Wheat Whiskey
While some whiskeys can be “wheated,” where wheat is used as a flavoring grain (i.e. Maker’s Mark bourbon), wheat whiskey is actually a separate category, defined by whiskey made primarily from wheat. In the U.S., wheat whiskey follows the same requirements for production as bourbon, with the exception of the majority grain in the mashbill. Wheat whiskey must be at least 51% wheat, distilled to no more than 160 proof, enter the barrel at no more than 125 proof, aged in new, charred oak barrels, and bottled at no less than 80 proof. To be designated a straight wheat whiskey in the U.S., it must be aged at least two years. Wheat whiskey is only rarely produced by larger U.S. distillers, but smaller craft producers are experimenting more and more with the style. In Scotland, wheat whiskey is sometimes used in blended Scotch. It is also a common whiskey style in Germany.
Top Wheat Whiskey Posts:
Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey
Masterson’s Straight Barley 10 Years Old and Straight Wheat Whiskey 12 Years Old
Parker’s Heritage Collection Original Batch Wheat Whiskey 13 Years Old (2014)
In 2019, one of our favorite vodka producers, Infuse Spirits, branched into whiskey. The results were, well, not the best, and eventually the line was scrapped and rebranded, with no mention of Infuse on the label at all. Recently, a revamped Broken Barrel re-emerged on the scene and, given our rather tough assessment of its…
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Ever since Greg Metze joined Old Elk as master distiller at their launch, the NDP (non-distiller producer) has steadily released different twists on traditional whiskey formulations through the years, though still with undisclosed sourced distillate. Drinkhacker has stayed close with their latest releases, beginning with their first blended offering 2017 and checking back in with their…
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New Liberty Distillery in Philadelphia, which launched in 2014, bottles a variety of spirits under numerous brand names, but arguably it is best known for the Kinsey brand of whiskey, which comprises bourbon, rye, and a few more limited-release oddities, like the whiskeys we’re tucking into today. Let’s give them a try. Bottles are individually numbered.…
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The 15th round of Parker’s Heritage Collection is here, and for the second time it’s a wheat whiskey, which the series first did in 2014 as a 13 year old. This 2021 release is 11 years old, but it also draws on a trick used for the last two years of the Heritage Collection: heavy…
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New Hampshire’s Tamworth Distilling specializes in uncommon oddities. We previously covered its Graverobber Rye, flavored with maple syrup drawn from trees grown adjacent to a graveyard. We missed out, however, on its corpse flower brandy as well as its whiskey flavored with beaver musk. A recent arrival at Drinkhacker HQ however was Tamworth’s Deerslayer (aka…
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Longmont, Colorado is home to Dry Land Distillers, a true grain-to-glass craft operation “influenced and inspired by Colorado’s landscapes.” “With a focus on single grain 100% wheat whiskeys, prickly pear cactus spirits, native Colorado gin and pure cane sugar rum, Dry Land spirits represent the authentic flavors of the American West,” per the company. Today…
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Memphis-based Old Dominick Distillery makes gin, vodka, and other goodies, but it’s arguably best known as the producer of Huling Station, a line of whiskeys that began with bourbon and expanded to wheat whiskey and a blended whiskey earlier this year. Old Dominick sources all of these whiskeys from MGP, but they’re all made in…
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Last year, Old Elk — the Colorado-based operation run by former MGP master distiller Greg Metze — launched a pair of new whiskey expressions that were sold exclusively in Old Elk’s tasting room. This year, distribution of those releases has expanded nationally, and there’s a new whiskey in the mix, too: a wheated bourbon. (Old…
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We tasted the clear spirits of Top of the Hill Distillery (TOPO), including their white whiskey, way back in 2013. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based distillery has been hard at work tweaking, adding new products, and barrel-aging their whiskey since then, so we thought we would check in on their latest offerings. TOPO is one…
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It’s been several years since we last checked in with Washington-based Dry Fly Distilling, but we’re finally back with a look at a whiskey from its new Cask & Release Series, which involves partnerships with breweries to finish its whiskey in shared barrels. First up is this offering, a wheat whiskey finished in barrels from…
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