Whip Saw Rye Whiskey Review

By Michael Cervin

Rating: B+

If the idea of winemakers producing their own craft spirits appeals to you, then the Splinter Group and their launch in spring of 2018 should have gotten your attention. This is an ambitious project, less in line with vanity projects, and more akin to a reputable effort to create new styles of American whiskies.

California winemakers, John Wilkinson (Bin to Bottle, a custom crush facility in Napa), Bob Cabral (formerly of Williams Selyem), and Steve Matthiason (Matthiason Wines) worked with Master Distillers Steve Nally and John Hargrove at Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo) to define the cook and fermentation protocols for Whip Saw. They worked with a number of farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee, securing grain that is non-GMO.

The mash bill for Whip Saw is 76% rye, 21% corn, 3% malted barley, distilled in a Vendome column still. Then the spirits are brought to Napa, California, to the Bin to Bottle Winery, where they rest an additional one-and-a-half to three years in what they call “experienced” French oak barrels, which means used wine barrels in this case, though “used” sounds less illustrious. They cut with artisanal spring water from Moon Mountain in Sonoma, which is actually the western slopes of the Mayacamas range, which separates Napa from Sonoma. The rye is then cold filtered at 29 degrees. But it is the aging and added maturity of the wine barrels that smooths this out, refining the rye, creating a more soft entry, making it already mellow.

The Whiskey
Color: Dark amber hued.

Nose: Immediately this reflects caramel, vanilla, and sweet resin, a little more sweetness, which is not, however, reflected on the palate overall.

Palate: The palate gives a quick burst of sweetness at the beginning, silky butterscotch, toffee and caramel, then delves into notes of apricot, charred oak, resin, orange zest, cracked pepper, roasted pecans and mild back notes of tobacco with a medium length finish. It’s mature spicy and nut notes hover on the roof of the mouth for an extended period of time and as you exhale there’s a stoic resin quality. It offers viscosity and length with resonant candied amber. It’s uniquely American due to its more sweetness than its European brethren, but does pay homage to European whiskies with its mellow and mature darker notes and length of finish. The rounder, overall complexity must be, in some portion, attributed to the wine barrels, which provide mellowness and a subdued quality, typically lacking in first iterations hitting the market.

The Price
$55 per 750 ml bottle.