Old Fitzgerald, Woodford Batch Proof, Still Austin, Penelope, Hidden Barn & More

The Fall release from Old Fitzgerald is out: it's just a week before the start of winter, but these Old Fitz releases are nearly always worth the wait. Woodford Reserve, meanwhile, offers a second Batch Proof release this year, while Penelope has a new rum barrel finished expression. Still Austin, fresh off being named the No. 7 whisky of the year in Whisky Advocate’s Top 20 rankings for 2024, joins an increasingly crowded cigar blend market with its new Still Austin Tanager. Hidden Barn, the work of former Old Forester master taster Jackie Zykan, has a new expression, while Chattanooga offers the 2024 edition of its Vault Series. And in the spirit of the holidays, Good Deed Spirits is back with a new blended whiskey whose proceeds will all be donated.

Woodford Reserve Batch Proof Bourbon (2024 Edition)

ABV: 59.75%
SRP: $150
Availability: Limited

Thanks to Woodford Reserve’s fiscal calendar, which ends in May, we’re being treated to two editions of the annually released Batch Proof this year—the first debuted in February, and technically counted as the 2023 release, so that leaves us with this new edition for 2024. This Batch Proof bourbon comes in at 119.5 proof, making it among the “lower” ABV iterations in the range, second only to the 2022 release, which was bottled at 118.4 proof. But it’s still far above Woodford’s standard 90.4 proof, where all its core whiskeys land. The mashbill for this release is the same as all previous editions, consisting of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley.

Batch Proof is as close as you’ll get to tasting Woodford straight from the barrel, given that the distillery works in batches and doesn’t offer any single barrel whiskey. As with all Batch Proof releases, if you’d like a bottle, you’ll have to head to the Versailles, Kentucky-based distillery, or ship it to one of these places: Kentucky, North Dakota, Nebraska, or Washington, D.C.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon (Fall 2024)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $155
Availability: Limited

The latest edition of Old Fitzgerald has arrived, this one comprised of barrels produced in the fall of 2013, making it 11 years old. It’s a year older than the Spring 2024 release, which came out this past May, and therefore has a slight increase in price as well—it’s $155 a bottle, compared to Spring’s $140 price tag. This is the 14th whiskey in the Old Fitzgerald series, which sees two releases each year. The oldest whiskey in the range, a 19 year old, debuted in the fall of 2022.

Penelope Cooper Series: Havana Bourbon

ABV: 46.5%
SRP: $80
Availability: Limited

The newest release in Penelope’s Cooper Series, an annual collection of cask-finished whiskeys, is Havana. This newcomer sees Penelope’s flagship four-grain bourbon—a 4 year old distilled from 74% corn, 7% rye, 16% wheat, and 3% malted barley—finished in Caribbean rum barrels for a year. After that, the whiskey undergoes an additional 1-month finish in Penelope bourbon casks which were used to age maple syrup. The first batch has 27,000 bottles.

While each Cooper Series bottling typically spotlights a specific cask finish, this is the second one in the lineup with a dual-cask finish. The other one is the unusual but impressive Rio—our highest-scoring Cooper Series expression—which is finished using South American amburana wood and barrels that were used to age honey.

Still Austin Tanager Cigar Blend Bourbon

ABV: 53%
SRP: $149
Availability: Limited at first, with wider availability to come later

Still Austin’s popular bonded Red Corn bourbon was just named our No. 7 Whisky of the Year. Now the Texas craft distillery is out with a new bourbon, designed to be paired with cigars. This blend comprises two components: The majority is a bourbon distilled from blue corn, red corn, rye, and malted barley. The second portion of the blend started as a 5 year old high-rye bourbon, that was proofed to 25% ABV and aged for an additional year. That low-proof spirit was then used to cut the final bourbon to 53% ABV.

That blending process may sound bizarre to whiskey fans, but it actually has roots in the world of French brandy. For centuries, cognac and armagnac makers have been utilizing a method called petites eaux (“small waters”) whereby their brandies are proofed using watered-down brandy rather than water. The idea is to gently guide the liquid toward a target proof, without compromising any of the flavors. Still Austin contends that this “small waters” process helps combat the harsh Texas climate, which can spike tannic notes in whiskey while decimating barrel yields through high angel’s share.

Hidden Barn Series One Slow Fade Bourbon

ABV: 53.2%
Price: $80
Availability: Limited; online, at Neeley Family Distillery, and in CA, CO, GA, IN, KY, NM, NV, and NY

Sparta, Kentucky-based independent bottler Hidden Barn, founded by former Old Forester master taster Jackie Zykan in 2022, is out with a blend of 5 to 6 year old bourbons, Slow Fade. As the 10th expression in its Series One lineup, this expression is produced in close partnership with its parent company and master distiller Royce Neeley’s family’s company, Neeley Family Distillery. It sports a mashbill of 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted barley, and is aged for 2 years in American white oak barrels. This whiskey is made as all Neeley Family whiskeys are, using sweet mash, wild-caught Appalachian yeast, and double pot distillation. The name Slow Fade is a reference to its claim of a slowly fading sweet finish. This expression marks a departure from the preceding release, which was a wheated bourbon. Elsewhere, Hidden Barn features Series Two which highlights distillates from M.B. Roland Distillery based in Pembroke, Kentucky.

Chattanooga Vault Series Bourbon (2024 Edition)

ABV: Varies
SRP: $47/375 ml
Availability: Limited

Chattanooga Whiskey’s Vault Series, first launched last year, celebrates the distillery’s one-off experiments and rarest single barrels. For the 2024 Vault releases, Chattanooga tapped into one of its most rarefied Experimental Batches, Batch 002: Smoked High Malt, which debuted in 2017. While that bourbon was made with cherrywood-smoked malted barley as the lead malt (supplemented by corn, malted rye, and caramel malt) the 2024 Vault Series whiskeys—all single barrels—highlight two other types of hardwood-smoked malts: mesquite and applewood.

The four single barrels aged for over 6 years, and each contains 18% smoked malted barley. Two of the barrels contain recipes distilled with mesquite-smoked malted barley (and range from 61.6%-62.1% ABV), one with applewood (61.75% ABV), and one with a combination of mesquite, applewood, and cherrywood (62.6% ABV). The 2024 Vault Series is available exclusively at the Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Distillery in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Good Deeds Blended (Batch 2)

ABV: 45%
SRP: $90
Availability: Online exclusive

Good Deeds Spirits is a company that bottles limited-run whiskeys to benefit causes in the drinks industry. Like its predecessor, 100% of the profits from Good Deeds’s second release will go to SETUP Foundation, a diversity initiative started by the American Craft Spirits Association. The whiskey is a blend of WhistlePig straight rye and Black Button bourbon, both of which were donated by the respective distilleries. It was blended by a five-person panel including Erin Lee, head distiller of FEW Spirits in Illinois; Liz Rhoads, director of whiskey operations at WhistlePig; Jack Scardino, a distiller from Black Button; Sailor Guevara from Good Deeds Spirits; and Erica Paul, a SETUP intern.

Some 500 bottles were produced, and they can be purchased from Good Deeds Spirits’s website. The bottles are scheduled to start shipping on December 16th.