Single Barrels, New Smoke From Compass Box, a Barrell 33 Year Old, & More [New Releases]

Single barrel whiskeys from Four Roses and 2XO are just two of the week’s highlights among the new releases on the North American side, which also feature Barrell's oldest age statement whiskey to date—a Canadian expression—as well as new creations from Remus, Pinhook, and Milam & Greene. On the scotch side, Compass Box has a new peated offering that aims to showcase the sweeter side of peat, particularly in comparison to its sibling label Peat Monster, a long-beloved mainstay of the Compass Box portfolio. Elsewhere in scotch, Dalmore weighs in with two new vintage expressions—one distilled in 2006 and the other 2009.

Four Roses Single Barrel Collection

Price: $50
ABV: 50%
Availability: Four Roses Distillery, Cox’s Creek facility

Every year since 2004, Four Roses has released a single barrel bourbon. While the single barrels have varied—some have had age statements, and the proof jumps around—there’s been one consistent thread connecting them. They’re all made with the distillery’s OBSV whiskey.

Four Roses famously distills using two separate mashbills and five unique yeast strains, which results in 10 distinct whiskeys. Those are then blended to create various expressions. Now, in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of its first single barrel bourbon release, Four Roses is debuting its Single Barrel Collection. It includes four bottles, made from three of its recipes in addition to the existing single barrel made with OBSV.

Joining a 100-proof OBSV single barrel (mashbilll of 60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% barley, and yeast strain V) are the following:

•OBSF, made from mashbill B (60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% barley) and yeast strain F, yielding delicate rye and herbal notes

•OESK, made from mashbill E (75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% barley) and yeast strain K for notes of baking spice

•OESO, made from mashbill E and yeast strain O that delivers flavors of rich fruit and vanilla

As with the flagship single barrel bourbon, each new release is aged 7 to 9 years. The Single Barrel Collection will be available in early 2025 at retail and at the Four Roses Distillery and its Cox’s Creek warehousing and bottling facility. Four Roses will then introduce additional Single Barrel bottlings, ultimately rotating between the nine other recipes that complement the flagship.

2XO Gem of Kentucky (2024 Edition) Bourbon

ABV: 54%
SRP: $200
Availability: Limited

Billed as the only double-barreled single barrel Kentucky straight bourbon, Gem of Kentucky—the single barrel series from Dixon Dedman’s 2XO franchise—is now in its second vintage. For the 2024 release, Dedman selected 80 single barrels of high-rye bourbon (35% rye), all of which spent up to a year in new charred oak barrels before being bottled. Thus far, everything we’ve tasted from 2XO has scored 91 points or higher; most recently, The Kiawah Blend (part of 2XO’s Icon Series) received a score of 93 points.

For this round, Dedman partnered with Lexington, Kentucky-based glass artist Travis Adams on The Unmined Gem, a bespoke blown-glass sculpture that can house bottles of Gem.

Barrell 33 year old French Oak and Oloroso Cask Finished Canadian Whisky

ABV: 70%
SRP: $200
Availability: Limited

Barrell has unveiled a new limited-edition bottling with a staggeringly high 33 year old age statement. This Canadian whisky spent 33 years in the barrel before being finished in French oak and oloroso sherry casks for an undisclosed period.

Though high age statements aren’t a prominent feature of Barrell’s style—typically characterized by blends of liquid from multiple producers finished in interesting cask combinations—the blending house lately has been featuring older whiskies in some of its new releases. In October, Barrell rolled out a pair of whiskies under its ultra-aged Gray Label series: a 19 year old iteration of its Seagrass Canadian rye and a 13–19 year old bourbon blend. Earlier that month, Barrell also kicked off a new “single barrel” series with the launch of a 20 year old bourbon that included liquid from the brand’s first Gray Label blend.

Pinhook Collaboration Series Edition No. 3 Australian Single Malt

ABV: 57.4%
SRP: $100
Availability: Limited; available online through Breeze text-to-buy platform (833-332-2118), Pinhook's website, and select retailers nationally

Pinhook has dropped the third edition of its ongoing Collaboration Series. This one is the result of a partnership between master blender Sean Josephs and Jordan Salcito, a renowned sommelier who previously held positions at Eleven Madison Park and Momofuku. The whisky is a blend of single malts from Australia-based Starward, all aged exclusively in red wine casks. At 57.4% ABV, it has a higher proof than any of the whiskies in Starward’s current lineup.

Sean Josephs worked as a sommelier before co-founding Pinhook, and the Collaboration Series is meant to pay homage to his previous calling. Each expression enlists a figure within the wine, beer, and spirits world—often a sommelier—who helps select the barrels and formulate the blend. The series kicked off in 2021 with André Mack, a career sommelier and winemaker for Maison Noir Wines in Oregon, picking 10 bourbon barrels distilled by Wyoming Whiskey. The second release comprised 20 high-rye bourbon barrels from Texas-based Still Austin selected by Garrett Oliver, the longtime brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery. The new release is noteworthy, as it's the first time the series has gone with whisky distilled outside of the U.S.

