WhistlePig taps Indian spices for Boss Hog release

The latest addition to WhistlePig's The Boss Hog series ages rye whiskey in custom-made thandai barrels and uses ingredients such as saffron and cardamom.

For this year’s release in the brand's premium Boss Hog series, WhistlePig is drawing inspiration from a trip to India. While there, whisky makers encountered thandai, an aromatic drink made with nuts and spices, during the Holi festival in Jaipur. The brand’s experimental team combed Delhi’s Khari Baoli spice market for ingredients to create whiskey barrels that reflected the drink’s flavours. The Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut takes WhistlePig’s oldest straight rye and finishes it in barrels that were seasoned with a combination of aged rye whiskey, saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, fennel, poppy and black peppercorn. “Every year we challenge ourselves to craft a rye that is more stupendous, inspired, and intricate than each edition of The Boss Hog before it,” head blender Meghan Ireland said. “After expanding our original five promises for The Boss Hog to 10 tenants last year, we set out on our biggest challenge yet. When we discovered thandai in India, we knew we had to find a way to translate its spice profile to a showstopping whiskey barrel for this precious rye.” On the nose, the whiskey shows spices like cardamom, allspice, clove, and black pepper. A structured spice profile is supported by over-ripe orchard fruit, saffron, and fennel on the palate. A single barrel whiskey, Boss Hog XI is bottled between 51.9% ABV and 52.6% ABV. It is priced at US$600 and available nationwide with NFC authentication technology on the back label. Previous Boss Hog iterations have finished 18-year-old rye in Philippine rum barrels and 17-year-old rye in Spanish oak and South American teak wood. WhistlePig sold a minority stake in its business to LVMH's wine and spirits arm in 2020.