New Releases in American Whiskey: Old Forester 150th Anniversary, Michter's 25, Dickel 18 Year Old & More

Age is the thing in this week’s lineup of American whiskey releases, with Michter’s unveiling the latest release of its 25 year old bourbon—always an occasion to be noted. The 25 year old hasn’t appeared since 2020, and it's a rare pour indeed that can be tough to procure at retail, though it can be found on the best whisky lists in bars and restaurants throughout the land. Either way, it's quite the holiday treat. Then there is Old Forester, which is celebrating its 150^th anniversary—not with a 150 year old bourbon, but with a 150-month old bourbon, bottled in throwback holiday decanters, with just 150 bottles available. This is the good stuff that was once bottled only for the owner's family, and this one comes with quite the package of perks, as you'll read below. Elsewhere, Dickel is out with its first 18 year old bourbon, while Barrell gets a jump on things with its Bourbon New Year 2024. There's more to explore, so read on for full details.

Old Forester 150th Anniversary
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 12 year old
ABV: 50%
Price: $2,500
Release: November 2023
Availability: 150 bottles; oldforester.com

Need to know:
Old Forester is 150 years old, and it’s celebrating with its rarest bottling yet: A 12 year old bourbon (aged for 150 months) that comes in a handmade decanter inspired by the distillery’s holiday decanters from the ‘50s and ‘60s, which were created by the father of industrial design himself, Raymond Loewy. The decanter itself is packaged within a box made from wood recovered from the fire at Old Forester back in 2015.

Whisky Advocate says:
This whiskey was originally a private reserve bottling for the Brown Family, but 150 bottles are being made available for sale on the distillery’s website. Each purchase of a bottle comes with not just the whiskey, but also a VIP tour of the Old Forester Distillery in Louisville, and a private reception with the Brown family on December 5 (which is the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition). If you’re local to or visiting Louisville, there’s also an Old Forester exhibit ongoing at the Frazier Museum that honors the distillery’s history.

Michter’s 25 year old
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 25 year old
ABV: 58.1%
Price: $1,500
Release: November
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
The barrels for this release were selected by master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson. The whiskey wasn’t distilled at Michter’s, whose distillery in Shively (Louisville), Kentucky was built in 2014, but was sourced from a range of undisclosed distilleries.

Whisky Advocate says:
This straight bourbon is among the rarest whiskeys that Michter’s has to offer, and there’s no doubt that this one will go very quickly, given that its last release was in 2020. Reaching 25 years is no small feat in bourbon; the barrel influence can be overdone, imbuing whiskey with overly tannic, woody, and bitter notes. But Michter’s 25 expressions of past years have always showcased just how beautiful an ultra-aged bourbon can be, resplendent with spices, dark chocolate, caramelized sugar, vanilla, and toasted nuts.

George Dickel 18 year old
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Tennessee
Age: 18 year old
ABV: 45%
Price: $510
Release: November
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
Just like its 8 year old counterpart, this bourbon is made from a mashbill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley. Cascade Hollow distiller Nicole Austin, who’s now director of Dickel and luxury whiskey at parent company Diageo, selected the barrels that made the final blend.

Whisky Advocate says:
George Dickel made its name in Tennessee whiskey—which is similar to bourbon in every way but one, in that it must be filtered through maple charcoal prior to maturation—before branching out into bourbon just two years ago with the launch of a permanently available 8 year old iteration. While Cascade Hollow has released a handful of aged Tennessee whiskeys over the years, among them a 15 year old, this is the first ultra-aged bourbon we’re seeing from the distillery—if its more mature Tennessee whiskeys are anything to go off of (the 15 year old scored 95 points), this will be a bourbon well worth the splurge.

