Prized Bourbons: Booker's First Batch, Michter's 10 Year Old, the Latest Blood Oath, & More

There are just a few whiskeys included among this week’s new rollouts, but those comprise some of the most highly anticipated bourbons on the market. Booker’s leads the way with its first batch of the year, while we also have a new release of Michter’s 10 year old bourbon, and the 11^th annual release from Blood Oath. New Riff, meanwhile, has its very limited bourbon and rye labels, both under the Silver Grove name, available at the distillery’s gift shop only, with a portion of sales going to a local charity in nearby Silver Grove, Kentucky. Also new are a double oak bourbon from Buzzard's Roost, and two offerings from the World Whiskey Society.

Booker’s “Barry’s Batch” Bourbon (Batch 2025-01)

ABV: 62.85%
SRP: $100
Availability: Limited

The first Booker’s batch of the year has arrived. Named in honor of Barry Berish, a former Jim Beam chairman and CEO (and dear friend of master distillers Booker and Fred Noe) who passed away last year, “Barry’s Batch” is made up of barrels from four production dates that matured in five different warehouses and have an average age of 7 years. The breakdown of the batch is as follows:

• 41% came from the 5^th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
• 32% came from the 5^th floor of 7-story warehouse X
• 14% came from the 5^th floor of 7-story warehouse 1
• 9% came from the 4^th floor of 7-story warehouse G
• 4% came from the 7^th floor of 9-story warehouse H

In the batch notes, Fred Noe credits Berish with getting Beam to where it is today—he guided the company for over 40 years, and helped keep the ship upright during the 1970s and ‘80s, when bourbon was practically extinct.

Michter’s 10 year old Bourbon

ABV: 47.2%
SRP: $195
Availability: Limited

Michter’s 10 year old bourbon is back, and there’s not a whole lot differentiating this year’s edition from the 2024 release, aside from a $10 price bump. As always, master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson signed off on the whiskey together; Michter’s doesn’t operate on an aging schedule, instead preferring to bottle its bourbons and ryes when McKee and Wilson deem them ready. As a result, portions of the liquid within are often older than the stated age. The latest Michter’s 10 year old bourbon will begin hitting shelves next month.

Blood Oath Pact 11 Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 49.3%
SRP: $130
Availability: Limited

For the 11^th release of Blood Oath, Lux Row Distillers master distiller and blender John Rempe fixed his sights on a tequila cask finish. The whiskey is a blend of three bourbons: a 14 year old high-rye bourbon; a 10 year old wheated bourbon; and a 7 year old high-rye bourbon that was finished in barrels that previously held añejo tequila. This marks the first Lux Row release finished in tequila barrels, and Rempe calls the use of añejo tequila casks a particularly “full circle” move, given that the tequila rested in bourbon barrels before being bottled.

Blood Oath Pact 11 will be available at a launch event at Lux Row Distillers in Bardstown, Kentucky, on April 26^th at 9:30 a.m. Fans who travel to the distillery will be limited to one bottle apiece. If you can’t make it to the distillery or want more whiskey, about 49,600 bottles of Pact 11 will be available across the U.S. starting in April.

Buzzard’s Roost Signature Double Oak Bourbon

ABV: 50%
SRP: $45
Availability: Nationwide

Since its inception, Buzzard’s Roost has double-oaked all of its whiskeys, placing them in barrels that are lightly charred and have a proprietary toast for secondary maturation. The new Signature Double Oak bourbon, made from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, is no different, having finished in the brand’s bourbon casks after an initial aging period. It replaces the American whiskey that Buzzard's Roost launched last year (according to the brand, its fans didn't quite catch on to American whiskey as a style). While Signature Double Oak will eventually be available nationwide, the first bottles of the bourbon will be released on April 17th at Buzzard’s Roost Whiskey Row outpost.

New Riff Silver Grove Bourbon

ABV: 55.15%
SRP: $56
Availability: Gift shop exclusive

New Riff Silver Grove Rye

ABV: 55.1%
SRP: $56
Availability: Gift shop exclusive

The 2025 Silver Grove bourbon is made from a mashbill of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley, and aged for 4 years before being bottled at cask strength. The rye, on the other hand, contains a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye, and is also bottled at barrel proof after 4 years of maturation.

Each year since 2023, New Riff has released Silver Grove whiskeys (the bourbon came out first, and it was followed up with a rye last year). The two whiskeys are unique to the distillery’s lineup in a couple of ways: for one, they’re both gift shop exclusives, meaning you have to travel to the Newport, Kentucky-based distillery to purchase, and proceeds from every sale benefit the Silver Grove Community Foundation. Thus far, New Riff has donated $62,000 to the foundation, which supports community-led projects in Silver Grove, Kentucky, including a new park that opened in 2024. The distillery’s ties to Silver Grove first sprouted in 2022, when it opened a warehouse in the city (which sits just 8 miles downriver from Newport).

World Whiskey Society Ducks Unlimited Special Edition 10 year old Bourbon

ABV: 52%
SRP: $300
Availability: Limited; select retailers nationwide and online

World Whiskey Society Ducks Unlimited Shotgun Shell American Single Malt

ABV: 48%
SRP: $112
Availability: Limited; select retailers nationwide and online

Last September, rare whiskies purveyor World Whiskey Society collaborated with Ducks Unlimited—a group that focuses on wetland and waterfowl conservation—for a hunting-themed bourbon that was bottled in a ceramic duck-shaped decanter. Now both groups are extending that partnership with two new whiskeys. The first is a 10 year old Kentucky bourbon, which is adorned with a metal duck topper and presented in a wooden display box inspired by an antique hunting rifle case. The second whiskey is a non-age-stated American single malt, which has a red fluted-glass bottle made to look like a shotgun shell. Both whiskeys are sourced from undisclosed distilleries.