Heaven Hill's 19 Year Old Wheat Whiskey, High West Single Malt, Ardbeg Eureka! and More

The latest addition to Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection is a 19 year old straight wheat whiskey, which uses the same mashbill recipe as the one for its Bernheim label. From out west, Utah’s High West has a new single malt whiskey, comprised of 4 and 8 year old whisks entirely at the Utah distillery, though unfortunately, its distribution is in-state only. From Texas, Garrison Bros. has a single barrel version of its Balmorhea bourbon, and it also is limited, at just 1,000 bottles. Ardbeg is out with its annual Ardbeg Committee Exclusive, Ardbeg Eureka! which blends malt selected by 100 fans who were invited to the Islay distillery to taste five “extreme” Ardbeg samples.

Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 19 year old Kentucky Straight Wheat

ABV: 50%
SRP: $300
Availability: Limited

This is the latest release in Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection, a series of aged releases launched in 2022 that showcases some of the distillery's oldest expressions from one of Heaven Hill’s six mashbills. (It’s not to be confused with Parker’s Heritage Collection, which usually features a variety of mashbills and often has some unusual barrel finish.) This new addition to the Heritage Collection is a straight wheat whiskey made from a mashbill of 51% wheat, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley. Aged for 19 years on the 5th and 6th floors of rickhouse Y, the new expression is the product of 277 barrels distilled in August and September of 2005, and it’s the oldest wheat whiskey Heaven Hill has released to date.

In comparison to bourbon, rye, and single malt, wheat whiskey remains somewhat inconspicuous. Heaven Hill, however, has long been a champion of the style, putting muscle behind it by way of its Bernheim Original label (whose most recent barrel proof batch landed at No. 10 in our Top 20 Whiskies of 2024). Previous Heritage Collection whiskeys have included an 18 year old bourbon, a 20 year old corn whiskey, and a barrel proof blend of bourbons aged 17, 19, and 20 years old.

High West High Country American Single Malt (2025 Edition)

ABV: 44.8%
SRP: $80
Availability: Limited; Utah exclusive

For High West’s latest High Country single malt release, the distillery blended whiskeys 4 to 8 years old, aged the final blend in new and used oak, and finished a portion of it in French oak, ruby port, oloroso sherry, and Pedro Ximénez sherry barrels. Every drop of whiskey in the bottle was pot distilled by High West (many of its releases still rely on sourced whiskey, making an entirely High West-distilled release somewhat of an anomaly). Unlike more recent High Country releases, which were available nationwide, this year’s is a Utah exclusive, on shelves at High West General Store in Park City, High West Distillery in Wanship, and state liquor stores.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation x Garrison Brothers Limited Edition Single Barrel Cask Strength Balmorhea Bourbon

ABV: Varies
Price: $230
Availability: Garrison Brothers Distillery exclusive, available March, 1st 2025, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For the second year in a row, Texas-based distillery Garrison Brothers is collaborating with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation to celebrate the state’s Independence Day. On that day, March 1st, the label will host a fundraising event at its distillery just 16 miles southwest of Austin in Hye, Texas. In celebration, 1,000 exclusive bottles of Cask Strength Blamorhea bourbon from 11 single barrels selected by master distiller Donnis Todd will be released. The distillery will donate $50 from the sale of each bottle to the foundation to aid in its goal of preserving the state’s wildlife, lakes, and waters. In addition to the whiskey release, the event will include distillery tours and Texas-themed activities including line dancing and cowboy hat-making.

This event also kicks off a change in the distribution of the fan-favorite original version of this cask-strength release, Balmorhea bourbon, from nationwide to a Texas exclusive beginning in March. Cut and uncut releases of this expression feature a mashbill composed of 75% white corn, 15% winter wheat, and 11% barley, which is then double-aged, spending 4 years in charred new American white oak barrels followed by an additional year in a new barrel of the same kind. Initially released in 2017, its sales have historically benefited the Lone Star State as well. For every sale $5 was donated toward restoring the whiskey’s namesake, Balmorhea State Park Swimming Pool, the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool.

Rieger Straight Rye

ABV: 45%
SRP: $35
Availability: Nationwide

Kansas City-based J. Rieger & Co.’s new rye is joining its core collection. It’s distilled from a mashbill of 96% rye and 4% malted barley. Like Rieger’s other whiskeys, the rye is made using sweet mash fermentation and is double distilled on both a pot and column still.

The original J. Rieger & Co. was initially founded in 1887 by Jacob Rieger, an Austro-Hungarian immigrant who set up shop in West Bottoms—a neighborhood of Kansas City known as the “Wettest Block in the World” due to its many bars, brothels, casinos, and liquor stores. The distillery grew in popularity through mail order sales, but it would be forcibly shut down by the government following the ratification of Prohibition. The distillery was resurrected in 2014 by one of Jacob’s descendants, Andy Rieger, along with mixology and bar owner Ryan Maybe, with help from the late Dave Pickerell. Its core products are a bourbon, an American whiskey partially aged in oloroso casks, and this new rye. The distillery also offers a few other limited-edition expressions, including the high-scoring Monogram bourbon.

Green River Single Barrel Wheated Bourbon

ABV: 55%–65%
SRP: $60
Availability: Limited; distillery only

Kentucky-based Green River Distilling Co.'s new wheated offering has a mashbill of 70% local corn, 21% wheat, and 9% malted barley, and it’s bottled at cask strength with ABVs between 55% and 65%. Only 100 barrels will be released this year, which can be selected and purchased by bars, restaurants, and retailers directly from the distillery. Individual bottles can also be bought at the distillery in Owensboro and at Bardstown Bourbon Co.

