WhistlePig is not shy about participating in brand collaborations, as the distillery has made very clear over the past few years with whiskeys released in conjunction with Pit Viper, Alfa Romeo, and Traeger. The latest partnership is with Solo Stove, the company that makes those steel backyard firepits that have soared in popularity over the past few years, and the whiskey is a blend of wheat and rye that was aged in barrels charred by one of these stoves.
CampStock Wheat Whiskey is a blend of wheat whiskey (85 percent) and straight rye (15 percent). The rye is a grain-to-glass whiskey that was made at the Vermont distillery instead of being sourced from Canada or MGP like other WhistlePig ryes, but it’s unclear where the wheat whiskey was distilled and aged. The final blend was finished in barrels that were toasted and charred using a Solo Stove, according to the brand, to achieve a “smokeless toast”—judging by a promotional video, it looks like they actually slipped the barrels over the stoves to achieve this. “We’ve experimented with wheat whiskey as part of our FarmStock series and other limited editions,” said blender Meghan Ireland in a statement. “CampStock takes the soft and smooth wheat profile to a new level with 85 percent wheat whiskey, and an innovative Solo Stove Bonfire toasted barrel finish. No cooperage had ever used a Solo Stove on their barrel toasting platform, but Independent Stave Company was up for it, and the result was incredible.”
This is a nice whiskey, one that is definitely on the lighter side with a gentle sweetness to the palate. It’s clearly a wheat whiskey, with a pronounced honey character that starts on the nose followed by flavors like brown sugar, marshmallow, milk chocolate, cinnamon-apple, and a touch of peppery spice on the finish from the inclusion of the rye grain. You can find the whiskey for sale now at the WhistlePig website for $75, as well as at liquor stores around the country. And if you really want to get into the early summer spirit and enjoy a nip of whiskey around an actual campfire, a limited-edition set is available to purchase from Solo starting at $250 that includes a bottle of CampStock, the Solo Stove Mesa XL mini stove, whiskey barrel firewood made from the barrels used to age the whiskey, an ice mold, and a couple of tumblers.
