WhistlePig Distillery

In a converted 150-year-old dairy barn on 500 acres of Vermont farmland, WhistlePig has spent nearly two decades turning a former non-distiller bottling operation into one of the most decorated rye whiskey producers in the country. What began in 2007 as a bet on Canadian-sourced 10-year rye is now a working grain-to-glass distillery, growing its own rye, milling and fermenting on site, and aging in barrels cut from its own Vermont oak.

History & Heritage

WhistlePig traces its origin to 2007, when a small group of partners, including co-founder Wilco Faessen, purchased a run-down dairy farm in Shoreham, Vermont, with the goal of building a serious American rye whiskey brand. The company launched publicly in 2010 as a non-distiller producer, bottling a stock of 10-year-old Canadian rye whiskey sourced from the Alberta Premium distillery, a way to bring an aged, credible product to market while the Vermont operation was built out.

That build-out arrived on October 14, 2015, when WhistlePig opened its own distillery inside a converted 100-year-old barn in Shoreham, installing its first 750-gallon hybrid copper pot still, named Mortimer, and adding a second still in 2019. The distillery's ownership has changed hands significantly since founding. The farm's original leadership exited over 2017 to 2019, and in late 2020 the luxury spirits house Moet Hennessy, owner of Ardbeg and Glenmorangie, acquired a minority stake in the company. WhistlePig is owned, as of July 2026, by a structure that includes that Moet Hennessy minority stake alongside its other partners. Leadership has also shifted recently at the executive level: Charles Gibb served as CEO before stepping down in January 2026, with Alex Roberts taking over as CEO in 2026. That same year, the company sold its Moriah, New York spirits warehousing facility to Zags 26 LLC for more than 17 million dollars, a sign of the brand continuing to restructure its physical footprint even as production in Vermont continues.

The Whiskey

WhistlePig built its reputation on high-rye mash bills, with its flagship Whistle Pig 10 Yr Rye typically made from 97 to 100 percent rye and bottled at 100 proof. Today the distillery operates what it calls a "Triple Terroir" approach: rye grown on roughly 300 of its 500 Shoreham acres, water drawn from the property, and barrels cut from Vermont oak harvested on and around the farm. WhistlePig's team points to Vermont's cold climate as a meaningful factor in that oak, arguing that the slower growth produces trees with more growth rings and, in turn, more depth and complexity in the finished whiskey.

Not everything in the current range is fully distilled on site. A portion of WhistlePig's whiskey is still sourced from outside partners, including MGP of Indiana and the Alberta Premium distillery in Canada, with the Shoreham team handling barrel-aging and finishing on those stocks. The Farmstock Rye line, first released in 2017, was the company's first product built primarily from whiskey distilled on the farm itself. The range spans from cocktail-forward expressions like PiggyBack Rye, a 6-year, 100 percent rye whiskey bottled at 96.56 proof, and PiggyBack Bourbon, a 6-year high-corn bourbon at 100 proof, up through prestige finishes such as WhistlePig Old World Cask Finish 12 Year Rye Whiskey, aged 12 years and finished across Madeira, Sauternes, and Port casks, and the golden pig-shaped WhistlePig Piggybank Limited Edition 10 Year Old Straight Rye Whiskey, bottled at 110 proof. WhistlePig Declaration Wheat Whiskey, built on a high wheat mash bill and double American oak aged with a wave stave finish, rounds out the distillery's willingness to work outside straight rye.

Why It Matters

WhistlePig's Whistle Pig 10 Yr Rye was named the world's best rye whiskey at the 2025 Las Vegas Global Spirits Awards and has separately carried a 96-point score from Wine Enthusiast and a "Best Rye Whiskey" citation from Whisky Advocate. The Wall Street Journal has named the 10-year straight rye one of the five best whiskies in the world, and the brand as a whole took "Best Whiskey in the World" honors from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2017. The Old World Rye has earned Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition twice, in 2015 and again in 2021, and the PiggyBack Rye took Double Gold at the same competition in 2020. That density of awards across both entry-level and prestige expressions is part of why WhistlePig sits among the most recognized names in American rye, alongside its distinctive move to grow, distill, and finish whiskey on its own Vermont farm rather than relying solely on sourced stock.

Visiting the Distillery

The working distillery in Shoreham, Vermont is not open to the general public and offers only invitation-only visits for industry guests. Those who appreciate good whiskey can still experience the brand in person at three public tasting locations: the WhistlePig Whiskey Parlour in Quechee, Vermont, the WhistlePig Tasting Shack and Pavilion at Stowe Mountain Resort in Spruce Peak Village, Vermont, and The Vault by WhistlePig in Louisville, Kentucky, which offers guided tastings and a retail shop.