Larceny Barrel Proof, Blue Note's Complex Blend, Compass Box Hedonism 2025 Edition, and More

A compact but very interesting array of whiskies populate this round of new releases. Larceny Barrel Proof is out with its first batch of the year, while Memphis, Tennessee-based B. R. Distilling has unveiled the 2025 edition of its Special Reserve bourbon blend. Single malt maker Virginia Distillery Co. (VDC) has another stout cask-finished expression, this one timed especially for Valentine’s Day. From Scotland, blended scotch house Compass Box has announced the 2025 edition of its Hedonism label. And if Derby Day is in your sights, consider the Evan Williams Kentucky Derby Festival single barrel annual release, though it’s only on sale at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience in Louisville and at some Kentucky retailers.

Larceny Barrel Proof Bourbon (Batch A125)

ABV: 62.5%
SRP: $65
Availability: Nationwide

Just a few weeks ago, Kentucky’s Heaven Hill Distillery unveiled the newest version of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. Now it’s Larceny’s turn, with the first of its three annual Larceny Barrel Proof 2025 batches hitting shelves around the country. This expression takes the distillery’s flagship Larceny wheated bourbon recipe—68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley—to the next level by incorporating slightly older liquid and bottling at cask strength. Each batch includes 6–8 year old bourbon, but the exact proof point fluctuates. At 125 proof (62.5% ABV), batch A125 is fairly in-line with what we’ve seen from the brand in recent years.

Blue Note Special Reserve Blend of Straight Bourbons (2025 Release)

ABV: 58.15%
SRP: $225
Availability: Online and at retailers in 20 states

In recent years we’ve seen blenders get very creative in putting together their blends, coming up with complex recipes that include multiple components. But this new release from Memphis, Tennessee-based B.R. Distilling Co. really takes the cake. The 2025 batch of Blue Note Special Reserve is blended from 10 different bourbons from Kentucky and Tennessee, made from one of three mashbills, and aged for 4–19 years. Prior to blending, each was finished in one of nine casks, including cognac, madeira, sherry, port, triple sec, apricot brandy, amontillado, vanilla cognac, and vino de naranja.

VDC Brewer’s Coalition: Foothills Brewing Sexual Chocolate Stout Cask Finished American Single Malt

ABV: 50%
SRP: $50
Availability: At the distillery, in select retailers, and online

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Virginia Distillery Co. (VDC) has unveiled a new stout cask -finished American single malt. This one was aged over 5 years in bourbon barrels before being finished for 5 months in barrels that previously held Sexual Chocolate—a Russian imperial stout from Foothills Brewing—a popular Valentine’s Day seasonal release since the late 2000s. The casks are said to impart flavors of cocoa, espresso, and malted chocolate.

VDC is quickly establishing itself as a leader in the world of stout cask finishing. The distillery has been using stout casks for nearly a decade, having first employed them as part of a cask exchange with the neighboring Three Notch’d brewery in 2016. Last year, VDC launched the Brewer’s Coalition: A collection of single malts that tap beer casks from around the country, which debuted with expressions finished in stout casks from Goose Island and Hardywood. The latter went on to make an appearance on our Top 20 Whiskies of the Year list.

For this release, the distillery has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina—a food bank associated with the hunger relief organization Feeding America—to benefit victims of Hurricane Helene. For every bottle sold, VDC has pledged to donate the equivalent of 10 meals to the charity, which will go to homes impacted by Helene.

Evan Williams Special Edition Kentucky Derby Festival Single Barrel Straight Bourbon

ABV: 53%
Price: $90
Availability: Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Louisville through March 1st, and select Louisville retailers

Evan Williams is back as the official sponsor of the Kentucky Derby Festival for the 9th consecutive year with its annual single barrel bourbon release. The limited-edition release is a 2017 vintage composed of the label’s signature mashbill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye. It spent 7 years aging at owner Heaven Hill’s Deatsvill rickhouse. It’s bottled at 53% ABV, down substantially from last year’s vintage at 60.5%.