Milam & Greene Wildlife Collection Cooper’s Hawk Single Barrel Bourbon

ABV: 64%
Price: $150
Availability: online and distillery tasting room beginning November 20th

Texas-based Milam & Greene has unveiled the sixth and final barrel-strength release of the year in its Wildlife Collection, which pays homage to the native birds of Texas. Cooper’s Hawk is a nod to the Cooper’s hawk bird often seen in the skies above the distillery in Blanco, which is roughly 50 miles west of Austin. This bourbon was distilled in Tennessee from a mashbill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley and aged for 6 years and 7 months. It then traveled to Texas for an additional year and 8 months of maturation, where it was set on a low rack on the south side of Rickhouse 1, which is a slightly more temperate spot than elsewhere in the facility amid the Texas heat.

Milam & Greene was founded in 2017, and the Wildlife Collection launched last year. Much like last year’s inaugural collection, which featured expressions that celebrated earth-crawling creatures such as bobcats and scorpions, previous expressions in this range have been a hot ticket item. Mockingbird, Cardinal, and Roadrunner whiskeys have sold out the same day of their release. A portion of all Wildlife Collection sales goes to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation.

Fort Hamilton Continental Collection Mead Cask Finished Rye

ABV: 58.1%
SRP: $99
Availability: Limited; at the distillery and online

Brooklyn-based Fort Hamilton Distillery has added a new cask-finished rye to its Continental Collection, this time using barrels that previously held mead. The expression is the result of a 4 year-long cask exchange program with Sap House Meadery in New Hampshire, which saw Fort Hamilton rye barrels used to age a wildflower mead. After aging the mead for 2 years, the casks were sent back to Brooklyn where they were used to finish a batch of Fort Hamilton’s flagship rye for 2 years. The final product carries a 6 year age statement and was bottled at cask strength.

According to co-founder Alex Clark, the decision to use mead barrels was rooted entirely in sentimentality. His grandfather, Kenneth K. Clark, was an apiarist by trade who wrote a book on beekeeping and mead making that was published in the early ‘50s. “He died before I was born,” said Clark. “But having read his book, I was inspired to work with honey in one shape or form.” Clark says that the mead barrels have a slight acidity that balances out the sweetness.

Remus Gatsby Reserve (2024 Edition) Bourbon

ABV: 52.45%
SRP: $230
Availability: Limited

For the third release of Remus Gatsby Reserve, made at Luxco-owned Ross & Squibb Distillery, master distiller Ian Stirsman blended two 15 year old high-rye bourbons: one made from 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, and the other, 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley. As with the previous two editions, this whiskey is bottled at cask strength and is available in limited quantities.

The Remus Gatsby Reserve series celebrates the spirit of the Roaring ‘20s, and more specifically F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby.” It’s the pinnacle of the Remus portfolio, showcasing the distillery’s oldest aging stock (and thus its highest price points).

Compass Box Secrets of Smoke Blended Scotch

ABV: 52%
SRP: $165/700 ml
Availability: Limited

Compass Box’s latest blend aims to showcase the sweeter side of peat. To do so, whisky maker James Saxon combined Caol Ila finished in palo cortado sherry butts; The Peat Monster (Compass Box’s Islay malt-heavy blend) finished in second-fill red wine casks; and Laphroaig finished in marsala barrels. According to Saxon, the three whiskies enhanced the unexpected sweetness tucked away in peated malts, evoking honey, caramel, pear sweetness, and more. This is a limited release, with just 9,792 bottles available worldwide.

Back in August, Compass Box revamped its core lineup, doing away with its Spice Tree and Story of the Spaniard labels in favor of Crimson Casks—a blended malt that includes whiskies from Glen Moray, Benrinnes, Teaninch, and an undisclosed distillery, and aims to cover both sherry and French oak influences—and Nectarosity, a blend composed primarily of Highland malts and Lowland grain whiskies that focuses on American oak.

Dalmore Select Edition 2009 Highland Single Malt Scotch

ABV: 48.9%
SRP: $225
Availability: Limited annual release; imported by EJ Gallo.

Dalmore Select Edition 2006 Highland Single Malt Scotch

ABV: 47.2%
SRP: $500
Availability: Limited annual release; imported by EJ Gallo.

The Dalmore has announced this year’s releases in the Select Edition series, otherwise known as the Dalmore Vintage Collection outside of the U.S. market. For the 2024 releases, master whisky maker Gregg Glass aimed for a flavor profile redolent of rich, decadent desserts, trying to capture notes of plum, cherry, dark chocolate, and sherry-soaked raisins within the Highland single malt’s house style.

The Dalmore Select Edition 2006 is an 18 year old that was matured in bourbon casks and finished in matusalem and amoroso sherry casks. Meanwhile, the Dalmore Select Edition 2009 is a 15 year old single malt that has undergone a dual finish in González Byass matusalem sherry casks and Graham’s 10 year old tawny port pipes, after being initially matured in bourbon casks. The Dalmore has exclusive cask supply relationships with these winemakers, where they have partnered with them on the Cask Curation Series. That's not the only link. In parallel with the Cask Curation Series, last year's Select Edition 2005 and 2008 releases were sherry cask finishes, while the introduction of port casks to this year's Select Edition Series is in keeping with the spirit of the Dalmore Cask Curation Series The Port Edition.