Taking Rye Whiskey On The Road With WhistlePig

Cocktails Distilled

There is a long history of ageing liquor at sea. Starting in the 16th century, brandy and later whiskey was often transported in barrels on ships to its final destination and the movement of the ship on the waves were believed to have accelerated and improved the spirit.
But ageing whiskey on the road has been a far less common occurrence … well, until now.

US whiskey brand, WhistlePig has just released their Roadstock Rye where barrels were placed on what could best be described as a rolling rickhouse and driven along Route 66 across America.

To better understand the journey, we talk to blender Meghan Ireland and distiller Mitchael Mahar about taking whiskey on the road and what changes that makes to the flavour of the blend.

Kapitler

1. Taking Rye Whiskey On The Road With WhistlePig (00:00:00)

2. What gave you the idea of taking your barrels on a joy ride? (00:01:37)

3. Take us along and tell us where the barrels actually went. (00:02:25)

4. So you went with the barrels part of the way, Mitch? (00:03:07)

5. How many barrels actually made the trip? (00:03:21)

6. Now when the barrels actually got to California that changed up a little bit, didn't it? (00:04:04)

7. And how long was that entire journey? How long did it take to do the round trip? (00:04:34)

8. Now talk to us about the Radford racing. What made you think to do a pit stop there? (00:04:52)

9. Has anyone ever filled the car with whiskey before, that you know? (00:05:55)

10. Now, have you guys kept the Hellcat? Are you going to race it? (00:06:40)

11. I imagine with a lot of your customers, that would be a very cool thing for them to go and see. (00:07:08)

12. And were you guys aware of any whiskeys or bourbons that had done a similar style of trip before? (00:07:17)

13. Now, were there any special modifications that you needed to make to the truck to ensure that the barrels were stable (00:07:52)

14. What did you think would happen to the whiskey when you did this? (00:08:28)

15. Do you think it was more the movement or the change in temperature that have actually affected the liquid? (00:09:22)

16. We talked about the effect that you were hoping that the journey would have on the whiskey. When the whiskey got back to you. Was that what you found? (00:09:54)

17. Was that quite ambitious, doing both a wine and a beer and the journey and everything all at once? (00:10:44)

18. How different do you think would the taste have been if the barrels hadn't gone on the journey. Would it just have aged more slowly? (00:11:10)

19. Once they arrived home, talk to us about the blending. (00:11:48)

20. Which is more dominant in the final blend, the wine or the beer. (00:12:20)

21. Now was blending these different from creating a normal blend? (00:12:51)

22. And is that something that you'll continue to do? (00:13:26)

23. Now if people uh, are used to drinking your Rye expressions, what will they find different? What can they expect from the taste of this one? (00:14:01)

24. Will Roadstock be an annual release? (00:14:51)

25. Now would you classify this as purely a sipping rye? Or do you think that it could work well in cocktails? (00:15:12)

26. The idea of having the liquid travel is quite romantic. Was that your aim when you started? (00:15:53)

27. Did you guys document where the whiskey went. So for example, do like little postcards that you could send to your customers? (00:16:23)

28. What is the reaction been to the blend so far? (00:16:53)

29. Did the journey itself surprised you guys in any way? (00:17:19)

30. I believe that you topped the bottles with little miniature rubber tire. (00:19:14)

31. Do you know where this expression is available?. (00:20:02)