Garrison Brothers Guadalupe, Dewar's Champion's Edition, Widow Jane Bourbon, J. Rieger Monogram & More [New Releases]

There were quite a few interesting releases in the whisky world this week, notably a new 12 year old Eagle Rare and Diageo’s resurrection of the Stitzel Weller name with a new 24 year old. The rest of the week is rounded out by two high-profile annual releases—the new Dewar’s Champion’s Edition 19 year old to mark the U.S. Open golf tournament, and Garrison Brothers’ annual release of the tawny port-finished Guadalupe, which always draws a crowd at the distillery in Texas. There's also a new edition of Rieger Monogram, this one with a bit of 15 year old sherry added as a tribute to blenders past, and a Widow Jane bourbon blend, which is a New York exclusive. Buzzard's Roost has its most loyal fans pick the barrels for its latest whiskey, and Four Branches commemorates our military with a 9 year old bourbon.

Dewar’s The Champion’s Edition 19 year old (2025 Release) Blended Scotch

ABV: 43%
SRP: $80
Availability: Annual limited edition; ReserveBar, specialist retailers, and Dewar’s website

Each year, just before the start of the U.S. Open golf tournament, Dewar’s releases its 19 year old Champion’s Edition to mark the occasion. This year’s expression is finished in calvados casks from Normandy, France—the apple brandy finish meant as a tribute to Pennsylvania’s heritage in apple brandy making. The duration of the finish is not disclosed. Dewar’s released its younger calvados cask finished expression, Dewar’s 8 year old French Smooth, as a permanent core release in 2022. Previous expressions of The Champion’s Edition were finished in rye casks in 2024, Napa Valley red wine casks in 2023, American oak and rye casks in 2022, and first-fill bourbon casks in 2021. The U.S. Open is being played this weekend and concludes Sunday.

Garrison Brothers Guadalupe Finished Bourbon (2025 Edition)

ABV: 53.5%
SRP: $150
Availability: 8,600 bottles; 1,000 at the distillery release party set for Saturday, July 12, and nationwide after

Each year since 2021, Hye, Texas-based Garrison Brothers has debuted a new edition of Guadalupe, a 6 year old bourbon that’s matured for 4 years in new American oak and then finished in tawny port barrels for 2 years. The whiskey gets its name from Texas’ Guadalupe River. The first 1,000 bottles of Guadalupe will be available at the distillery on July 12th during the Guadalupe release party; as part of the event, Garrison Brothers will also, for the first time, release 1,000 bottles of a cask-strength single barrel iteration of the whiskey, priced at $220. For every bottle of Guadalupe Cask Strength sold, Garrison Brothers will donate $50 to Gulf Trust, a conservation organization that supports coastal Texas.

Master distiller Donnis Todd’s inspiration for Guadalupe came in 2015, when the distillery sourced port casks from a local winery to finish its 4 year old bourbon. Enticed by the results he saw from that first experiment, which was dubbed Estacado, Todd began sourcing more port casks directly from Portugal, culminating in the inaugural 2021 release of Guadalupe.

Widow Jane Borough Blend of Straight Bourbons

ABV: 45.5%
SRP: $75
Availability: 2,400 bottles; NY exclusive

In making its newest whiskey, Widow Jane invited seven New York City bartenders to its Brooklyn distillery and had them taste through a range of bourbon blends with head distiller Sienna Jevremov. Together, they selected the blend that, in their collective mind, best represented the city: a marriage of five straight bourbon barrels in a nod to New York City’s five boroughs, each aged for a minimum of 10 years.

The new bottle pays homage to New York in obvious and subtle ways. Its label, designed in-house by art director Michele Clark, features elements of the city’s famous skyline, specifically the Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building, both of which were made with cement sourced from the Widow Jane mine in Rosendale, New York—the very place where Widow Jane sources its water. The bottle’s topper, meanwhile, has an inset metal token designed in the style of historic subway tokens used from 1986 to 1995.

Buzzard’s Roost Ambuzzadors Select Single Barrel Double Oak Rye

ABV: 57.5%
SRP: $85
Availability: Limited; Whiskey Row and online only

Since its Whiskey Row location opened two years ago, Buzzard’s Roost has been inviting its most ardent fans there—its “Ambuzzadors”—to do barrel picks a couple of times a year. Their selections are bottled, and while Ambuzzadors have priority on the bottles, eventually the remaining ones are made available to all. This year’s first Ambuzzadors selection is a 5 year old barrel strength rye that was double-oaked in lightly charred, custom-toasted barrels for 18 months. The new rye will be available to the public starting June 14th.

The Ambuzzadors Club is free to join, and aside from single barrel selections, also affords its members early alerts on new releases, happy hours, and tastings both in-person and virtual, and a loyalty card that allows for a complimentary distillery tour, among other perks.

Four Branches The Continental Bourbon

ABV: 51%
SRP: $119
Availability: Online and in select markets

This year, the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are celebrating their 250th anniversaries. To commemorate that milestone, veteran-owned Four Branches Bourbon is releasing a limited edition bourbon called The Continental—named after the U.S.’s first fighting force, which was founded in 1775. The bourbon has a mashbill of 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley, and it was aged for 9 years.

Four Branches was founded by four military veterans—Mike Trott (USAF), Alfred “Rick” Franco (USMC), Robert “RJ” Casey (U.S. Army), and Harold Underdown (U.S. Navy)—who have a passion for whiskey. The inaugural release, which came in July 2023, was made under the guidance of Bardstown Bourbon Co. master distiller Steve Nally. In April, Four Branches announced that industry veteran Gregg Snyder was joining the brand in an advisory position. Snyder joined the team after a years-long tenure as master distiller for Chicken Cock, a position that he left earlier this year.

J. Rieger Monogram blend (2025 Release)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $130
Availability: Limited, with a focus on Missouri and Kansas

Kansas City, Missouri-based J. Rieger has released a new batch of its annual Monogram whiskey. This year’s edition features a blend of solera-aged straight bourbon, straight rye, and light whiskey, all of which were aged at least 4 years and separately finished in 500-liter oloroso botas sourced from Jerez, Spain. The blend also contains a tiny bit of 15 year old oloroso sherry—accounting for around 2% of the overall volume—which the brand says is a throwback to the pre-Prohibition practices of some rectifiers.