SHOREHAM — WhistlePig Whiskey of Shoreham last month introduced The Boss Hog series, a unique version of its whiskey that will be released each year. Company officials said this represents the finest and most unique rye in WhistlePig’s barrel barns.
The Boss Hog is a pure barrel strength, 100 percent single grain, straight rye whiskey, comprised of whiskey from one of only 24 of WhistlePig’s oldest and most unique barrels. Company officials said it is not for the uninitiated or the faint of heart.
It is being marketed as a whiskey for collectors and connoisseurs.
Company representatives described some things that make The Boss Hog unique. First, it is a single barrel whiskey, which means that it is comes from a just one barrel, rather than being blended from several, and that it is not cut or watered down, like other bottles of WhistlePig and other whiskeys.
 “Usually whiskey sits in the barrel at 120-150 proof, then distilled water is added to bring it down to 100 or 80 proof,” explained Zach Withers, whose title at WhistlePig is Steward of the Brand. “So for this release we are releasing it at barrel strength, no water added.
“This is both barrel strength and ‘single barrel,’ which means that each individual barrel is bottled separately,” Withers continued. “So there are minor variations in both the proof (the proof changes slightly in the barrel as different amounts of ethanol evaporate from different barrels) and in the taste (because that variation in evaporation also affects the amount of flavor imparted from the wood).”
Although this whiskey is a higher proof than blended varieties, Withers said that a drinker may choose to bring it down in proof by adding water, which allows them to experience all of the different flavors and aromas that come out of the whiskey at different proofs.
“At 134 it tastes like an India spice ship blew up in your face and leaves you with a velvet coat of deliciousness,” he said. “When you get down towards 110 (think one big cube of ice later) it gets more fruity, and towards the end of the drink when all the ice is melted you actually taste chocolate. It is a really fun drink.”
There will be approximately 1,000 cases of The Boss Hog made available, with the suggested retail price set at $150 per bottle. It is available now.