Legent Yamazaki Cask, High West Campfire, Barrel Rye Release, McCarthy's 6 Year Old, and More [New Releases]

August has started off with a bang, with plenty of new whiskies ripe for drinking. From Japan (and America) comes a new iteration of Legent from Beam Suntory, this one with a Yamazaki cask finish. Another intercontinental effort is Campfire from High West, that ingenious blend of rye, bourbon, and scotch whisky, whose annual release was announced this week. And pop icon Rod Stewart becomes the latest rocker to release a whisky—but if you're inclined to skip past it, note that it's made at Loch Lomond Distillery, so it definitely seems worth a look. Also from Scotland, Gordon & Macphail has released six new single malt bottlings, with vintage statements ranging from 1976–1997. There's a 1997 Imperial in there for $550—yes, that's the cheapest one—and things get very pricey from there.

On our side of the Atlantic, McCarthy's is back with its 6 year old expression, this one finished in Oloroso sherry casks. Barrell Craft Spirits has two new expressions, including its first rye in three years, while Texas-based Still Austin has released a cask-strength version of its flagship rye. Newcomer High Line has a group of four debut offerings, while Great Jones Distillery honors artist Jean Michel Basquiat with three tribute releases. Read on for more!

Legent Yamazaki Cask Finish Blend
Style: Blended
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 8 year old
ABV: 57%
Price: $200
Release: August 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
This release started as an 8 year old Kentucky bourbon made by James B. Beam Distilling master distiller Fred Noe. That bourbon was then shipped to Japan for finishing and blending at Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery. Suntory master blender Shinji Fukuyo created three separate finishings with this whiskey—using French oak wine casks, Spanish oak sherry casks, and Spanish oak Yamazaki whisky casks. Those three components were then blended with more 8 year old bourbon to create the final blend.

Whisky Advocate says:
Legent bourbon debuted in 2019, and was billed as the first major collaboration between an American master distiller and Japanese master blender. Legent proudly trumpets its two creators, with the signatures of Fukuyo and Noe adorning the bottle, and their profiles brought together artfully on the label. While the flagship Legent bourbon is nationally available, Legent Yamazaki Cask Finish Blend is a limited edition.

Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection The Recollection Series #2
Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Speyside, Highland, Islay)
Age: Vintage statements from 1976–1997
ABV: 47.1%–52.5%
Price: $550–$15,000
Release: August 2023
Availability: Limited Edition

Need to know:
Gordon & MacPhail has released six new single cask bottlings in its Recollection Series:

• Banff 1976, 50.4%, $6,500 (109 bottles)
• Glen Esk 1984, 50.5%, $3,250 (103 bottles)
• Glen Mhor 1973, 47.2%, $9,000 (170 bottles)
• Imperial 1997, 52.1%, $550 (143 bottles)
• Lochside 1991, 47.1%, $2,500 (57 bottles)
• Port Ellen 1981, 52.5%, $15,000 (181 bottles)

Whisky Advocate says:
Gordon & MacPhail launched the Recollection Series in 2022 to showcase single-cask releases of rare single malt scotch whiskies from closed distilleries. The six bottlings coming to the U.S. are part of a worldwide release of 18 casks filled and matured by Gordon & MacPhail, and includes the company’s oldest-ever Port Ellen release. Gordon & MacPhail commissioned French illustrator Tom Haugomat to create a series of digital artworks and animations to illustrate how these rare whiskies can bring distilleries such as Banff, Glen Mhor, and Port Ellen back to life and keep their memories alive. Gordon & MacPhail recently announced its intention to halt new cask fillings for the independent bottling side of the business, though they still expect to be releasing whiskies from their warehouse for decades to come.

Barrell Batch 035
Style: Blended bourbon
Origin: Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee
Age: 6 year old
ABV: 58.12%
Price: $90
Release: August 2023
Availability: 33,000 bottles; select retailers and online at barrellbourbon.com

Need to know:
Barrell’s newest bourbon blend comprises three Indiana bourbons (6,7, and 8 year olds), two Tennessee bourbons (7 and 13 year olds), and one 8 year old Kentucky bourbon. The overall blend follows a mashbill of 78% corn, 18% rye, and 4% malted barley.