Green River has a long and storied history, having been initially founded in 1885 in Owensboro, Kentucky—a city on the western end of the state, about 100 miles away from Louisville. After enjoying years of success, the distillery would fall on hard times in the early to mid-20th century: A fire in 1918 destroyed the distillery along with some 40,000 barrels of whiskey; after rebuilding, the distillery was sold in the ’30s, and eventually shuttered in the ’50s. The distillery was rebuilt in 2014, and the stills fired back up by 2016. The distillery was purchased by Bardstown Bourbon Co. in 2022, and today it supplies whiskey to numerous brands around the country through Bardstown’s custom distilling program.

Ardbeg Eureka! Scotch Single Malt

ABV: 52.2%
SRP: $85
Availability: Limited; Ardbeg Committee Exclusive; at the distillery; imported by Moët Hennessy USA

The Ardbeg Committee is marking its 25^th anniversary this year. The distillery membership, now 200,000 strong, was formed in 2000 after Ardbeg re-opened in 1997, with a mission to ensure the doors never close again. To kick off the anniversary celebrations, Ardbeg has a new Committee exclusive inspired by the palates of 100 of Ardbeg’s most ardent and uncompromising fans.

Under the guise of Operation Smokescreen, one hundred selected fans from 15 countries met at the distillery on Ardbeg Day during Fèis Ìle 2023 to taste five extreme Ardbeg samples, and share their opinions with Dr. Bill Lumsden, Ardbeg’s director of whisky creation, and Gillian Macdonald, Ardbeg’s master blender. The pair have been hard at work ever since, creating an Ardbeg expression that would match the multiple preferences and high expectations of their test audience. The result is Ardbeg Eureka!, an Islay single malt that includes whisky aged in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks with spirit made from roasted malt matured in bourbon casks. This draws some parallels with Glenmorangie Signet Reserve, a Pedro Ximénez sherry-finished version of Glenmorangie Signet released in 2024 made with chocolate malt.

Ardbeg Committee releases are identifiable by their pale labels, whereas their core range and mainstream limited editions typically have black or dark green labels. Ardbeg Eureka! will only be available for Committee members to buy through their website, and there are no plans for a wider release. The 25^th anniversary of the Ardbeg Committee will be marked throughout the year, with the high point expected to be Ardbeg Day 2025 which will be held at the distillery during Fèis Ìle on Saturday, May 31^st. You can join the Ardbeg Committee for free on the Ardbeg website.

Gordon & MacPhail Recollection Series No. 3 Scotch Single Malts

Gordon & MacPhail has selected the six rare single casks for the third release in the Recollection Series. The latest annual collection of “forgotten masterpieces,” imported by Gordon & MacPhail USA, encompasses single malts aged between 32–44 years from either closed distilleries or distilleries that were closed for decades but have recently reopened. Gordon & MacPhail commissioned Emmy-award-winning artist and animation director Bruno Mangyoku to illustrate each distillery and incorporate these images into the packaging of the new whiskies.

Convalmore 1984 Speyside

ABV: 51.1%
SRP: $3,400

The fourth of Dufftown’s famed seven stills, Convalmore Distillery opened in 1894 but has been mothballed since 1985. Some of the buildings are now cask warehouses for House of Hazelwood. Refill sherry hogshead Cask No. 1733 only produced 108 bottles of the 39 year old whisky.

Glenlochy 1979 Highland

ABV: 53.2%
SRP: $6,000

Built on the outskirts of Fort William in 1898, Glenlochy is the oldest whisky in this year’s series. The distillery closed in 1983 and was subsequently demolished. Bottled at 44 years old, this whisky was matured in Cask No. 3312, a refill American oak hogshead, which produced 124 bottles.

Imperial 1990 Speyside

ABV: 52.7%
SRP: $2,400

Imperial was built in 1897 and had intermittent periods of operation and closure until it shut for good in 1998. The buildings were subsequently demolished to make way for Dalmunach Distillery. This example is 33 years old and was matured in refill American oak hogshead No. 9825, yielding just 63 bottles.

North Port 1981 Highland

ABV: 50.9%
SRP: $5,500

North Port was located in Brechin, Angus, and sometimes also referred to as Brechin Distillery. Founded in 1820, the distillery was closed in 1983 and demolished in 1994. Today, the Glencadam Distillery remains Brechin’s only operational distillery. Whiskies from this distillery are now vanishingly rare, and this North Port 42 year old was matured in cask No. 2072, a refill American oak hogshead, which yielded 132 bottles.

Port Ellen 1981 Islay

ABV: 52.5%
SRP: $14,000

Port Ellen, closed in 1983, became one of the most well-known closed distilleries as international interest in Islay’s peated whiskies grew among whisky lovers and collectors this century. The single malt produced during the 1967–1983 era is highly collectible. After 40 years of silence, the new Port Ellen Distillery opened in 2024. A refill sherry butt, cask No. 290, held this Port Ellen 42 year old. With only 60 bottles produced, this is the rarest expression in this year’s Recollection Series.

Rosebank 1991 Lowland

ABV: 51.2%
SRP: $3,000

Rosebank Distillery is situated along the Forth & Clyde Canal in Falkirk and was founded in 1840. Closed in 1993, new owners Ian Macleod Distillers restarted triple distillation at Rosebank in 2023, opening to visitors this summer. Matured in cask No. 2114, a first-fill bourbon barrel that produced 141 bottles, this was bottled at 32 years old.