A Delightful Evening with WhistlePig at WardIII!

Last Monday at WardIII Women Who Whiskey presented WhistlePig's new release, The Boss Hog.

WardIII is one of my favorite bars in the city--we've hosted several wWw events there--and they were delighted to have us back once more. There was a good crowd for a Monday night, and everyone was excited about getting to try the new WhistlePig! 

Michael Hodge, WhistlePig's Steward of the Brand

We kicked off the evening at 8pm with a tasting of WhistlePig Straight Rye--a classic favorite--and then moved onto serving The Boss Hog. 

Michael Hodge, WhistlePig's Steward of the Brand, introduced the new whiskey and gave us a little bit of background.

Nereyda, Erin, and Slater 

The Boss Hog is a single barrel, barrel-strength rye, and being single barrel, it's a limited edition--with only 900 bottles in NY! We were lucky enough to have one of those bottles, and it definitely went fast. 

Most whiskeys are diluted down to about 40% alcohol by volume before being bottled, both to produce a more palatable product for consumers, and to amplify the amount of whiskey produced. 

Manny, enjoying his drink

Some whiskeys, however, are bottled at cask strength--or barrel-strength--at the original 60% abv or so. This results in a richer, but also much much stronger, whiskey. 

Joanna, Sarika, Alex, and Michael

The Boss Hog, being barrel-strength, definitely put some hair on our chests! 

And people weren't just interested in drinking it, they were interesting in learning about it too! We kept Michael occupied for the better part of the tasting, teaching us about his delicious new whiskey.

Alex, Nereyda, Cheryl, Erin, Julia, Mike leaning in to hear more about The Boss Hog

 After the tasting ended at 9pm, the talented WardIII bartenders had a variety of WhistlePig inspired cocktails waiting for us to try.

I had my usual Manhattan, which was especially delightful with WhistlePig, and thanks to Mikey's magical mixologist's touch. Ryan defied the laws of wWw and ordered a glass of red wine. For shame! 

Ryan and Julia

The launch, which was supposed to only run until 10, was still going strong at almost midnight. But eventually, it being a school night and all, we wrapped it up and took ourselves home. 

A huge thanks to WardIII for having us, and to WhistlePig, for sharing its delicious new Rye. 

If these smiling faces are any indication, it seems like the event was a hit! 

Matt, Kim, Joanna, Sarika, Alex and some new friends!