Barrell Rye 004
Style: Blended rye
Origin: Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Canada
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 57.85%
Price: $90
Release: August 2023
Availability: 12,000 bottles; select retailers and online at barrellbourbon.com

Need to know:
Barrell’s fourth rye blend is made up of three rye whiskeys from Indiana (5, 6, and 10 year olds), a 5 year old Tennessee rye, a 6 year old Kentucky rye, and a 14 year old rye from Canada. It collectively follows a high-rye style mashbill (89% rye, 7% corn, 4% malted barley).

Whisky Advocate says:
The Batch 035 bourbon follows a long string of high-scoring bourbon blends from this blender, including Barrell Vantage which, at 95 points, was named our No.-3 Whisky of 2022. Batch 004 is the first rye from BCS in three years. Barrell’s previous rye release, Batch 003 scored 93 points.

McCarthy’s 6 Year Old Finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks
Style: Single malt
Origin: American
Age: 6 year old
ABV: 56%
Price: $120
Release: August 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
This single malt spent six years in Oregon oak casks, before being finished for four months in oloroso sherry casks. McCarthy’s is made at Hood River Distillers in Hood River, Oregon.

Whisky Advocate says:
McCarthy’s founder, the late Steve McCarthy, was a pioneer of American single malt, releasing the first-ever expression of the style in 1996 under the Clear Creek Distillery banner. McCarthy sold Clear Creek to Hood River in 2014, staying on in advisory role; he passed away earlier this year, but his legacy lives on in the many McCarthy’s whiskeys still being made, including 3 and 6 year old single malts, as well as a 6 year old single malt finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks.

High West Campfire
Style: Blended
Origin: Multiple (Scotland, Utah, and undisclosed)
Age: Not stated
ABV: 46%
Price: $80
Release: August 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
High West’s Campfire is an annual release, and its overall formula remains the same year-to-year: a blend of straight bourbon, straight rye, and blended malt scotch. This release, however, marks the first time that the straight rye component is completely High West’s own-make, comprised of 80% rye and 20% malted rye. In previous years, the distillery sourced straight rye from MGP, while incorporating some own-make rye. The whiskeys in this edition of Campfire range from 4 to 8 years old.

Whisky Advocate says:
Campfire has long been lauded for its creativity in blending three whisky types, and while the final blend of Campfire changes each year, it always incorporates whisky from multiple continents. This year, the release coincides with a $50,000 donation from the distillery to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation as part of its Protect the West initiative; the foundation provides immediate, long-term assistance to fallen or injured wildland firefighters and their families. In recent years, High West has changed its lineup, initially discontinuing Campfire back in 2020 (before bringing it back last year); making Rendezvous Rye, High Country single malt, A Midwinter's Night Dram, and Bourye annual limited releases; and establishing American Prairie Bourbon (now just "High West bourbon") and Double Rye as its core whiskeys.

Wolfie’s Whisky
Style: Blended
Origin: Scotland
Age: Not stated
ABV: 40%
Price: $45
Release: July 2023
Availability: Nationwide

Need to know:
A blend of grain whisky and malt whiskies, Wolfie’s is the first-ever whisky from iconic British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart. The whisky is distilled, blended, and bottled by Loch Lomond Distillery.

Whisky Advocate says:
Wolfie’s launched overseas back in June; it’s now hitting the U.S. in lockstep with Stewart’s North American tour, which began on August 1. The whisky's bottle references the opening track from Rod’s 1991 album Vagabond Heart, with “Rhythm of My Heart” emblazoned on its base; that song was a nod to the singer’s Scottish heritage, and its melody was adapted from a traditional Scottish folk song, Loch Lomond.

Still Austin Cask Strength Rye
Style: Rye
Origin: Texas
Age: 2 year old
ABV: 58%
Price: $65
Release: August 2023
Availability: Limited; at retailers in Texas and online at stillaustin.com

Need to know:
Still Austin’s newest release is a cask-strength rye that’s aged for at least two years. It follows a 100% rye mashbill, only using grains grown locally in Texas.

Whisky Advocate says:
This expression marks the second cask strength offering to join the Texas-based Still Austin Whiskey Co.’s portfolio. The new release is a re-imagination of a Still Austin flagship expression—representing its rye, The Artist, kicked up from 49.8% ABV to 58% ABV. It follows the 90-point Cask Strength Bourbon, itself a higher-proof take on Still Austin’s flagship bourbon The Musician.

Hudson Whiskey “Official Bourbon of the Mets” Limited Edition
Style: Bourbon
Origin: New York
Age: 3 year old
ABV: 46%
Price: $40
Release: August 2023
Availability: Limited; Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York

Need to know:
For fans of the New York Mets, Hudson Whiskey has put its Bright Lights, Big Bourbon in new bottles bearing the team’s logo. The bourbon itself is identical, with the only difference being the packaging.

