Who knew that a high-end whiskey crafted in Addison County was the drink of choice for DEA agents? It happened on last Sunday’s episode of AMC’s “Breaking Bad.”
Alerted by this screenshot tweeted by Tom Fratamico of Stowe (@ElGuaposGhost), one obsessive local “Breaking Bad” fan (yours truly) decided to get to the bottom of WhistlePig’s cameo on the kitchen-sink-noir drama.
Mild spoilers for the episode “Madrigal” (5.2) follow:
George Merkert, Asst. Special Agent in Charge at the Albuquerque office of the DEA, pours WhistlePig for Agents Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez as they discuss his taking the fall for the DEA’s failure to bring down meth kingpin Gus Fring. They sip the rye (which lists at $79.99 a bottle) from coffee mugs as Merkert reminisces about socializing with Fring, who seemed like such a nice, mild-mannered fellow. The camera pushes significantly in on Hank.
But first, it offers a distinct shot of the WhistlePig label (pictured).
WhistlePig owner Raj Peter Bhakta set up his distillery on a Shoreham farm following stints in politics and show business (he was on “The Apprentice”). Read more of his colorful story here. Bhakta’s whiskey, which went on sale in 2010, has garnered numerous accolades from connoisseurs.
Is “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan among them? (See update below.) Sivan Cotel, WhistlePig’s head of operations and finance, says, “The production crew are fans of the product, and they chose to feature it in the show.”
While “Breaking Bad” has had its share of paid product placements — such as a certain ill-fated Dodge Charger — other brand names have popped up simply because they served the story. Gilligan has confirmed that Denny’s, for instance, didn’t pony up to have its restaurants depicted on “BB” as a place for meth cooks to recover from scenes of cold-blooded carnage over a wholesome breakfast.
The WhistlePig appearance seems to be of that ilk, but without any seedy associations. “We got a ton of interest yesterday on the back of the episode,” says Cotel, noting phone calls and increased web traffic.
So, it appears the pricey Vermont rye was just there to set the scene. The episode did have a porcine theme going: In another scene, Mike the Cleaner outwits a would-be assassin using his granddaughter’s toy pig.
Will Walter White ever flaunt his meth earnings by breaking out a bottle of WhistlePig? Will Junior pour it on his Raisin Bran Crunch? Will it be used as a ricin delivery method? Stay tuned.
UPDATE
On the “Breaking Bad” Insider Podcast, streamable here and free on iTunes, Gilligan describes WhistlePig as “my favorite whiskey” and confirms that this wasn’t a product placement. He proceeds to joke about drinking several bottles a day, and then director Michelle MacLaren discusses the logistics of shooting a brand name so it doesn’t look like an ad (apparently it’s all in the angle and hand position). Check it out at the 30-minute mark.
So perhaps I’m not off base in hoping for future WhistlePig appearances.
Screenshot courtesy of @ElGuaposGhost.
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This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2012.
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Frustrating that the media continues to buy in to the distiller’s half-truths that WhistlePig is a “Vermont rye.” It is Canadian rye, distilled and aged in Canada under WhistlePig’s Master Distiller’s direction. I find it extremely disingenuous that it’s being marketed as a Vermont product. Once they have their Vermont-based operation up and running, I have no problem with it, but for now, we should all stop putting lipstick on that pig.
Ben, that info is in the Seven Days story I linked to, along with Bhakta’s explanation of why he’s not yet distilling in Vermont. (It’s a 2010 piece, so admittedly it may need updating.) The whiskey is bottled in Vermont, where the company is located. Whether that gives it the right to be considered a “Vermont product,” I can’t say, but that is not just a trendy label slapped on it by some vast multinational corporation.
E.g., the “Cajun Kickass” sauce manufactured by Germany’s Madrigal Electromotive.
Margot, fair enough, but you still describe the rye as “crafted in Addison County” in your opening paragraph when it is decidedly not. Perhaps a better wording would be “Canadian-distilled and bottled in Addison County.” I’m really not trying to split hairs here – you’re just not describing the product accurately.
You have a point. This is why I’m not a food writer. But before I correct it, I’d like to confirm that, in fact, they are not yet distilling the whiskey there. Lauren’s story from ’10 says they were then building the Shoreham distillery, which led me to think they might have made the planned switch to Vermont production. Do you know for a fact that is not the case? (I’m going to check with a few sources.)
And just by the bye, a whistle-pig is not a pig, as the label suggests. A whistle-pig is a groundhog.
Even if they’ve made the switch, it’s going to be ten more years before anything distilled in VT (or even distilled elsewhere under Whistle Pig’s direction) is going to be bottled. Until then, it’s just someone else’s product with a nice label.