Redbreast's Latest American Oak Release, Frey Ranch Wheat Whiskey, New 15 Stars & More

Amid the usual fanfare of new product announcements, this week brought word of the retirement of John MacDonald, longtime manager at Balblair Distillery in the Northern Highlands. One of the great citizens of the scotch whisky world, Macdonald has overseen all aspects of whisky making at Balblair, including its recent transition from vintage-dated releases to age statement whiskies. Situated on a hillside overlooking the Dornoch Firth, Balblair is arguably Scotland’s most picturesque distillery and certainly one of its more underrated ones. It’s just up the road from its famous neighbor Glenmorangie, and while it has never achieved the fame of Glenmorangie or its other Northern Highlands neighbor, Dalmore, its whiskies are certainly on equal footing.

As for the new whisky introductions, it’s been a busy week. Things got started with the rollout of the latest Lagavulin Offerman Edition, followed by the inaugural release from Islay distillery Ardnahoe, whose production began in 2018. Here we cover Redbreast’s latest American oak finished expression, as well as a new release from Kentucky independent bottler 15 Stars, whose whiskeys continue to score well. California winemaker Jackson Family Wines has entered the American whiskey fray with Stonestreet, a Kentucky bourbon. We haven’t tasted it yet, so while it might be a bit early to tout Stonestreet, consider that the Jackson family has long ties to Kentucky, a track record of excellence, and the resources to make Stonestreet a player.

Redbreast Missouri Oak Edition Irish Single Pot Still

ABV: 50.5%
SRP: $199
Availability: U.S. Exclusive; nationwide

Redbreast has a new whiskey finished in American oak, following the release of its Redbreast Kentucky Oak Edition in 2022. For this new expression, master blender Dave McCabe took the classic Redbreast recipe of bourbon and sherry aged single pot still whiskey and finished for 12 months in Missouri oak coopered at Kelvin Cooperage using trees felled in the Ozark forest. Like its predecessor from Kentucky, it’s bottled at a punchy 101 proof.

Redbreast Kentucky Oak was highly rated and well received, winning the No.2 spot on our Top 20 whiskies list in 2022. Irish Distillers experimented with virgin oak finishing and maturation many years ago and showcased it on Irish whiskeys such as Jameson Gold Reserve, Midleton Dair Ghaelach, and various Method and Madness whiskeys.

For all its virgin oak projects, Redbreast has always gone to great lengths to ensure that the trees come from sustainable sources and support local conservation projects. The Missouri Oak Edition is supporting a research study into the Cerulean Warbler’s use of oak forests during the breeding season to improve sustainable forestry management practices to halt the population decline of this migratory species.

Frey Ranch Single Grain Series Barrel Strength Single Barrel 100% Wheat Whiskey

ABV: 58.4%–67.2%
SRP: $114
Availability: Limited; online-exclusive freyranch.com

Farm distillery Frey Ranch is adding a new single barrel wheat whiskey to its Single Grain series. It’s distilled entirely from soft white winter wheat grown and milled on the Frey Ranch farm. Due to the fact that it’s both a cask strength and a single barrel whiskey, individual bottles will have some degree of variance, but each has a minimum 58.4% ABV and ranges in age from 6 years and 2 months to 7 years and 8 months.

All Frey Ranch expressions showcase the distillery’s grain-to-glass approach to making whiskey, but its Single Grain series is a particular highlight. All in this series are distilled from a single grain and aged for at least 6 years. Previous entries include an oat whiskey and another wheat whiskey—using the same grains as the new one but bottled at at 50%. This newest wheat whiskey marks the first time the series has featured a cask strength bottling.

Stonestreet Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 47%
SRP: $60
Availability: CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, KY, NV, NY, TN, and TX

California’s renowned winemaker Jackson Family Wines, which has extensive vineyards in California and elsewhere around the world, has entered the whiskey game. Its inaugural release, Stonestreet Kentucky Straight Bourbon Founder's Edition, is a wheated bourbon made in small batches that were distilled at Green River Distillery, with only 131 barrels produced. The whiskey was aged for at least 5 years. Additional small batch releases are expected to follow later this year or next including a wine barrel-finished high-rye bourbon.

The Stonestreet Bourbon venture is being run by Christopher Stonestreet Jackson—he’s the son of the late Jess Stonestreet Jackson, founder of Jackson Family Wines, and Jess's widow Barbara Banke, who serves as chairman. Jess Jackson, who passed away in 2011, had long ties to Kentucky thanks to his involvement in horse racing and breeding in the Bluegrass State. The whiskey is in fact named for Stonestreet Farms, which Jackson founded just outside Lexington, Kentucky back in 2005. Like most everything else Jess Jackson touched, the farm became a major success story that continues today. Stonestreet Farms has produced thoroughbreds that have won numerous big races, in addition to being honored with three American Horse of the Year awards—for Curlin (2007, 2008) and Rachel Alexandra (2009).

