Sampling the Barrels and Finishing the Whiskey

Mitch Mahar describes the sampling process at WhistlePig, as well as how they manage finishing the whiskeys in various casks—such as their Old World Rye, finished in a combination of Madeira, sauternes, and port casks—based on how long they expect each whiskey and cask to take till it’s ready to blend. Those finishing times can vary widely depending on the time of the year, given Vermont’s winters. He also discusses the risk of over-finishing a whiskey, and when they start sampling the finishing casks daily rather than sporadically. Mitch then tastes through whiskeys from each of those types of finishing cask, explaining how they affect the whiskeys—often in unexpected ways—and then how that can play into the final blend.