Hirsch The Single Barrel (3rd Edition)
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 4 year old
ABV: 55%
Price: $89
Release: November
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
The latest edition of Hirsch The Single Barrel combines two whiskeys, with 70% of the final blend made from a mashbill of 74% corn, 18% rye, and 8% malted barley, and the remainder made from 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% malted barley. The whiskeys aged separately for three years before being blended together and put into the same barrel—new oak with a char level 4—for an additional year. Just 50 barrels were selected for this release.

Hirsch The Single Barrel Double Oaked (2nd Edition)
Style: Finished bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 9 year old
ABV: 56.25%
Price: $150
Release: November
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
The second edition of Single Barrel Double Oaked is made with a mashbill of 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% malted barley. The whiskey spent eight years in new oak with a char level 4 before finishing in oak barrels with a No.-1 char. Thirty barrels of this whiskey are being released.

Whisky Advocate says:
Hirsch is owned by San Francisco-based distiller and importer Hotaling & Co., and most of its whiskey is now contract-distilled, aged, and bottled at Bardstown Bourbon Co. When the label rebranded and relaunched its lineup in 2020, its whiskey was coming solely from MGP; moving forward, as more of its Kentucky-made whiskey comes of age, the high-rye The Horizon will be the sole MGP-sourced offering, with the rest coming exclusively from Bardstown.

Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage
Style: Bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 10 year old
ABV: 55%
Price: $110
Release: November 18th
Availability: Evan Williams Bourbon Experience and select retailers

Need to know:
Released in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience located on Whiskey Row in Louisville. Made with Heaven Hill’s traditional mashbill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye, bottled in August, October, or December of 2013, and aged at the Schenley site on the second floor of Rickhouse LL.

Whisky Advocate says:
Since it opened its doors on November 15, 2013, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience has welcomed nearly one million visitors. In honor of its anniversary, this bottling is hand-dipped in silver wax and includes images of the attraction on the label and neck tag. Additionally, details of the barreling date, barrel number, and bottling date are included on the label. The public is invited to attend a block party tomorrow, November 18th, from 12-4 p.m. at Repurposed on Main and an open house at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience.

J. Rieger Six Columns Bourbon
Style: Blended bourbon
Origin: Missouri
Age: 4–5 year olds It would be 4 years old or not stated
ABV: 45%
Price: $40
Release: November
Availability: Limited; available in Montana and Kansas, and online at jriegerco.com

Need to know:
J. Rieger & Co. partnered with the University of Missouri’s Tigers football team for this release. Six Columns Bourbon represents a blend of Rieger’s own straight bourbon, aged between 4 and 5 years.

Whisky Advocate says:
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Rieger release a sports-themed collaborative expression. Last year, Rieger released a limited-edition bourbon commemorating Kansas U’s Jayhawks winning the college basketball championship. It also released a vodka to celebrate the Chiefs’ victory at Super Bowl LVII. The new expression was released in honor of the Mizzou Tigers football team; the name references six limestone columns on the Missouri University campus, which held up the original Admissions Hall building.

Barrell Bourbon New Year 2024
Style: Blended bourbon
Origin: Multiple
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 56.5%
Price: $90
Release: November
Availability: 11,000 bottles

Need to know:
The latest New Year bourbon encompasses 12 different bourbons from 8 states:

• 8 year old Kentucky bourbon
• 5, 6, and 9 year old Indiana bourbons
• 8 and 15 year old Tennessee bourbons
• 11 year old Wyoming bourbon
• 5 year old New York bourbon
• 5 year old Texas bourbon
• 5 year old Ohio bourbon
• 5 and 6 year old Maryland bourbons

The blend follows a mashbill of 72% corn, 22% rye, 5% malted barley, and 1% wheat.

Whisky Advocate says:
Barrell Craft Spirits releases a blended bourbon each autumn that celebrates the past year and cheers the incoming new year. This year’s version features one of the widest selections of states, tied with New Year 2023 at eight. The collection has historically received high marks from our tasting panel, with 2023, 2022, and 2021 all scoring 92 points or higher.

