Wigle American Rye Kilted Cask Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A-

Smoking grain has been a widely embraced practice in American craft whiskey for more than a decade now. Darek Bell, co-founder of Nashville’s Corsair Artisan Distillery, wrote an entire book on the subject. In the Southwest, smoking with mesquite has become a regional signature. Some distillers have taken to importing peated malt from Scotland, going straight to the original and most famous source for that particular flavor element.

However, smoking grains isn’t the only way to get a smoky flavor into the whiskey. Another method is to age whiskey in casks that were, in their previous turn, used to age whiskeys made with those smoked grains. That is the route Pittsburgh’s Wigle Distillery chose.

Wigle’s American Rye Kilted Cask starts conventionally enough, mashed in their Allegheny style and aged in new oak for three years. Then they transfer it for a nearly two-year, extended finish in the namesake casks used in making Laphroaig Quarter Cask. At the end of this process, the whiskey is bottled at 92 proof.

The Whiskey
A pour of this interesting combination of flavors of Pennsylvania Rye and Islay malt takes on a burnt orange, middle amber appearance in the glass. The nose came to me as toasted dark rye bread smeared with molasses, and the smoky Laphroaig influence was absent there.

The Islay part surfaced on the palate, and a current of creosote runs right around the flavor. It’s like a core of caramel apple and peppery rye spice is wrapped up in a sheet of smoky essence, melding in a superbly balanced fashion.

Some people are definitely turned off by smoky Scotch. Indeed, during my time in Europe I found it difficult to persuade many a future bourbon drinker to give American Whiskeys a try precisely because their introduction had been to a smoky Scotch, which turned them off. Those folks won’t like this particular American Rye. However, for those of us (yes, including myself) who appreciate a well-made dose of smoke in a dram, the Wigle Kilted Cask is excellent.

The Price
This item goes for $85 a bottle.