Whisky Advocate says:
This bottling was launched alongside the announcement of a partnership between Hudson Whiskey parent company William Grant & Sons USA (WG&S) and the New York Mets baseball team. As part of the deal, products from WG&S’s portfolio—namely Hudson Whiskey, Tullamore D.E.W., Balvenie, and Monkey Shoulder—have been served during games at Citi Field since the start of the season. Note that while this one is served at Citi Field, it's also available at retail in the New York tri-state area.

Great Jones X Jean-Michel Basquiat Skull Edition and Dinosaur Edition
Style: Bourbon
Origin: Not stated
Age: 4 year old
ABV: 43%
Price: $39
Release: August 2023
Availability: 3,000 bottles; New York and online at greatjonesdistillingco.com

Need to know:
The first two releases in Great Jones’s new collaborative set are limited bottlings of the distillery’s Flagship Bourbon, repackaged with art designed by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Great Jones X Jean-Michel Basquiat Pineau de Charentes Cask Finished
Style: Bourbon
Origin: Not stated
Age: 7 year old
ABV: 45.5%
Price: $150
Release: August 2023
Availability: 1,200 bottles; distillery exclusive

Need to know:
Rounding out the collection is a brand new expression: A 7 year old bourbon that follows the same proprietary mashbill as its aforementioned flagship bourbon. It’s been finished in Pineau de Charentes wine casks for a year and 7 months.

Whisky Advocate says:
The focus of this collaboration is on Jean-Michel Basquiat, a famous graffiti artist from Brooklyn who rose to prominence during the 1980s. Basquiat’s art studio and apartment were on Great Jones Street in Manhattan, right up the block from where the Great Jones Distillery now sits. He tragically passed away in 1988 at just 27 years old.

Great Jones pays homage to Basquiat’s life and legacy through these bottlings, which all have label art taken from the artist’s own pieces—Dinosaur Edition from “Pez Dispenser” and Skull Edition from an 1981 untitled work. The wine-finished expression bears a crown, a recurring image found in most of Basquiat’s works. It also marks the first time Great Jones has released a cask-finished expression.

Highline Bourbon
Style: Blended bourbon
Origin: Indiana and Kentucky
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 51%
Price: $65
Release: August 2023
Availability: 2,160 bottles; Michigan and online at highlinespirits.com

Need to know:
Highline’s first release is a blend of three straight bourbons. The first two are a 5 year old (74% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley) and a 6 year old (60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malted barley), both from Indiana. The third is an 8 year old from Kentucky, which follows a 78% corn, 13% rye, 9% malted barley mashbill.

Highline Triple Rye
Style: Blended rye
Origin: Indiana
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 51%
Price: $65
Release: August 2023
Availability: 2,160 bottles; Michigan and online at highlinespirits.com

Need to know:
Highline’s second release, its flagship rye expression, comprises a blend of three rye whiskies from Indiana—two 95% ryes aged 5 and 5½ years, and a 10 year old 51% rye.

Highline Straight Kentucky
Style: American
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 8 year old
ABV: 50%
Price: $50
Release: August 2023
Availability: 1,440 bottles; Michigan and online at highlinespirits.com

Need to know:
The third expression follows the same mashbill as the 8 year old Kentucky bourbon that’s part of Highline’s bourbon blend, bottled at 50% ABV. Of the new releases from Highline, this is the only one that’s not blended.

Highline American Whiskey
Style: Blend
Origin: Indiana and Kentucky
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 56%
Price: $140
Release: August 2023
Availability: 1,320; Michigan and online at highlinespirits.com

Need to know:
The final debut expression from Highline comprises the same components as its bourbon, with an additional fourth whiskey joining the blend: a 7 year old 95% wheat whiskey, also from Indiana. Prior to the final marriage, the whiskeys were finished in a mix of American, French, and Hungarian oak barrels for 28 days.

Whisky Advocate says:
Highline Spirits is a new player based in Dexter, Michigan. Its founder, Christi Lower, had a background in healthcare as a physician’s assistant before founding the company. Lower also serves as the company’s master blender, and is focusing Highline’s whiskey-making efforts on blended expressions. It sources all its distillate, with the components of these four expressions coming from undisclosed distilleries in Indiana and Kentucky.