Dickel's New Bottled In Bond, Aberfeldy's Bordeaux White Wine Finish, Smoky Basil Hayden & More

This week came word of a new Dickel Bottled in Bond (BIB) release, a welcome return after its last sighting in September of 2022. These Dickel BIB releases, which first appeared in 2019, are of a quality that vaulted the once-maligned Dickel back into the American whiskey game. Its price has crept up to $45 from the 2019 level of $35, but folks, this is still an unbelievable deal for a beautifully aged American whiskey. Elsewhere around the American whiskey scene, Basil Hayden is back with a second release of its Subtle Smoke expression, which uses hickory smoke infused barrels. Barrell has a new mizunara finished bourbon, and Seattle's Copperworks Distilling Co. is out with three new single malts, albeit in very limited quantities. And from Scotlland, single malt maker Aberfeldy has ventured into Bordeaux for the latest effort in its wine cask-finishing work. Read on.

Aberfeldy Limited Edition 15 Year Old Cadillac White Wine Cask Finished Single Malt Scotch

ABV: 43%
SRP: $75
Availability: Limited

Master blender and malt master Stephanie Macleod has a fondness for cask finishing that’s apparent in much of her work, and Aberfeldy’s latest limited-edition release is no exception. Aged in a combination of re-fill bourbon barrels and re-fill hogsheads, the whisky spent the final 6 months of its maturation in sémillon wine casks from Cadillac, an appellation in France’s Bordeaux region.

Cadillac’s sweet white wines are renowned for their lush flavors of honeysuckle, stone fruit, and bright citrus. Here that’s translated over to the whisky, bringing a heady combination of yellow fruit, citrus, and freshness. Macleod has used a wide variety of wine casks over the course of her 17-plus years at Aberfeldy parent company Bacardi, sourcing barrels from specific regions in France, Portugal, and elsewhere in Europe. Her prowess is all the more impressive given that ultra-aged scotch is especially tricky with finishing as it can quickly and easily be overpowered by a secondary cask.

George Dickel 12 year old Bottled in Bond Tennessee Whiskey (Spring 2011 Vintage)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $45
Availability: Nationwide

The George Dickel Bottled in Bond series finally has a new addition. This bonded Tennessee whiskey was distilled in spring 2011 using the release’s trademark 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley recipe, then charcoal filtered, and aged for 12 years. It represents the fifth entry in the series which launched in 2019.

When George DIckel distiller and director Nicole Austin took the reins at Cascade Hollow Distilling in 2018, one of her first major projects was the Bottled in Bond series, which debuted the following year. Dickel had fallen into something of a slump, and the new series represented a course correction for the brand. The first release, a 13 year old distilled in fall 2005, won our Whisky of the Year award. The subsequent batch, which was slightly younger, would go on to score an impressive 95 points from our panel—the highest rating we’ve ever awarded to the distillery. Each batch we’ve tasted since has scored 92 points or higher.

While these bottlings are certainly a testament to the quality of Cascade Hollow’s liquid and Austin’s talent as a blender, they also represent fantastic market value. The price has slowly crept up over the years, but it has consistently stayed below $50. For a bonded Tennessee whiskey of this pedigree with a double-digit age statement, that’s quite a bargain.

Basil Hayden Subtle Smoke Bourbon (2024 Release)

ABV: 40%
SRP: $50
Availability: Limited; nationwide

Two years ago, James B. Beam Distilling Co. unveiled a smoky bourbon under its Basil Hayden banner. Called Subtle Smoke, it took the label’s standard high-rye recipe and finished it for 6 months in toasted and lightly charred oak barrels that had been infused with hickory smoke. That release was intended as a one-off, but now Beam is bringing it back for a limited time. While 2024’s Subtle Smoke is largely identical to the first one, the finishing length is notably shorter this time around, at just 6 weeks.

Smoked bourbons like this one are fairly uncommon; unlike their single malt counterparts, which are often distilled from smoked grains, many smoky bourbons instead pull their flavors from finishing casks. While Basil Hayden landed on smoke-infused barrels, and Bib & Tucker tapped barrels with notably intense chars, others like Great Jones and Chattanooga instead opted for finishes in casks that once held Islay scotch.

Barrell Cask Finish Series: Mizunara Bourbon

ABV: 58.21%
SRP: $90
Availability: Limited

Barrell has introduced the latest bourbon blend in its Cask Finish Series, this one using mizunara casks. The new whiskey combines Indiana bourbons aged 6, 7, and 9 years; Tennessee bourbon aged for 8 and 14 years; and 8 year old Kentucky bourbon. Collectively, they have a mashbill of 76% corn, 20% rye, and 4% malted barley. Once blended, the whiskey was finished for 1 ½ years in mizunara casks, and was then bottled at cask strength, as nearly all Barrell whiskeys are.

Over the past decade, mizunara casks have taken a prominent role in the whisky world, revered for the subtle notes they can impart on a dram, among them sandalwood, herbaceous spice, floral sweetness, and toasted coconut. But it’s notoriously difficult to work with; its gnarled bark isn’t well-suited to barrel formation, it’s an especially porous wood—meaning toasting and charring can be more difficult—and it’s prone to leakage. Barrell has experimented with mizunara before to great effect, using the casks in Barrell Vantage (95 points), which took the No.-3 spot on our Top 20 list in 2022.

Copperworks Distilling Co. American Single Malts: Single Cask No. 22-2 and Releases 049 and 050

ABV: 50%–60%
SRP: $70–$90
Availability: Limited; Copperworks tasting room and online

Seattle-based single malt maker Copperworks Distilling Co. has unveiled a trio of American single malts.

The first, Single Cask No. 22-2 ($90), was distilled in 2016 from five different malts—one pale malt and four caramelized ones. It was aged for over 7 years in a barrel that previously held one of Copperworks’s ASMs, and is presented at 60% ABV. Only 203 bottles were produced.

The other two bottlings, Release 049 and Release 050 (each $70), were distilled entirely from Fritz—a barley variety that’s native to the Skagit Valley region of Washington. They were aged for 3 years in new charred American oak barrels and proofed down to 50% ABV. The key difference between the two is in how the barley was malted: 049’s Fritz was pale malted (lightly kilned), while 050’s was Vienna malted (kilned for longer and at a higher temperature). The extra time in the kiln is said to bring out flavors of honey, caramel, and nuts.

Much of the distillery’s house style is inspired by its founders’ past experiences in craft brewing. Its single malts are distilled from unhopped beers brewed in-house, rather than a typical whiskey mash. Beyond that, expressions also tend to zero in on specific heirloom barley varieties. The malt styles used for Release 049 and 050 are both commonplace in the beer world: pale malt is used in a wide array of beer styles, while Vienna malt is commonly used to make Oktoberfest-style biers and amber ales.

Fierce & Kind 110-proof Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon

ABV: 55%
SRP: $85
Availability: Nationwide

This single barrel bourbon was originally released last summer as a limited-edition bottling, and San Diego-based spirits company Fierce & Kind is bringing it back on a permanent basis. The 2 year old whiskey was distilled in North Carolina (at an undisclosed distillery) from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley.

This is the third spirit in Fierce & Kind’s core lineup, which also includes a lower-proof straight bourbon from North Carolina and a vodka. The company launched in 2021 with a philanthropic spirit—25% of its profits are donated to The Fierce & Kind Equity Foundation, which supports educational and economic opportunities in historically underserved spaces.