WhistlePig Farm The Boss Hog V 'The Spirit Of Mauve' Straight Rye Whiskey

USA : VERMONT : SHOREHAM

95% Rye, 5% Malted Barley

FULL-BODIED, MULLED CIDER, CANDIED GINGER, MAPLE SYRUP, PIPE TOBACCO, FRENCH OAK

The fifth Boss Hog, and the first one built around fruit. WhistlePig took a 13 year old straight rye and finished it in Calvados casks — Normandy apple brandy barrels — as a tribute to Mauve, the farm's founding sow, who died in February 2018 and had a well-documented weakness for apples. Every Boss Hog keeps the same promises: single barrel, bottled at barrel proof, powerfully complex, and unlike anything the distillery had done before.

The apple arrives cooked rather than fresh — mulled cider, baked pear, cinnamon — and it lands against thirteen years of rye spice and oak rather than smoothing it over. Dave Pickerell, who selected the barrel and died two months after the release, called it his favorite Boss Hog: it's like drinking Grandma's apple pie.

Drinkhacker rated it B+ and noted that the use of fruity Calvados casks pairs well with the spice of rye, with one caveat — one must still love oak to really connect with this spirit. Each bottle carries a hand-cast Danforth pewter stopper of Mauve ascending to heaven, in a casket-shaped box. Released 2018 at a $499.99 suggested retail.

Approx. 119 Proof — single barrel, bottled at barrel proof, so it varies bottle to bottle.

Please note: Spirits are only available for local delivery or in-store pickup. All orders for shipping will be cancelled immediately.