New American Whiskey Releases: Barrell, Baker's, Rabbit Hole, Blue Note, & More

Barrell is back with two releases in its ultra-aged Grey Label series, a bourbon and a rye, the latter being a blend of two whiskies with 100% rye mashbills from an undisclosed Canadian distiller (most likely Alberta Distillers, which is known for its high rye mashbills.) That Canadian entry is the only non-U.S. whiskey on today’s list, which also includes a new 7 year old, high-rye expression from Baker’s—a welcome new addition for Baker's fans, who always want more from this somewhat sparsely available label. Louisville distiller Rabbit Hole, meanwhile, has a limited edition 8 year old rye from its Boxergrail label.

Elsewhere, Blue Note is offering a new honey barrel expression, while Log Still Distillery has a new rye, and Lost Lantern is out with a new collection of 10 year old single cask whiskeys. Although Halloween and Thanksgiving still await, some whiskey makers are already unveiling their holiday whiskeys. Old Potrero has very attractively packaged Christmas bottle, while Woodford Reserve’s 2024 Holiday Bourbon Bottle is a 1-liter size priced at $53. As part of Woodford's promotional effort, it has partnered with Williams Sonoma on an 8-day Advent Calendar ($145), which includes 8 miniature mixers and bitters, stylishly packaged in the usual Williams Sonoma fashion.

Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Bourbon (Release No. 6)

ABV: 55.06%
SRP: $159
Availability: Limited; available in retailers and online

Barrell Craft Spirits (BCS) has two new whisky announcements this week, both of which are from its Gray Label series of ultra-aged bottlings. The first is a new iteration of Gray Label bourbon, the 6th in the series. It’s a blend of 13–19 year old bourbons from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wyoming. The first four all bore a 15 year old age statement, but Release 5 has dropped the age statement entirely. The current whiskey is also noteworthy because this is the first time BCS has included Wyoming juice in a Gray Label bourbon blend.

Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Seagrass Canadian

ABV: 64.15%
SRP: $199
Availability: Limited; arriving later this month, with online availability to follow in December

The second release is a new batch of Gray Label Seagrass, which sports an impressive 19 year old age statement. It comprises two 100% Canadian ryes, which were finished in a mix of apricot brandy, malmsey madeira, and Martinique rhum barrels. The previous batch, which was a 16 year old Canadian whisky, scored 88 points with our tasting panel.

Baker’s 7 year old Single Barrel High-Rye Bourbon

ABV: 53.5%
SRP: $75
Availability: Limited; nationwide

James B. Beam Distilling Co. has unveiled a new, 7 year old high-rye single barrel bourbon to its Baker’s lineup, complementing its 7 old single barrel bourbon expression. The new arrival looks very similar to the original Baker’s 7 year old and has the same and proof point, but it has also twice as much rye content—26% of the mashbill.

Baker’s gets its name from Edward “Baker” Beam, the younger, less famous cousin of Jim Beam’s legendary master distiller Booker Noe. The Booker’s and Baker’s brands have a dynamic that's similar to the two cousins in terms of their fame. The idea for Booker's originally was sparked in 1987, when Booker Noe was asked to come up with a special bourbon as a private release Christmas gift for Jim Beam trade customers, which included a note from Booker himself. He made his selections of the best barrels in the warehouse, and his creation proved so popular with its recipients that Beam eventually decided to release it permanently as Booker’s, with Booker Noe as its spokesperson. Baker’s whiskey was born of the same idea, as Baker Beam was asked to make his own special barrel selections. After Baker retired, Booker continued to make the brand in his honor. Two other whiskeys—Knob Creek and Basil Hayden—eventually joined to create a foursome known as the Small Batch Collection.

But Baker’s has long been in the shadow of Booker’s, which receives far greater priority, as does Knob Creek. The Baker’s offerings have been limited to a single barrel format, and for a time dwindled to almost nothing: Baker’s highly prized 13 year old was released in 2019, but didn’t reappear until last year. Despite its quiet existence, Baker’s is beloved among its loyal fans, and none of its releases have ever scored below 92 points with Whisky Advocate’s tasting panel.

