Luke Cuenco 05.30.24
Campfires and whiskey go together just as well as peanut butter and jelly do. As nice as a camp fire is by itself – especially a smokeless one – a nice glass of easy-drinking whiskey can be the perfect way to end an evening. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Solo Stoves’ smokeless fire pits. Ever since trying out one for the first time a couple of years ago, I have been finding myself making excuses to have a fire – mostly because there’s a lot less smoke. Now I have even more excuses to make the fires and sit by them with the introduction of the new Solo Stove and WhistlePig collaboration resulting in the Limited Edition CampStock Kit. CampStock is a wheat whiskey created specifically with the input of Solo Stove with the intent to provide customers with the perfect campfire whiskey to sip on as the night rolls on. I was able to get my hands on one of these limited edition kits and today we’ll go through an evening with the CampStock kit to see what the smoke is all about.
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OHUB REVIEW: An Evening With WhistlePig CampStock and Solo Stove
CampStock whiskey is a unique Wheat Whiskey creation from WhistlePig that is supposed to have a “smokeless” flavor in contrast to other aged whiskeys. According to the marketing material, CampStock features notes of vanilla, caramel, and brown sugar which all suggest that this is supposed to be an easy-drinking whiskey that’s probably more on the sweet side. To break it down clearly, CampStock is 85% Wheat and 15% rye mash bill that sits at a comfortable 86 proof.
This Limited Edition whiskey is sold in several different kits depending on which fire pit you’d like to have paired with it. I received the special edition Mesa XL fire pit that has a nice burnt bronze/copper finish with etched detailing featuring the WhistlePig logo and some nice whiskey barrel features. While the regular Mesa is my favorite “grab and go” fire pit for quick camping trips, the Mesa XL is the perfect addition to our new patio and is perfect for two people once you get it going.
The Limited Edition CampStock kit also includes three more unique items that you won’t find anywhere else. First is two cleanly etched high ball glasses to enjoy your CampStock whiskey in – nothing special here but the custom etched glasses are of high quality and quite weighty even when empty. Also included is a unique silicone Solo Stove logo ice mold which works beautifully and is easy to fill without spilling from the individual spouts on the top of the molds. Finally, Solo Stove and Whistle Pig thought to include some nice whiskey barrel firewood – an experience that I found unexpectedly more enjoyable than I initially thought.
This whole kit you’re seeing here will set you back about $250 – not an inexpensive patio feature but when you break it down you’re not being charged any extra for the fire pit or any of the accessories. A bog-standard Mesa XL will set you back about $110, and the CampStock Wheat Whisky is sold at a few select retailers for about $75 a bottle. Retail pricing for the mini oak firewood which is similar but aromatically different than the whiskey barrel firewood is about $45 per box at retail so all in all, you’re getting a good value out of this kit even if it does seem steep upfront which is why I think this would make a great gift more than anything else.
The Experience
Mesa XL – A Flame For Two
Up here in the Pacific Northwest evenings can stay quite chilly all the way up to and including part of the summer which makes a handy fire pit a necessity if you want to enjoy some time outside in the evening. My girlfriend and I decided to test out the CampStock kit on a nice calm evening after a day of working in the yard and paired the fire pit, and whiskey with a nice serving of smoke bratwurst. Like any other Solo Stove firepit, the Mesa XL is easy to set and use and can be fed with regular old firewood, or wood pellets for an extended burn time and much less fire tending. We chose to use the included Whiskey Barrel firewood which turned out to be a neat aromatic surprise. While smokeless, the Solo Stove starts to produce a nice toasty whiskey aroma that fills the immediate area around the fire pit. Speaking of, the Mesa XL is the perfect size for a couple enjoying an evening together, but for larger groups, I’d recommend at least a Solo Stove Ranger or larger.
CampStock Wheat Whiskey – Sweet, and Easy Drinking
I started the whiskey experience hours before the Stolo Stove had even been set up. I wanted to have the special ice cubes ready for the evening so I broke out the special silicone molds, rinsed them off, and then filled them to the top, and set them in the freezer for a couple of hours. The mold is great but the shape I think makes it difficult to get all of the cubes out without warming the outer edges of the mold up first. There are 4 cubes to each mold and for my preferences, I drop about 1 cube in each glass per pour (about 2-to 3 fingers worth). CampStock is quite sweet – so sweet in fact that my girlfriend who is not a frequent whiskey drink even mentioned the sweetness of the whiskey. While it wouldn’t be my first choice at the campfire (I’m much more partial to strong bourbons) it’s still pleasant and easy to sip on through repeated glasses. I actually think it would be the perfect whiskey to bring to a campfire as it’s so easy to drink that virtually anyone could enjoy it even if they’re not a regular whiskey drinker.
Together the whiskey and the fire pit would be enough for a nice warm evening and for us, most of the evening was like this until later on when the temperature really started to drop. That’s when I decided to break out not just the Ranger, but the standard-sized mesa as well (for an entirely different project). The CampStock Mesa XL was great for keeping your hands and face warm, while the Ranger eventually provided a nice ambient heat underneath the patio and around the pit itself. We went through a solid half of the bottle over the course of the evening and the aroma of the whiskey barrel-fueled fire pits and the CampStock whiskey made for a memorable and quiet evening at home.
A Perfect Pit
I don’t really think there is a perfect all-in-one solo stove fire pit and I also don’t think that there is a perfect all-in-one whiskey – but you can do a lot with a little and I think that’s what Solo Stove and Whistle Pig have done here with this limited edition kit. The Mesa XL is a good compromise between a larger fire pit like the ranger, and WhistlePig’s CampStock helps compliment the smaller fire pit by not adding any additional smokiness to the mix but instead, a nice sweet and toasty aroma to go along with the evening ambiance. As said earlier I don’t think this would be one I would buy for myself but it would be an extremely nice gift for a close friend, loved one, or family member that you can both use that same evening to enjoy some quality time with one another.
