We’ve recently received several announcements from smaller players whose latest expressions are set to hit shelves in the coming weeks. 15 Stars has a new First West bottling, but this one isn’t a rye; Hard Truth is releasing a collaborative blended whiskey which uses its new bourbon as a component; and Jos. A Magnus has debuted the fourth iteration of its exclusive Murray Hill Special Release Blend.
15 Stars First West Bourbon
The father-son-operated 15 Stars was born and bred in 2019 to pay homage to Kentucky’s history as a mecca for whiskey production. The blending house, which makes its blends with help from Bardstown Bourbon Co., launched a sherry cask-finished bourbon in September that earned a score of 91 points. A few weeks ago, 15 Stars released new batches of First West rye and Private Stock bourbon. Now, it’s bringing another new First West whiskey to market—but this time, it’s a bourbon.
First West bourbon, like its predecessor, is a blend of three sourced whiskeys from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. Of course, this batch uses bourbons instead of ryes, but that isn’t the only change. The recipe features notably older stocks, aged 7, 9, and 15 years, marking a shift to more aged whiskey compared to the rye, which used 6–9 year old liquid. First West bourbon also features a slightly higher proof, coming in at 53% ABV compared to the rye’s 52.5%.
At $139, First West bourbon is significantly pricier than its rye counterpart, which retails for $89. While that’s unfortunate for fans, it isn’t unprecedented—15 Stars’s other bourbons, like Private Stock, tend to hover around that same price point. Only 4,800 bottles were produced, and are currently available at retailers in 10 states and online. 15 Stars doesn’t plan to release another First West bourbon batch after this one.
Hard Truth Farmer’s Reserve
The Nashville, Indiana-based Hard Truth Distilling Co. started distilling back in 2015. It stood out from other distilleries for its sweet mash distillation, which uses fresh yeast rather than leftover mash to start fermentation. While Hard Truth’s house style has always favored rye whiskey, it recently broke out of the category with the release of a trio of bourbons. Its newest expression is a blended whiskey which uses one of those bourbons as a component.
Farmer’s Reserve is comprised of 8 barrels of Hard Truth’s Chocolate Malt rye (51% rye, 38% corn, 11% chocolate malted barley) blended with 45 barrels of Hard Truth’s new Sweet Mash bourbon (73% corn, 19% rye, 8% malted barley). After marriage, the whiskeys were finished in oak barrels with toasted amburana wood sections. The team opted for that process rather than a traditional finish in a full amburana cask to prevent the wood’s influence from overtaking the whiskey’s profile; while the exact length of time is undisclosed, the team intentionally kept it quite short. The blend was proofed to 53% ABV before bottling.
Farmer’s Reserve represents Hard Truth’s second collaboration with Mellencamp Whiskey Co., a label created by singer John Mellencamp’s son Hud. The first one came last August—a bottling called Harvest Rye which was blended by Hard Truth master distiller Bryan Smith and Mellencamp Whiskey co-founders Hud Mellencamp and Levi Collison. Ratings-wise, it marked a high point for Hard Truth—taking home a 92-point score, one of the highest marks we’ve seen from the label. Like that release, the new one has label art that features one of John Mellencamp’s art pieces. Only 6,600 or so bottles were made, which are set for a retail launch over the coming weeks with a suggested price of $70. An undisclosed number of bottles will be available at the distillery starting on April 6th.
Murray Hill Club Blend Special Release #4
The Jos. A. Magnus name has been around in the whiskey world for over a century. The original Joseph Magnus was a liquor wholesaler and rectifier who, by 1903, was bottling whiskey under 20 different labels—including the flagship Murray Hill Club. Seeing the writing on the wall with the rise of the Temperance Movement, in 1918 Magnus pulled the plug on his operation and fully bowed out of the whiskey game just ahead of the passing of the Volstead Act. In 2015, Jos. A Magnus & Co. would be brought back from the dead by Joseph’s great-grandson Jimmy Turner, who found 122 year old bottles of Murray Hill Club and was set on recreating it for modern drinkers. The brand is now releasing a new whiskey under its Special Release banner.
The Special Release series was created by traveling master blender Nancy Fraley in 2017 as an extension of the core-range Murray Hill Club line. The new expression is the fourth member of the series, and was blended from two sourced Indiana whiskeys aged between 8 and 17 years: a 71% corn, 25% rye, 4% malted barley bourbon, and a 99% corn, 1% malted barley light whiskey. The blend was finished for 4 months in casks that held calvados, a fruit brandy from France that is typically made from apples or pears, before being bottled at 55% ABV.
The French finishing casks mark a return to form for the series. The first two Special Release bottlings featured finishes in pineau des charentes—a French aperitif—casks, which were quite uncommon at the time. The third release, however, moved away from those in favor of single malt casks and cider barrels. Batch 4 is currently available nationwide, with a suggested retail price of $199. The first special release batch impressed our panel, shining an early spotlight on the effectiveness of pineau casks with a score of 91; we’re looking forward to seeing how well the new one performs.
