A Guide to WhistlePig
Bordeaux Index
9 June 2025
From a Quiet Vermont Farm to Global Acclaim - WhistlePig’s Relentless Pursuit of Rye Whiskey Excellence Has Redefined the Category and Captivated Collectors Worldwide
Founded in 2007, WhistlePig is now the most awarded Rye Whiskey maker in the world. The story began when Raj Peter Bhakta had an idea to combine a sleepy dairy farm in Vermont, the underrated rye whiskey spirit, and one of the best Master Distillers in the USA, Dave Pickerell.
Fast forward 15 years and it’s hard to disagree that WhistlePig has been the most consequential producer for rye whiskey – and certainly the most collectable. The team have continuously worked to try new things and unlick the true potential of rye whiskey, and with countless awards now to their name, many see WhistlePig rye whiskey as some of the best whiskey that money can buy.
The spirit rests in the varied seasons of the state: deep winters, followed by long, warm summers, contributing to a wildly supreme whiskey. In 2017 WhistlePig was awarded with the coveted ‘Best In Show Whiskey’ title from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The Encyclopedia of Rye
"WhistlePig began with a dream to unlock the potential of Rye Whiskey through extended and experimental maturation. The Encyclopedia is one of our most ambitious endeavours toward that goal - a once-in-a-lifetime journey through the depths of our Single Barrel warehouse. Each volume reveals a new layer of character and complexity, showcasing how much Rye evolves year after year. This is more than just a whiskey collection - it's a living record of the next chapter of Rye." - Mitch Mahar, WhistlePig Distiller
Bordeaux Index have been huge fans of WhistlePig ever since it launched back in 2010. A real revolutionary in the world of American whiskey, WhistlePig challenged people’s perceptions of rye – once the nation’s go-to grain before falling out of fashion for the best part of a century.
Along the way, we’ve loved many of their bottlings – including the FarmStock Series, the legendary 11-Year-Old 111 Proof, and many superb store picks – but like many, we were most impressed with the Boss Hog Series. This series has won legions of fans across the world, with 2017 being a momentous year as ‘The Boss Hog Edition V, The Black Prince’ was named The World’s Best Whiskey (San Francisco World Spirits Competition) from a field of over 600 whiskies, including the likes of Macallan and Ardbeg.
Back in 2017, we approached the WhistlePig team with an idea to create a completely unique collection to be released exclusively by us. The result was The WhistlePig Encyclopedia of Rye, showcasing some of the best examples of long-aged rye whiskey.
To build The Encyclopedia of Rye, we handpicked 110 of the finest barrels from WhistlePig’s farm, shaping them into five distinct volumes – each evolving with every additional year of ageing. At just 22 barrels, this series is the smallest and rarest WhistlePig collection ever released. Even the very first Boss Hog – the most limited edition to date – had slightly more volume at 24 barrels. There is currently no other WhistlePig collection as rare, as exclusive or as pure as this.