Like last year’s release, the bottle not only features the Kentucky Derby Festival logo but displays several nods to the non-profit Pegasus Pin Program, one of the festival’s primary sources of funding. Since circulation of the pins began for the Derby Festival in 1973, the program has helped generate anticipation and excitement over the festival’s month-long string of events leading up to Derby Day, which falls on May 3rd this year. The pins are collectible, with originals worth over $800, but also practical, as it’s a token for free entry tickets to any of the Derby Festival 60+ events. Enclosed in an envelope attached to each bottle is a commemorative 53rd edition Gold Pegasus Pin. The pins, when registered, enter participants in a pool to win a Grand Prize of $20,000. The new release’s bottle also features a hand-dipped iridescent pink wax top, one of the official colors of the Derby Festival and a departure from last year’s silver wax dip.

Compass Box Hedonism (2025 Edition) Scotch Blended Grain

ABV: 46%
SRP: $150/700ml
Availability: 9,912 bottles

The 2025 edition of Hedonism features single grain whisky from Lowlands-based Cameronbridge Distillery. The whisky was finished for 2 years in a first-fill marsala barrique. Joining this whisky in the final blend is a single grain from Girvan Distillery (also in the Lowlands), and casks from previous Hedonism batches, aged 16 and 19 years old.

Hedonism the very first release from Compass Box, debuting in 2000 and thrusting founder John Glaser and the company into the global spotlight. At the time, it was the first-ever blended grain scotch released in the U.S., and, according to the brand, the first scotch to feature a woman on its label. After Glaser departed early last year, Compass Box reimagined its portfolio, doing away with two of its core whiskies (Spice Tree and Story of the Spaniard); adding two new whiskies (Crimson Casks and Nectarosity); and reducing Hedonism to an annual release to preserve the stocks of whisky that go into the blend. With each new edition of Hedonism, there will be new label art, created by a female artist, that pays homage to the original—this year’s was created by Argentinian illustrator Sofia Bonati.

Single Cask Nation 2025 Collection

ABV: Varies
SRP: $110-$170
Availability: Limited

Independent bottler Single Cask Nation has long specialized in rare releases that are notable for highlighting lesser-known distilleries and labels. Nowhere is that clearer than in this new collection, which features eight single malt scotch whiskies from eight distilleries—a couple of which you may not have heard of before. The new collection includes:

Macduff 16 year old, 57.5%, $150
A Speyside single malt aged for 12 years in a bourbon cask, and finished for 4 years in an American oak oloroso hogshead

Ruadh Mhor 14 year old, 53.6%, $150
A Highland malt aged entirely in a re-fill bourbon hogshead

Knockdhu 14 year old, 58.4%, $120
A Speyside expression aged for 11 years in a bourbon barrel, then finished for 3 years in a Spanish oak oloroso hogshead

Inchmurrin 14 year old, 54.3%, $145
A Highland single malt distilled at Loch Lomond Distillery and aged 11 years in a bourbon barrel, and finished for 3 years in a new toasted oak barrique

Bunnahabhain Staoisha, 58.9%, $110
An Islay single malt aged for 6 years in a bourbon barrel and finished for 4 years in an American oak Pedro Ximénez hogshead

Pluscarden Abbey 16 year old, 60.9%, $170
A Speyside malt aged for 13 years in a bourbon barrel, then finished for 3 years in a refill Pedro Ximénez hogshead

Auchroisk 13 year old, 59.5%, $140
A Speyside single malt aged for 8 years in a bourbon barrel and finished for 5 years in a Jamaican rum barrel

Glen Moray 12 year old, 59.7%, $135
A Speyside single malt aged entirely in a bourbon barrel

All single barrels, the new whiskies are limited but will reach 23 states across the U.S. beginning in March. Friends and self-proclaimed “whisky geeks” Jason Johnstone-Yellin and Joshua Hatton launched Single Cask Nation in 2011. While much of what Single Cask Nation bottles is single malt scotch, the company also deals in American whiskey and rum.