Taste Test: WhistlePig Gets Weird in the Best Way With Its New Ancient Egypt

Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review. The annual release of WhistlePig’s Boss Hog rye whiskey always promises something different, something unique, and something weird. Usually that involves a cask finish that you’ve probably never tried before or even heard of, although sometimes this whiskey flight of fancy goes overboard. This year’s release, the Golden Pharaoh, might sound pretty strange on paper, but the result is a rye whiskey that actually doesn’t stray too far from its core identity—and that’s a very good thing. The Golden Pharaoh is the 13th Boss Hog release from WhistlePig, a distillery and farm located in Vermont not far from Burlington. Over the years, this series has taken some interesting twists and turns, and last year’s Feather & Flame stands out as one of the most distinctive for having been finished in casks seasoned with a Mexican pulque-style drink. Sometimes the distillery team, led by head blender Meghan Ireland, goes the more traditional route of finding casks previously used to age spirits like rum for the secondary maturation. Other times they recreate a spirit or drink onsite in Vermont and season casks with it before putting already mature rye whiskey inside. That was the case here, and this time the inspiration was Ancient Egypt for a cask finish that’s never been done before. According to Ireland, she discovered a tiger nut cake recipe carved into an Egyptian tomb that was nearly 3,000 years old during her research. Two of the key ingredients in that recipe were Egyptian black honey, which is actually a kind of sugarcane molasses, and tiger nuts, which are edible tubers that are said to taste kind of like almonds or coconut. The team had to figure out a way of turning tiger nut cake into a liquid that could season barrels, so they made a liqueur from ground tiger nuts rested in rye whiskey and sweetened with black honey. They filled some ex-rye casks with it, and let them sit for four weeks. Those were emptied and the rye whiskey was placed into these casks for eight weeks to soak up new flavors. The effects of this secondary maturation are surprisingly subtle, and as mentioned before that’s actually a very good thing. There are noticeable notes of brown sugar, molasses, honey, and toasted almond that kick off the palate, along with a cabinet full of baking spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. But these enhance and do not obscure the core identity of the rye, allowing notes of vanilla, maple, black pepper, and oak to shine through as well. This is a single barrel release, so the proof will vary between 102.6 and 105.6 depending on the cask, but overall that’s a very reasonable and approachable barrel proof that is built for sipping. If you’re familiar with Boss Hog, you’ll already know that is an expensive bottle (the suggested retail price is $600). Still, collectors are gonna collect, and a limited number of this already limited release come with a special gold topper inspired by the image of King Tut, possibly making it even more valuable. If you’re willing to splurge, I advise you to find a bottle to drink and not to collect (get two if you must), because this is a prime example of just how good this annual experimental rye whiskey series can be. Score: 95 - 100 Worth trading your first born for - 95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet - 90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram - 85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market - 80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable - Below 80 It’s Alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this