15 Stars Vino de Naranja Finished Bourbon

ABV: 51.4%
SRP: $139
Availability: 15stars.com

15 Stars founders and blenders Rick and Ricky Johnson created this blend of two 8 year old sourced bourbons that was finished for 10 months in a single vino de naranja (white wine macerated with orange peels) cask. The citrus flavors imbued by the finishing cask make this ideal for summer sipping. The 316 bottles produced from this single cask are available beginning today through June 16^th.

While the use of vino de naranja casks for finishing is not unheard of, few releases feature it. Heaven’s Door Bootleg Series III and Penelope Valencia bourbons were finished in this type of wine cask. Compass Box Canvas scotch blended malt was matured in casks seasoned with vino de naranja.

Milam & Greene Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%
SRP: $65
Availability: Nationwide

Bottled in bond whiskey has a new entrant from Milam & Greene. This bourbon is made using Milam & Greene’s signature mashbill—70% corn, 22% malted rye, and 8% malted barley. The whiskey was distilled in Bardstown, Kentucky at the company’s (undisclosed) collaborative partner in the fall of 2019; it then went into char level 4 oak barrels and was aged for four years in a bonded warehouse. A total of 72 barrels were selected for this release and brought to the brand’s home of Blanco, Texas for batching and bottling.

Milam & Greene has kept busy with a slew of limited releases, and this new limited edition bottled in bond bourbon is a permanent member of the portfolio. Master blender Heather Greene works in parthership with master distiller Marlene Holmes, who distills in Blanco, Texas on copper pot stills. In Kentucky, Milam & Greene’s whiskey is contract distilled in column stills. Its whiskeys are aged in four different states: Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana.

Templeton Midnight Rye

ABV: 45%
SRP: $40
Availability: Nationwide

Templeton is adding to its rye stable with the introduction of Midnight Rye, a sourced whiskey made from a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley that was aged at the distillery in Templeton, Iowa. The name was inspired by the unusual blend of whiskey with a small amount of port wine, which imbued the final product with a deep, dark amber color.

Templeton sources most of its whiskey from MGP, but is gradually changing as more of its own-make comes of age. The brand opened its distillery back in 2018, and while it has built a name in rye whiskey, its first whiskey that used own-make was a bourbon, which debuted last month. The 20 acre distillery campus in Templeton, Iowa is about 80 miles west of Des Moines, and the distillery has an annual production capacity of 3 million bottles.

Nelson Brothers Honey Cask Finished Bourbon

ABV: 56.2%
SRP: $199
Availability: Limited; available at the distillery and select retailers in Nashville, starting May 24th.

Nashville-based Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery is slated to release a new batch of its fan-favorite Honey Cask bourbon in just a few weeks. It starts as Nelson Brothers Reserve Blend, but it spends 3–15 months in wildflower honey barrels sourced from TruBee Honey in Eagleville, Tennessee. Those barrels originally held Nelson’s bourbon and were used by TruBee to make a whiskey barrel finished honey before being returned to the distillery.

Nelson’s Green Brier has a history that stretches back to the mid-1800s. It was originally located in Greenbrier, a small town about 23 miles north of Nashville; under the leadership of businessman Charles Nelson, it became one of the leading players in the state’s whiskey scene. Production would screech to a halt in 1909—like many of its contemporaries, it was a casualty of Tennessee’s early Prohibition laws.

The brand fell silent for a full century, and was brought back to life by Charles’s descendants Andy and Charlie—the eponymous Nelson Brothers—in 2009. The distillery, which has found a new home in Nashville, started distilling its own whiskey in 2014 and has largely relied on sourced liquid for its blends.

Rare Hare Spirits 20 year old The Tempest Tasmanian Single Malt

ABV: 42%
SRP: $999
Availability: Limited; available in select retailers nationwide and online

Rare Hare, the ultra-luxe spirit label curated by Playboy Spirits, has debuted a new aged single malt. The liquid is sourced from Hellyers Road Distillery, a hilltop distillery in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was distilled from local barley and then aged using two separate casks: first spending 17 years in bourbon barrels before being finished in port casks for 3 years.

This release is the third whisky from Rare Hare Spirits. The brand was launched as a collaboration between Playboy magazine owners PLBY Group and Spirits Investment Partners, the investment group whose main brand is Bob Dylan-backed Heaven’s Door. Rare Hare’s debut bottling was an $899 fino sherry cask-finished añejo tequila released in partnership with Código 1530 in November 2021. Its first whisky, a sourced bourbon finished in XXO cognac casks, appeared the following June.