The Legend of Yurtrapped
Doing a barrel pick at Whistle Pig farm in Shoreham, Vermont, was one of the greatest whiskey experiences of my life. Whistle Pig really knows how to roll out the red carpet; we were picked up at the airport, got to stay in the most amazing house on the farm with private chefs preparing our meals, and we had people driving us to different microbreweries around the state for the weekend. Most importantly, we picked two outstanding barrels of rye on behalf of Karma and Blind Pig Liquor out of Houston, TX. Although both are great barrels in their own right, “Yurtrapped” has become something of a legend, and this here is the real story of that particular barrel.
Upon our arrival, Whistle Pig had staged four barrels for the group to taste through. All were 13 year old MGP rye barrels. After some discussions, Whistle Pig was kind enough to roll out an additional four barrels for us to taste through. Thank God they did, because we ended up buying two barrels from the second round of four and zero from the first round. The barrel that became the Karma/”Charlotte’s Web” barrel was the crowd favorite during the pick. It was big and booming and noticeably darker in the glass than the other ryes in the lineup. Yurtrapped was the other favorite of the day and was selected as the barrel that the pick team would buy most of. That was the deal we made with Nathan Strubberg; we could get a second barrel if we agreed to buy most of it. No problem!
A funny thing happened between the time we selected the barrels and when they were bottled. About six months passed between selection and bottling, which is unusual. Some of us believe the barrels were flip flopped because the Karma barrel tasted much more muted after it was bottled.
One theory is about the weirdness that goes on with Whistle Pig bottlings. Whistle Pig guarantees a yield of 132 bottles no matter what. If the barrel yields more than 132, the rest stays at the farm and goes into a small batch. Here’s where it gets weird: if the barrel yields less than 132 bottles (which isn’t far fetched for an almost 14 year old barrel), Whistle Pig will blend in stock to get to a yield of 132. I have no idea if that happened here, but I’m saying that the Karma barrel was a light barrel to pick up. Who knows…
Why is it called “Yurtrapped”? Well, in the back of the Whistle Pig property there is a yurt. Hippie shit, for sure. Pillows on the ground. A memorial was setup for Mauve the pig. There was an acoustic guitar. It was pretty great. So we trudged back in the woods with our handler at around 11pm or so and we got locked in the damn yurt. Some folks started freaking out. We started worrying that Bigfoot locked us in. It was a little creepy but a whole lot of fun.
How does it taste? Goddamn amazing. A hint of that MGP dill without going too far into pickle juice territory. Nice spice without being too burny. Some oak without being overly oaked like Whistle Pig 15. Really long finish. Fantastic rye. Proud to have been a part of this one.