Little Book's Latest Chapter, Sagamore's First Own-Make Rye, New Michter's, Old Fitzgerald & More

Father’s Day is on the near horizon (June 16^th), and that means the new whisky releases are coming fast and furious. Rye and bourbon dominate the scene, including Wild Turkey's latest Master's Keep edition and the latest ultra-aged, and ultra-expensive expression from W.L. Weller, Weller Miillenium. But we were particularly interested to see some big news from Sagamore Spirit. When its waterfront distillery in Baltimore, Maryland opened its doors in 2017, Sagamore was redoubling its mission to restore Maryland’s once-great reputation for rye whiskey. Focused entirely on rye, Sagamore initially used sourced liquid while its whiskey matured, gradually blending in its own make. But now comes the moment we’ve been waiting for: the release of its first 100% own-make, permanent rye edition. Things are actually ahead of schedule, as Sagamore originally projected that its first own-make rye wouldn’t be ready until 2025. Our panel has yet to taste it but will do so soon.

And this weekend, we’ll see the final rounds of the PGA Championship, which has returned Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville for the first time in 10 years. Heaven Hill has been celebrating its designation as the tournament’s “official bourbon” with a special-edition release of Elijah Craig Small Batch bourbon. This batch was fittingly created using barrels selected from rickhouses P, 1G, and A. Bottled at 47% ABV, the cork and label are embellished with the PGA Championship logo, and the Wanamaker Trophy—among the biggest trophies awarded in professional sports at 27 pounds and 28 inches tall—is featured on the neck label. The limited-edition bottling is still available nationally at an SRP of $37. Spectators at the Championship and practice rounds have been able to sample Small Batch at the concession stands or visit Elijah Craig’s On The Rocks speakeasy at the course’s 14^th hole, to enjoy Small Batch and cocktails.

As we look toward Memorial Day on May 27^th, we note that Evan Williams this week announced the 2024 class of veterans selected as its American-Made Heroes, recognized for making a difference in their communities. Evan Williams is honoring six veterans and their veteran-focused nonprofit groups with limited-edition bottlings of Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch. Each bottle features a hang tag highlighting the six veterans. The Small Batch American Hero Edition sells for $24 a 750ml and $38 a 1.75-liter, while each star-spangled bottle of the core Kentucky Straight Bourbon highlights one of the six honored organizations and retails at $25. The American Made Heroes program was first established in 2020, and Evan Williams has since recognized 57 veterans with these special edition bottles and donated $600,000 to nonprofits supporting veterans around the country.

Little Book Chapter 8: "Path Not Taken"

ABV: 59.1%
SRP: $150
Availability: Limited; check the locator at littlebook.com

Little Book is out with the eighth release in this annual series, and this one is a rye. Little Book Chapter 8: "Path Not Taken" is a deep dive into American rye, as master distiller Freddie Noe has blended seven different rye whiskeys ranging from 4 to 18 years old, drawing from the stocks from Old Overholt and Jim Beam. This is Noe's first effort at working with such a broad range of ryes.

The whiskeys in the blend include: 18 year old high rye Kentucky straight bourbon; 11 year old Kentucky straight whiskey; 7 year old Kentucky straight rye malt; 5 year old Kentucky straight rye (KY Family Style, Char 4); 5 year old Kentucky straight rye (PA Family Style, Char 1); 5 year old Kentucky straight rye (PA Family Style, Char 4); and4 year old Kentucky straight rye

The Little Book series was launched in 2017. In addition to this latest one, its expressions have included Chapter 7: "In Retrospect" (2023); Chapter 6: "To The Finish" (2022); Chapter 5: "The Invitation" (2021); Chapter 4: "Lessons Honored" (2020); Chapter 3: "The Road Home" (2019); Chapter 2: "Noe Simple Task" (2018); and Chapter 1: "The Easy" (2017). Each year it's a blend selected by Freddie Noe, and it has been included in Whisky Advocate’s top-scoring whiskeys over the years, averaging 93 points. It has appeared in our Top 20 Whiskies of the Year rankings three times—in 2017, 2018, and 2023.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond Bourbon (Spring 2024 Edition)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $140
Availability: Limited

Each spring and fall sees another release of Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond, and the spring 2024 edition has arrived. Distilled in Spring 2014, the new bourbon is 10 years old, making it slightly older than the most recent release, Fall 2023, which was an 8 year old. Old Fitzgerald regularly flies far above the minimum age requirement for bottled in bond whiskeys—they need to be a minimum of 4 years old—with its oldest-ever release, Spring 2022, coming in at 17 years old. As with all bottlings, the whiskey is packaged in a decanter; Spring releases are denoted by their green labels.

Heaven Hill, Old Fitzgerald’s modern-day producer (it was originally made at Stitzel Weller), is the single largest producer of bottled in bond in the country, counting a dozen bottled in bond labels under its umbrella, including the namesake Heaven Hill 7 year old bottled in bond, Rittenhouse Rye, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond, and Henry McKenna. A month ago, the distillery debuted an extra-special edition of Old Fitzgerald that was distilled in 1999.

Michter’s 10 Year Old Rye

ABV: 46.4%
SRP: $200
Availability: Limited

Michter’s 10 year old rye has reliably released annually in recent years, making it among the more readily available limited editions the distillery produces. (By comparison, barrel strength iterations and the 10 year old bourbon occasionally skip years.) There’s no reinventing the wheel here—master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson have kept the single barrel whiskey to 46.4%, focusing on flavors that are balanced and elegant, and not as spice-dominant as other ryes may be.

Over the years, the Michter’s team knows how hard it can be to get hold of its most sought-after whiskeys, and while owner Joe Magliocco is committed to a slow-and-steady approach, the brand’s Shively distillery had its first full 24/7 schedule year in 2023, and has added a host of new equipment to help ramp up production.

