created a rye whiskey infused with saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, fennel, poppy, and black peppercorn, aged that in a barrel, and then used that seasoned barrel to finish the rye whiskey that went into this release—something they claim is a first. Like other Boss Hog releases, the whiskey is bottled at barrel proof (in this case 103.8 to 105.2, depending on the barrel).
Reviews are mixed on this release.
Bottled at Proof: Uncut and unfiltered, this whiskey is bottled straight from the barrel at its natural proof, delivering a bold, unadulterated rye experience.
Limited Edition: As with all Boss Hog releases, this whiskey is produced in very limited quantities.
When I first read about the new Boss Hog release, WhistlePig’s annual rye whiskey that retails for about $600, I thought it might be a terrible mistake. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration—it’s only whiskey, after all—but it just sounded like a cask finish that had gone awry, an over-the-top experiment that should not work. Turns out I was wrong. This whiskey is one of the best in the series, and here’s why.
The 11th edition of Boss Hog is called the Juggernaut, and as always it’s a version of the distillery’s sourced Canadian rye whiskey that has been finished in an unusual type of cask. The program started in 2013 as a series of single barrels that were selected by the late master distiller Dave Pickerell. Over the past decade, there have been some hits and misses, but if nothing else Boss Hog has always been big in flavor and concept. Last year’s Commandments release was a weird one, finished in casks previously filled with frankincense and myrrh-infused spirit along with mead barrels. Boss Hog VII, Magellan’s Atlantic, was a disaster due to the use of amburana casks, although there are many who would dispute this.
On the bright side, the eighth release, Lapulapu’s Pacific, was a success—an 18-year-old rye finished in rum barrels. Boss Hog IV, the Black Prince, was also quite good, a 14-year-old rye finished in Armagnac casks (something that WhistlePig founder Raj Bhakta, who was forced out in 2016, would fully embrace with his current company Bhakta Spirits). The Juggernaut joins these triumphs, and here’s what makes it so interesting. After initially aging in new oak barrels, the rye was put into what the distillery calls Thandai whiskey barrels. Thandai is an Indian drink made from milk and spices, and since it is not aged in a barrel the team had to get creative. They created a rye whiskey infused with saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, fennel, poppy, and black peppercorn, aged that in a barrel, and then used that seasoned barrel to finish the rye whiskey that went into this release—something they claim is a first. Like other Boss Hog releases, the whiskey is bottled at barrel proof (in this case 103.8 to 105.2, depending on the barrel).
Reviews are mixed on this release.
Brewery or Distillery:
WhistlePig Farm
Size:
750 mL
Alcohol Percent:
52.15
Type of Alcohol:
Straight Rye Whiskey
Year:
2024
Date Added:
2025-01-05 11:09:48
Automatic Estimated Date:
2025-03-07
Date Added:
2025-01-05 11:09:48
