When Pittsburgh Distilling Company launched in 2011, the founders chose Wigle for their brand name, and their label features a hangman’s noose down the front. While the styling may seem odd, the Wigle name and the hangman’s noose on the label refer to Philip Wigle, a conspirator in the Whiskey Rebellion. Wigle attacked a tax collector (honestly, everyone has at least considered it) and burned his house (ok, maybe not that part). For his participation in the rebellion, Wigle was convicted of treason and sentenced to hang. But, he escaped the noose with a presidential pardon from George Washington.
Before prohibition, Pennsylvania was a hotbed for rye whiskey. In fact, the longest continuous running American whiskey brand (Old Overholt rye whiskey, which had a 200-year anniversary in 2010) started in Pennsylvania. As a logical first step for a craft distillery in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Distilling started with rye whiskey, which they call “Pennsylvania Monongahela” style rye whiskey. While there’s not an exact definition of Monongahela Rye, it generally indicates the absence of corn in the mash bill and a higher than the legal minimum rye content.
Now, Wigle produces a wide variety of spirits, including a bourbon whiskey and a rye whiskey aged in small format barrels, which are the subject of this review round up. We reviewed their straight rye whiskey earlier this year to pretty favorable results, so let’s see if the trend continues here.
Tasting Notes: Wigle Small Cask Series Pennsylvania Bourbon Whiskey
Vital Stats: Wigle Small Cask Series bourbon is aged in small format oak barrels for at least 12 months and is bottled at 92 proof. The mashbill includes corn, winter wheat, and malted barley. Notably, this bottling is certified organic. Retail price on Wigle’s website is $58 per 750 mL bottle. For this review, the tasting notes are for batch 13.
Appearance: In the glass, Wigle Small Cask Series bourbon falls in the spectrum between darkened honey and light copper.
Nose: As with many young bourbons, the nose includes sweet corn notes. In addition, to me, small format barrels always seem to impart dry oak and toasted nut notes. Overall, the nose is very soft.
Palate: Slightly bitter and dry notes, including the toasted nut notes from the nose jump out at the front of the palate. Some light corn and vanilla sweetness comes in in the middle. The finish is short, slightly dry, with bitter tannic notes.
Final Thoughts & Score:
Score: 76/100
This is a pretty good expression of a bourbon aged in small format barrels. However, the wheat in the mash bill didn’t provide enough sweet balance to the bitter notes typical when using small format barrels. If anything, I found the nose and flavor profile to be very one-note. The bitter notes dominate from nose to finish. Overall, the bourbon was pleasant, but not something I would seek out again.
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Tasting Notes: Wigle Small Cask Series Pennsylvania Monogahela Rye
Vital Stats: Wigle Small Cask Series rye is aged in small format barrels for at least 12 months and is bottled at 84 proof. The mash bill includes rye, wheat, and malted barley. Retail price on Wigle’s website is $45 per 750 mL bottle. For this review, the tasting notes are for batch 21.
Appearance: In the glass, Wigle Small Cask Series rye is a touch lighter than the bourbon, which is probably due to the slightly lower proof. It appears honey brown in the glass.
Nose: Floral rye and dark fruit notes are prominent on the nose. These typical rye notes are balanced by dry oak and toasted nut notes, similar to the bourbon. Overall, I found the nose to be more pronounced on the rye, in spite of it being lower proof than the bourbon.
Palate: Dark fruit, raisin, and black currant notes lead off the front of the palate. These notes combine with light pepper and toasted nut notes in the mid palate. In the finish, the fruit notes nearly disappear and the bitter toasted nut notes and dry oak noted for the bourbon appear. It seems likely that the common small barrel aging for both the bourbon and the rye imparted the similar slightly dry, bitter oak notes.
Final Thoughts & Score:
Score: 80/100
Again, this is a pretty well executed rye whiskey aged in small format barrels. The front palate notes were quite pleasant and had me thinking great things were to come. But, the bitter notes towards the mid palate that eventually took over the flavor make the ending a tad flat and the overall result rather tame.
There are so many craft distilleries offering young whiskey that has been aged in small format barrels. Out of the many I’ve sampled, Wigle’s Small Cask Series bourbon and rye are definitely in the upper half. However, all of these small format offerings fall victim to the limitations of small barrels, such as the easiness with which the whiskey becomes over-oaked.
So, if you are determined to try craft distiller offerings that are pretty young and aged in small format barrels, you could do much worse than these products from Wigle. But, I would not recommend these if you are just looking for a solid bourbon or rye.
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