WhistlePig, 12-Year-Old, Old World Rye Whiskey, USA (43%)

This is warmly spiced on the nose, with an attractive, soaring note of tinned fruit (pineapple, mandarin) that is beguilingly rare in whiskies made from rye. The palate gives delectably sweet oak, archetypal nutmeg and cinnamon rye notes. And there’s a continuing fruit character derived from the ex-wine cask ageing – particularly the Madeira and Sauternes casks used for this bottling. Excellent and impeccably balanced when served neat, it also makes for a rewardingly decadent Manhattan – but I’ll be having the less well-known but utterly delicious New Orleans classic, Vieux Carré.

Rob Whitehead, Spirits Buyer (Dec 2021)