Pinhook 5 Year Old Cask Strength Kentucky Bourbon

ABV: 59.1%
SRP: $65
Availability: Nationwide

Since launching in 2010, Pinhook has leaned heavily into horse racing, and its latest release—a 5 year old cask strength bourbon—is no different, with the brand making it the third expression in its own Triple Crown of whiskeys. Made from a mashbill of 75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% barley, the new whiskey was distilled and aged at Castle & Key in Frankfort, Kentucky (as all Pinhook whiskeys are), and it’s Pinhook’s first barrel strength bourbon. A total of 120 barrels were blended for this inaugural release.

Unlike some recent releases in the Pinhook lineup, including the Vertical Series whiskeys, which were finite in nature, this cask strength bourbon will be a permanent fixture in the portfolio, joining a straight bourbon and a straight rye.

Ol’ New Riff Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 50%
SRP: $55
Availability: Limited

Ol’ New Riff Kentucky Straight Rye

ABV: 50%
SRP: $55
Availability: Limited

New Riff might be just 10 years old, but that hasn’t stopped its distilling team from considering what the whiskey would have been like more than a century ago. This voyage into whiskey history is now available for public consumption via two new whiskeys.

Both new Ol’ New Riff whiskeys use 19th-century cooperage techniques, heirloom grains, and vintage mashbills. The bourbon is comprised of 60% heirloom corn (including Blue Clarage and Yellow Leaming), 26% balboa rye, and 14% two-row malted barley; in the case of the rye, it’s made from 65% balboa rye, 30% heirloom corn, and 5% two-row malted barley. The virgin oak barrels were produced without kiln-drying, in line with how they would’ve been made in the 1800s. As with the majority of New Riff’s non-single barrel whiskeys, Ol’ New Riff rye and bourbon are bottled in bond and non-chill filtered.

While Ol’ New Riff will primarily go to the distillery’s Whiskey Club members, it’ll also be available in limited quantities at various Kentucky retailers, as well as in flights and pours at the New Riff Aquifer Tasting Room in Newport.

Whiskey JYPSI Legacy Batch 002: “The Alchemist” Blended Whisky

ABV: 57.15%
SRP: $200
Availability: Limited; Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida retailers

Whiskey JYPSI, the label made by country singer-songwriter Eric Church’s Outsiders Spirits, has released a new expression. It’s a blended whisky called The Alchemist, which is being released as a follow-up to the label’s inaugural bottling Legacy Batch 001.

Like Legacy Batch 001, The Alchemist represents a blend of multiple sourced whiskies of different styles. This time, the blend has three components: The majority (60%) is a 11 year old corn whiskey from Tennessee, which was aged in re-charred American oak barrels. (Unlike bourbon and American rye, corn whiskey does not have to be aged in new charred oak.) 36% of the blend is an 18 year old Canadian rye which was aged in bourbon barrels. The rye was split into three groups, each finished for 6 months in either port, vermouth, or sherry casks. The remaining 4% is a 10 year old single malt whisky from India.

This is the third release from Whiskey JYPSI, which launched last May. Things were quiet for nearly a year following the launch of its first whisky, but last month it chimed in with Explorer Batch 1—a French and Appalachian oak stave-finished bourbon that marked the start of a new series of releases that will explore different woods.

Sagamore Small Batch Rye

ABV: 46.5%
SRP: $40
Availability: Globally

From its inception in 2017, Baltimore-based Sagamore Spirit was established to restore Maryland’s prowess in rye whiskey, which was decimated by Prohibition. The last of the state's distilleries stopped producing in 1972. (That was Majestic Distillery, which produced Pikesville rye, a label later sold to Heaven Hill, which today makes it in Kentucky.) Unlike Pennsylvania-style rye’s spicy profile, thanks to its minimum of 95% rye in the mashbill, Maryland-style rye is made using 65-70% rye and 30-35%; the higher proportion of corn lending it a softer, sweeter flavor profile.

Initial releases from Sagamore were made with whiskey sourced from MGP. Since then the distillery has been incorporating some house-made spirit in its releases—with favorable results, judging by our tasting panel’s scores. Sagamore’s first 100% house-distilled expression debuted in November 2021; a limited bottled in bond rye. Its latest release, Small Batch, is Sagamore’s first own-make core, permanent expression: A blend of two ryes, one high-rye and one low-rye mashbill, both are triple distilled, then aged 4-6 years before they are blended into 20-barrel batches. The corn used in the low rye recipe was sourced from the distillery’s farm, located about 25 miles north of Baltimore in Maryland’s horse country.

Oak & Eden Bourbon & Amburana

ABV: 50%
SRP: $60
Availability: 37 states and online

Oak & Eden has rolled out a new expression in its trademark Inspired Series. This one is a high-rye bourbon (60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malted barley) that was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and aged in Bridgeport, Texas. Each bottle contains an amburana wood spire that is used to finish the liquid.

As with the other Inspired Series expressions, this bourbon undergoes something called “In-Bottle Finishing”—a patented process in which a 5-inch long wood spiral called a “spire” is inserted into the bottle, which mimics the effects of a traditional cask finish. The idea is that the whiskey can pick up new notes from the wood as it sits on the shelf in a bottle.

While using an amburana spiral rather than a barrel may seem gimmicky, there’s a bit of practicality to it. Amburana’s influence is said to be both very powerful and incredibly fast: Some distillers report that notes can come flooding into the whisky within mere days of it coming into contact with the wood. Keen on preserving the flavors of the base whisky, many producers keep their amburana finish lengths very short. Others, like Hard Truth and RD One, try to stem the tide by using toasted amburana pieces or staves rather than full-size casks.