Rabbit Hole Founders Collection Boxergrail 8 Year Old Rye

SRP: $300
ABV: 51.9%
Availability: Limited

Rabbit Hole Distillery in Louisville has launched a new expression of its Boxergrail label, a limited edition, cask-strength 8-year-old rye This release follows a 6-year-old version that was launched in 2020. This one was aged in wood-fired, toasted, and charred new American oak barrels and bottled at cask strength. Its mash bill is 95% rye and 5% malted barley.

The release is part of The Founder’s Collection, series of cask strength, biannual releases that serves as a platform for founder Kaveh Zamanian and the Rabbit Hole team to showcase the distillery’s creativity in whiskey making. This one is available nationwide, though it totals just 1,200 bottles.

Boxergrail’s name is inspired by Louisville’s boxing culture and its legacy of producing championship prizefighters, most notably Muhamad Ali, who first won the heavyweight title in 1964. But Louisville has actually produced four heavyweight champions in total, the most that any city in the world. The other three are Marvin Hart (1905), Jimmy Ellis (1968), and Greg Page (1981).

Blue Note Honey Bourbon Cask

ABV: 57.85%
SRP: $65
Availability: Limited

For its latest Blue Note limited release, parent company B. R. Distilling Co. first turned to American oak barrels, which were filled with bourbon distilled at Green River Distilling from a mash of 70% corn, 21% corn, and 9% malted barley. Those barrels were dumped after 3 years, and soon thereafter refilled with honey. Once the honey reached barrel maturation, it was dumped; the barrels were then refilled with bourbon before being bottled.

The new whiskey is available online at Blue Note’s website, as well as at Seelbach’s, and in stores in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. Just 1,800 bottles are on offer. While Blue Note uses partner distillers (in the form of Bardstown Bourbon and Green River), it does have production facilities in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, where it finishes and bottles its whiskeys. A tasting room is also onsite.

Log Still Distillery Monk’s Road Rye

ABV: 50%
SRP: $47
Availability: Limited, available in KY, IN, OH, TN, MS, GA, AL, SC FL, TX by the end of October

Log Still’s newest grain-to-glass whiskey is made from Kentucky rye grown on the distillery’s own farmland in New Haven., Kentucky. It was distilled by Wally Dant, who runs the distillery alongside his cousin Charles Dant.

The Dant family has a long history in Kentucky whiskey that stretches back to the 1830s. Log Still’s own name comes from some family lore—at 16, original Dant distiller Joseph W. Dant took a large log from a poplar tree and fashioned it into a still (a somewhat common practice among distillers too poor to afford copper stills). That log still was used at his distillery, Dant’s Station.

Log Still Distillery opened in 2021, reviving the Dant legacy in the bourbon world. The new distillery itself has yet to be truly discovered by a wider audience, but it should be. Located in Gethsemane, Kentucky (just outside Bardstown), it’s set on a 350 acre campus and boasts numerous amenities, including a 2,300 seat concert arena, 5 bed and breakfast lodgings, a 12 acre lake for fishing, and a wedding events venue. It also has a functioning train depot,wooded walking trails, and a farm-to-table restaurant.

Lost Lantern 10 Year Old Single Cask Collection

Vermont based independent bottler Lost Lantern is out with a new collection, and this latest tour de force comprises 4 single cask, 10 year old whiskeys—a bourbon, two ryes, and an American single malt (the last actually being aged 9.99 years). These are the oldest whiskeys Lost Lantern has ever released, and for some of the whiskeys the oldest-ever whiskeys from the distilleries themselves. The bottles will be available starting November 7 from Lost Lantern’s website and Seelbach’s, as well as retailers in California, Massachusetts, and the Lost Lantern tasting room in Vergennes, Vermont. Here are the whiskeys:

Westland Peated American Single Malt 9.99 Years Old Single Cask 54.9% , $150, 185 bottles. Made from barley that was heavily peated with Scottish peat and aged entirely in new oak, this whiskey from Seattle’s Westland was bottled a day before its 10th birthday—it’s the oldest whiskey Westland has ever released, and if and when a 10 year single malt from them does debut, it’ll be coming straight from the distillery itself.