O.H. Ingram River Aged Flagship 2023
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Indiana
Age: Not stated
ABV: 51.15%
Price: $100
Release: November
Availability: Limited; Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and online through Seelbach’s.

Need to know:
This year’s Flagship bourbon is a 12-barrel blend curated by founder Hank Ingram and master blender Scott Beyer. As with all O.H. Ingram whiskeys, Flagship 2023 matured in a floating warehouse that’s anchored on the Mississippi River, exposing the whiskey to a variety of environmental changes, including diurnal temperature swings and inclement weather, as well as constant movement created by the river flow.

Whisky Advocate says:
This is the third edition of Flagship, which is released each year around the holidays. The whiskey highlights the best of what O.H. Ingram has to offer, with Beyer and Ingram pulling their favorite barrels from the brand’s floating warehouses for each batch. Earlier this year, the brand relocated from Wickliffe, Kentucky to Columbus, doubling its capacity for barrel aging in doing so—it can now age up to 6,000 barrels, and there’s space to dock up to 15 more barges in the future.

Cedar Ridge The QuintEssential Special Release: Portside
Style: Single malt
Origin: Iowa
Age: 6 year old
ABV: 58.6%
Price: $100
Release: November 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
Made from 100% 2-row pale malted barley, this American single malt was first aged for six years in bourbon barrels, before finishing in a combination of first-fill ruby port casks, first-fill amontillado sherry butts, and French oak casks. Of the three finishes, the port cask influence dominates.

Whisky Advocate says:
Based in Swisher, Iowa, Cedar Ridge is a distillery-winery combo run by the Quint family. The distilling side of the business is overseen by father-son team Jeff and Murphy Quint, with Jeff acting as master distiller and Murphy as head distiller and master blender. Cedar Ridge was among the distilleries we interviewed for our Fall 2023 cover story on American single malts, which explored the blossoming style and those making a name for it now.

Wolves Winter Run (Batch 3)
Style: Miscellaneous
Origin: California
Age: 6 year old
ABV: 52.5%
Price: $220
Release: November
Availability: Limited

Need to know:
The newest expression from Wolves Whiskey is a blend of four whiskeys: One distilled from pilsner and aged in French oak, another distilled from pilsner and aged in char No.-3 American oak, a third distilled from a stout and aged in French oak, and a rye whiskey. Like previous Wolves expressions, this one’s packaged in a French-cut glass bottle with an Italian sheepskin label.

Whisky Advocate says:
Distilling whiskey from beer isn’t a widespread practice, but it’s done more often than one might think. Charbay in Mendocino County was a pioneer of the practice and others have also joined in. Seattle-based Copperworks, which was founded by craft brewers, distills all of its American single malts from unhopped beers brewed in-house. Recently, Griffo Distillery released a 2 year old American single malt distilled from an unhopped triple IPA brewed by Lagunitas. Wolves Whiskey stands out due to its decision to distill hopped beer. They may be onto something, with a previous batch scoring 89 with our tasting panel. We’ll let you know how well this new one compares in due time.

Tattersall Bottled in Bond 5 year old Rye
Style: Rye
Origin: Wisconsin
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 50%
Price: $50
Release: November
Availability: Limited; available at retailers across the Midwest

Need to know:
Tattersall Distilling’s newest expression is a bonded rye that’s aged for 5 years in American oak. It’s entirely made from rye (15% malted rye and 85% a mix of AC Hazlet and Bono varietals) which was sourced from Rum Lake Farm in Cambridge, Minnesota.

Whisky Advocate says:
Tattersall Distilling is based out of River Falls, Wisconsin. It was founded over six years ago, and it’s already amassed a portfolio of around 30 expressions. Though most of those bottlings are white spirits, canned cocktails, and liqueurs, the distillery also produces a handful of whiskeys. Tattersall’s American Single Malt and its lower-proof cousin Interstate have both scored 90 or above with our tasting panel.