WhistlePig Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut Review

WhistlePig Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut Review

Today, many high-end whiskey consumers are pretty familiar with the idea of a finished rye whiskey. And in an increasingly crowded market, brands often finish spice-forward ryes in a variety of novel cask types, which often seem to push the boundaries of flavor potential — in some cases, pushing the very boundaries of cask types in existence. Vermont-based WhistlePig’s annual Boss Hog release is at the forefront (and often top of the price band) of these efforts, with a 10-year pedigree of finished ryes across a broad spectrum of finishes.

It seemed like WhistlePig was bound to eventually exhaust available cask types, even to the point of having to create new ones. (With great innovation comes great responsibility, I suppose.) Apparently 2024 is that tipping point, and its latest effort — Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut — features rye finished in a never-before-seen cask type: thandai barrels.

Thandai is a chilled, sweetened, milk-based drink popular in many South Asian locales, usually flavored with a variety of nuts and spices including almond, cardamom, fennel seeds, and saffron. Notably, sugary, milk-based thandai is not aged in barrels, and I’m guessing any experiments in that realm would get shut down quickly. So how exactly did WhistlePig’s head blender Meghan Ireland and her team conjure such casks?

From a company press release:

“After encountering thandai during the Holi festival in Jaipur, WhistlePig’s experimental team combed Delhi’s Khari Baoli spice market for ingredients to create the world’s first Thandai whiskey barrels. These unique finishing barrels are seasoned with a marriage of aged rye with saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, fennel, poppy and black peppercorn.”

WhistlePig then finished a non-age-stated, Canadian straight rye whiskey in these seasoned barrels. The resulting product was bottled at a range of proofs from 103.8 to 105.2. Our sample clocked in at 103.8 proof and came from barrel number 1.

Let’s see how it tastes!

WhistlePig Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut: Stats and Availability

WhistlePig’s 11th Boss Hog carries a suggested retail price of around $600. It’s an allocated, nationwide release. Years ago, the brand was one of the first to recognize consumer tolerance for $400-plus releases. That could be in part because of well-received Boss Hog releases, in addition to continued demand among WhistlePig fans. Because of the already-premium MSRP, Boss Hog is an expression I often see at or close to suggested retail, even in more expensive markets.

WhistlePig Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

Aromatic might be an understatement here; on the early nose, “The Juggernaut” might be closer to a fragrance boutique. Many (many) distinct scents come in waves, all nearly equal in pugency at first: sawgrass, star anise, fennel, cardamom, white pepper, Szechuan peppercorn, saffron, almond extract, roasted pepitas, grated nutmeg, cinnamon candy, and white peach. Honestly, the list could go on — the nose is that dense with individual notes.

I should be extra clear in that those scents do calm with time in the glass, reaching a near-homeostasis after about seven to eight minutes. There’s a lot to parse here, and I quite enjoyed most of it — though I would certainly recommend an extended resting period.

Despite what at first sniff seemed like a cacophony of scents, once that time period elapses, the underlying rye does show its stripes. It’s a familiar, semi-spicy Canadian rye nose (similar to WhistlePig’s core expressions), just tucked away under concurrent layers of thandai-inspired herbs and botanicals.

Taste

On the palate, I was preparing for another grab-bag of spices up front, but there’s a slight twist: The first sip was sweeter and fruitier than expected, heavy on baked apples and syrup-laden pears.

But those waves of spice aren’t far behind, most porting over from the nose in a straightforward fashion. Cardamom, saffron, anise, nutmeg, and various types of pepper lead the way, building just before the midpalate and sticking around for the rest of the palate experience.

After a number of sips — really four or five — the base liquid itself wrests back some control, and those baking spice flavors become more noticeably rye adjacent. That coincides with an increase in vanilla and almond flavors, along with a slight shift from white to black pepper.

There’s also an undercurrent of medicinal orange, not antiseptic but still reminiscent of some of the admittedly better cough drops on the market. That impression is bolstered slightly by a viscous mouthfeel; most flavors stick around long enough on the tongue to get a little syrupy.

Similar to the nose, the latest Boss Hog’s palate eventually reaches an impressive level of harmony given its eye-poppingly complex early profile. It’s as if the tongue — challenged by so many specific notes and tastes — eventually relaxes enough to just enjoy the ride. As with the nose, it takes some time (and perhaps a little suspension of disbelief).

Finish

Syrupy, fruit-forward flavors lead on the lengthy finish, punctuated by nearly countless notes that reemerge from the palate for quick flashes here and there. It’s slightly heavier on citrus (zested lemon) and cinnamon than the other components. I was glad to find the base rye still showed its stripes, delivering pops of clove and almond cookie to round out the final act.

WhistlePig Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut Rating

91/100

Recap

I’ll get to the point: I quite enjoyed Boss Hog XI, and I’d gladly reach for it again. That said, the flavor profile is unique and could be polarizing; I wouldn’t fault anyone for not embracing this spice-soaked twist on thandai flavors.

It’s probably useful to say that I haven’t enjoyed previous Boss Hog releases across the board; while I’d call some fantastic, others simply haven’t been to my liking, either on baseline quality or for taking an adventurous swing that didn’t quite connect (for me).

“The Juggernaut” exists in a potentially liminal space. For some folks, I could imagine this approaching “rye of the year” territory. Plenty of others might not enjoy it. That makes it a tricky dram to review and rate. But when it comes to pushing its own boundaries, WhistlePig has once again succeeded — even if it took some clever barrel engineering to get there.

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