Tom’s Foolery Ohio Straight Bourbon 10 Years Old Single Cask 59.7%, $150, 82 bottles. This 10 year old straight bourbon from Tom’s Foolery in Chagrin Falls, Ohio was made from a mashbill of 63% corn (sourced from their family farm), 10% winter rye, and 27% malted barley.

Spirit Works California Straight Rye 10 Years Old Single Cask 69.6%, $150, 120 bottles. Sonoma-based Spirits Works made this release from 70% rye, 10% malted rye, and 20% malted barley aged for 10 years in new oak, putting it among the oldest releases the distillery has ever had.

New York Distilling Co. Straight Rye 10 Years Old Single Cask 66.95%, $150, 125 bottles. This rye from Brooklyn-based New York Distilling Co. is made from a mashbill of 72% rye, 16% corn, and 12% malted barley. It’s one of the oldest whiskeys ever to come from New York Distilling.

Laws Whiskey House Black and Gold Select Straight Bourbon

ABV: 55%
Price: $130
Availability: Online availability to ship on November 4th here, and select Colorado retailers

Denver-based Laws Whiskey House has unveiled a new barrel strength, limited-edition expression as a part of an ongoing partnership with the University of Colorado’s Athletics department. The college’s Athletic director Rick George and the Laws team selected five barrels to create this bourbon blend, which is the second release in the collaboration, following Ralphie’s Reserve released earlier this summer. This release has an identical heirloom grain mashbill to the previous one: 60% corn, 20% wheat, 10% rye, 10% malted barley. but Black and Gold benefits from a longer maturation window of 4-9 years compared to 3-plus for Ralphie’s Reserve, and has a heftier price tag; Ralphie’s Reserve was priced at $45.

Known for its terroir-forward whiskeys, Laws sources only heirloom and heritage grains from two Colorado Family farms: wheat, rye, and barley from The Cody Family Farm in San Luis Valley and corn from Ohnmacht’s Family Farm on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. The distillery’s commitment to whiskey making extends from the family farm community to the university community, as a portion of the proceeds go to the 5430 Alliance, benefiting 11 collegiate sports athletes at the University of Colorado.

Old Potrero Christmas Spirit 12 year old American Whiskey

ABV: 50%
SRP: $140/700 ml
Availability: Limited; hotalingandco.com

Craft brewing pioneer Fritz Maytag bought San Francisco’s iconic Anchor Brewing in 1965, saving it from bankruptcy. In 1993 Maytag founded Anchor Distilling to reintroduce pot-distilled 100% rye whiskey to the U.S. and released Old Potrero three years later. In 2017, the brewing and distilling sides split, and the following year the distilling arm was renamed Hotaling & Co., distiller of Old Potrero and importer of brands including Arran, Old Pultney, Kavalan, Nikka, and more. Anchor Brewing closed in 2023, but earlier this year it was purchased by the founder and CEO of Chobani yogurt.

For 48 straight years until 2022, Anchor Brewing released its annual Christmas Ale, a highly anticipated limited release of a “winter warmer” (a generally higher ABV beer to keep you warm in the winter months). For Old Potrero Christmas Spirit 12 year old, Anchor’s 2011 Christmas Ale was double distilled in copper pot stills and then aged for 12 years in Old Potrero straight rye barrels.

Pre-orders are being accepted now, with a two-bottle limit on Hotaling & Co.’s website for shipping beginning November 15^th.

Frank August Case Study No. 4: 4x Oaked Blend

ABV: 47.5%
SRP: $130
Availability: Limited

The 4th edition of the Frank August Case Study collection, which showcases this whiskey’s more experimental releases. It’s a polystyle blend of bourbons and ryes sourced from an undisclosed Kentucky distillery. Prior to blending, the whiskeys were watered down and moved into oak barrels for a 12–14 month finish. The idea was to create a more pronounced profile by doing the proofing earlier in the production process.

The Case Study series often puts cask finishing on display, with the inaugural release tapping mizunara oak, and No. 2 finished in vintage-dated PX sherry casks. Then came a departure with Case Study: 03 Winter Cover Rye, which was the first rye release of the brand. That one took inspiration from rye grain’s history as a winter cover crop by exclusively blending rye whiskeys that were distilled during the winter months.