Happy Dry January to all who celebrate.
And happy Dank January to all who, like us, just learned about this new product from WhistlePig. It's the Dank & Dry Old Fashioned Cocktail, and it's here to make your 2024 a little more fun, even if you're currently abstaining from alcohol.
The bottled cocktail is made with 100% rye "non-whiskey," barrel-aged maple syrup and cannabis terpenes. In this case, the non-whiskey is WhistlePig Piggyback rye that was aged for six years before being "undistilled" to remove the alcohol, rendering a spirit with less than 0.5% ABV.
The cannabis terpenes are cultivated from cannabis grown in whiskey barrels, and isolated by Satori Premium Cannabis in Vermont. They're not psychoactive and the product contains zero THC, so you can reasonably partake and then go about your day without sinking into your couch and hitting the bottom of a Cheetos bag.
"Terpenes offer a new frontier for flavor that we couldn’t resist experimenting with,” said Meghan Ireland, WhistlePig Head Blender. “The results are fire, with terpenes adding aromas and mouthfeel that are often missing from non-alc innovation."
We gave it a taste, following the brand's suggestion of pouring the cocktail over ice and garnishing with an orange peel. The aromas are reminiscent of a citrusy IPA, and the flavors are about as expected. It's an orange-accented Old Fashioned, sweetened with maple and featuring an undercurrent of green, herbal dankness from the terpenes. This isn't a super whiskey-forward cocktail, and it's not a direct replacement for the typical Old Fashioned. But it's flavorful and easygoing, and it's a significant upgrade over many of the non-alcoholic cocktails on the market right now.
WhistlePig’s Dank & Dry Old Fashioned Cocktail is available as both a "One Hitter" (a single 750 mL bottle) or as part of the "Hot Box Bundle," which also features a pig-shaped cocktail smoker and "dime baggie" of cocktail smoking chips, so you can add a little more smoke to your drink. Each bottle is presented in a Reefer Madness-inspired gift box emblazoned with WhistlePig’s original logo (since retired), with the friendly pig mascot wielding a cigarette. You've got to appreciate their dedication to the theme.
Since it's likely that people are drinking less at bars this month — Dry January and all — 100% of proceeds from the Dank & Dry Old Fashioned will go to Turning Tables, a New Orleans-based non-profit that benefits the bartending community.
So, do your part and sip-sip-pass.
