Single Barrel Releases: Hirsch, Copperworks, Milam & Greene, and Paul John

Interest in single barrel whiskeys has surged in recent years, and it's become popular for whisky lovers to travel to a favorite distillery and make their own single barrel selections. For the most part, however, that job is left to the pros. Here are some new single barrel offerings for you to consider, including two bourbons, an American single malt, and a madeira cask single malt from India's Paul John.

Hirsch The Single Barrel White Bourbon

ABV: 51.44%
SRP: $50
Availability: Limited

Hirsch’s latest single barrel whiskey is made from a mashbill of 74% corn, 18% rye, and 8% malted barley. The bourbon spent 4 years and 8 months aging in new oak before being bottled at cask strength. As with almost all Hirsch releases, this one was distilled and aged in Bardstown, Kentucky, by Bardstown Bourbon Co.

Hirsch is owned by San Francisco-based distiller and importer Hotaling & Co. The brand redesigned and relaunched its entire lineup back in 2020; at the time, its whiskey was distilled by MGP, but production has since been moved to Bardstown, with the exception of its high-rye bourbon The Horizon, which continues to be sourced from MGP. Hotaling also owns Old Potrero Rye and Junipero Gin.

Copperworks American Single Malt Single Cask No. 472

ABV: 60.4%
SRP: $90
Availability: 215 bottles; distillery tasting rooms and copperworksdistilling.com

For Cask No. 472, Copperworks used its five-malt recipe. Distillery co-owner Jeff Kanof notes that this release differs from the most recent five malt release by way of its maturation: While that whiskey used a re-fill cask, this new single malt aged entirely in charred new American oak for 3 years and 8 months.

In addition to the whiskey, Copperworks has released a Spanish brandy-cask finished gin. A project years in the making, the casks were first acquired from Cadiz, Spain in 2019, with one filled with gin; after 2 years, the gin was moved to a cask that previously held the distillery’s single malt, where it stayed for an additional 2 years. Both the gin and the whiskey are available at the Copperworks tasting rooms in Seattle and in Kenmore, about 12 miles north of the city, as well as on the distillery’s website.

Milam & Greene Wildlife Collection: Cardinal Single Barrel Bourbon

ABV: 64.9%
SRP: $150
Availability: 130 bottles; at the distillery and milamandgreenewhiskey.com

The third release of Milam & Greene’s 2024 Wildlife Collection comes from cask #506, which was filled in Tennessee on March 8, 2016, and then spent the next 6 years and 7 months aging. The cask was then shipped to Texas, where it spent an additional year and 6 months aging on the palletized south side of Milam & Greene’s Rickhouse 1. The whiskey—which was distilled in Tennessee and made from a mashbill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley—was ultimately bottled at 8 years old on April 26, 2024. It will be available on the Milam & Greene website and the distilling tasting room starting at 3 p.m. CDT on June 26.

Each Wildlife Collection release aims to bring awareness to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, with a portion of the proceeds going toward the Foundation’s causes. The previous two Wildlife Collection releases this year have also honored birds: the first 2024 release was named after the Golden Eagle, while the second release paid homage to the Mockingbird.

Milam & Greene 5 year old Distillery Edition Straight Bourbon (Batch 5; Barrel 19-05)

ABV: 59.8%
SRP: $140
Availability: 171 bottles; distillery exclusive

Each year Milam & Greene releases a super limited bourbon as a distillery exclusive, and the new one has just arrived. Like previous batches, Batch 5 uses the distillery’s trademark recipe: 70% corn, 22% malted rye, 8% malted barley, and a proprietary yeast. Unlike Milam & Greene’s other release this week, which uses liquid sourced from Tennessee, this one was made from the distillery’s own juice—distilled in Blanco, Texas in February 2019 and bottled last month.

To celebrate this release, Milam & Green will host a bottle-signing event at the distillery tomorrow. The event kicks off at noon, and will be hosted by founder Marsha Milam, master distiller Marlene Holmes, and director of distillery operations Rikk Munroe. Cocktails, live music, and food trucks will be available throughout the event. The event itself wraps up at 5:00, but the tasting room will remain open for an additional 3 hours. A portion of the bottle sales from the event will be donated to Panhandle Proud, a charity set up by Texas distilleries to benefit farmers and ranchers affected by wildfires throughout the state.

Paul John Indian Single Malt Madeira Single Cask No. 14378

ABV: 58%
SRP: $300
Availability: 228 bottles exclusive to Avolta Duty-Free at Terminal 2, Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, India

Paul John Whisky is releasing its first exclusive single cask expression for travelers flying from Bangalore’s main airport. The unpeated no age statement expression was fully matured in a single madeira cask and bottled at cask strength. It’s a style of cask they know well, having previously used them as part of a recipe for their 91-point Paul John Christmas Edition 2021. Avolta recently offered another madeira cask Global Travel Retail exclusive with the release of a Bushmills 23 year old in the Causeway Collection.

Paul John Whisky launched its first single malt in 2012, and Sazerac Co. has owned a minority stake in the company since 2019. The distillery, based in Goa on India’s west coast, uses malted six-row Indian barley for its production, like most Indian single malt distilleries.