Penelope Cooper Series Rio, Gentleman's Cut, & More [New Releases]

As Fèis Ìle 2023 gets underway on Islay this weekend, Kilchoman made headlines this week when it announced plans to build a rum distillery on the island of Barbados. The new site will sit on nine acres of land at Bentley Mansion and will include a distillery, mill, and cask warehouse.

As far as new whisky, this week’s releases include a finished bourbon from Penelope, a straight bourbon from NBA star Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, and two limited single malts from Suntory in celebration of its 100th anniversary. Read on for full details.

Penelope Cooper Series Rio
Style: Finished bourbon
Origin: Indiana
Age: Not stated
ABV: 49%
Price: $90
Release: May 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:

A blend of three bourbons, the mashbill of this whiskey is 75% corn, 15% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. Inspired by Brazil, Rio is finished in a combination of American honey and amburana oak, a rare oak species native to South America.

Whisky Advocate says:

Rio is the newest addition to Penelope’s Cooper Series, which sees the brand’s Four Grain bourbon finished in various casks from around the world. Past releases have included Rosé Cask Finish (finished in rosé casks from the Rhône region of France), Valencia (finished in vino de naraña casks from Spain), and Tokaji Cask Finish (finished in Tokaji wine casks from Hungary). New whiskey isn’t the only big news from Penelope—the brand was just acquired by MGP subsidiary Luxco in a deal set to close in June. Penelope has long sourced its whiskey from MGP and now joins the MGP brand portfolio, which operates under the Luxco banner and also includes Ezra Brooks, Blood Oath, Lux Row, and Rebel, among other brands.

Gentleman’s Cut
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 5 year old
ABV: 45%
Price: $80
Release: May 2023
Availability: Nationwide

Need to know:

This bourbon was bottled by Game Changer Distillery in Boone County, Kentucky, a joint venture with Boone County Distilling Co., which also makes the Boone County brand. While it's made under the Game Changer banner, the whiskey is physically made at Boone County. The mashbill is 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. While the youngest whiskey in the bottle is 5 years old, some 6 and 7 year old whiskeys are also present.

Whisky Advocate says:

Gentleman’s Cut is the first whiskey from NBA star Stephen Curry, whose company SC30 Inc. (which also owns the Curry Brand, a shoe and clothing retailer) in collaboration with John Schwartz of Amuse Bouche Winery in Napa Valley for this venture.

Hakushu 18 year old Peated Malt
Style: Single malt
Origin: Japan
Age: 18 year old
ABV: 48%
Price: $1,200
Release: May 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:

One of two single malts released in celebration of Suntory’s 100 years in business, Hakushu 18 year old Peated Malt consists of malt whiskies all aged for a minimum of 18 years—some are as old as 35.

Yamazaki 18 year old Mizunara
Style: Single malt
Origin: Japan
Age: 18 year old
ABV: 48%
Price: $1,500
Release: May 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:

This limited-edition bottling was aged entirely in mizunara wood. Similarly to Hakushu, while the age statement is 18 years old, many of the whiskies included in the blend are quite a bit older.

Whisky Advocate says:

Suntory is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year, and the occasion calls for some special whiskies. Both releases are highly limited, but bottles will be released throughout the U.S. Accompanying these new whiskies are centennial editions of Yamazaki 12 year old and Hakushu 12 year old; both limited edition label designs honor the Japanese concept of Monozukuri, which emphasizes quality, ingenuity, and expressiveness in artisanship. In addition to the celebratory whiskies, Suntory also partnered with director Sofia Coppola for a short tribute film starring Keanu Reeves that debuted in New York City on May 23 and can be viewed on Suntory’s website.

Brother’s Bond American Blended Rye
Style: Blended rye
Origin: Indiana
Age: Not stated
ABV: 47.5%
Price: $60
Release: May 2023
Availability: 15,321 bottles

Need to know:

The first of two new releases from Brother’s Bond, this expression starts as a four-grain high-rye whiskey with a 77% rye, 16% corn, 7% malted barley and wheat mashbill. The whiskey is blended with a bourbon, and bottled at 47.5% ABV. The distillation was carried out in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Brother’s Bond Original Cask Strength (2023)
Style: Blended bourbon
Origin: Indiana
Age: Not stated
ABV: 57.5%
Price: $85
Release: May 2023
Availability: 12,480

Need to know:

The second new release from Brother's Bond is a cask strength bourbon. It is blended from three separate bourbons (65% corn, 22% rye, 13% malted barley & wheat) from a total of 70 barrels. It too was distilled and aged in Lawrenceburg. It should be noted that this expression has a completely different mashbill from its predecessor, Batch 1, making this second batch an expression all its own.

Whisky Advocate says:

Launched in 2021, Brothers’ Bond was founded by actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. The duo co-starred in The Vampire Diaries, portraying brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore respectively. The distillery's aforementioned Cask Strength Bourbon's inaugural batch and its flagship Brother’s Bond Straight (Hand Selected Bourbon) were both reviewed by our tasting panel. Although the two newest expressions have limited bottles, Brother's Bond has already expressed an interest in adding long-term support for both. There are additional runs set for both expressions (in June for the rye and in July for the Cask Strength bourbon), along with plans to have yearly releases of both expressions.

Chattanooga Whiskey Bottled in Bond: Spring 2019 Vintage
Style: Blended whiskey
Origin: Tennessee
Age: 4 year old
ABV: 50%
Price: $53
Release: May 2023
Availability: Limited; Chattanooga Experimental Distillery, FL, GA, IL, IN, SC, TN, and TX

Need to know:

Chattanooga’s latest bottled in bond release comprises a blend of whiskeys barreled between January and June 2019. It features two separate mashbills: its signature “Barrel 91” (yellow corn, malted rye, caramel malted barley, and honey malted barley) and its wheated high-malt “B005” (yellow corn, malted wheat, oak-smoked malted wheat, and caramel malted wheat).

Whisky Advocate says:

Recently, Chattanooga Whiskey has been churning out new expressions left, right, and center. In the past month alone, no fewer than three expressions have been released—all of which represent entries in completely separate series. This started in the final days of April with the release of Founder’s 11th Anniversary Blend, which commemorates the distillery’s birthday. Just last week Chattanooga dropped Batch 31, a three-corn bourbon representing the newest addition to the long-standing Experimental Batches collection. Spring 2019 Vintage is the latest entry in Chattanooga’s ongoing Bottled in Bond series, including previous expressions like its Spring 2017 Vintage, which received an 89 from the Whisky Advocate tasting panel.

The Glenturret Eight Decades
Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Highlands)
Age: Not stated
ABV: 41.5%
Price: $100,000
Release: May 2023
Availability: 80 bottles; preorder available via privateclient@theglenturret.com

Need to know:

The Glenturret’s newest super-limited expression is a Highland single malt drawn from eight casks distilled between 1987 and 1998. The whisky is scarce, with only 80 bottles worldwide and an asking price of $100,000.

Whisky Advocate says:

Eight Decades was crafted, in collaboration with Lalique, to celebrate artist James Turrell’s 80th birthday. The Glenturret is no stranger to releasing expressions with very limited availability. Particular examples include its Jamieson's Jigger Edition (170 bottles), The Brock Malloy Edition (240 bottles), and its The Trinity “Provenance” and “Prowess” expressions (both 320 bottles). Those Trinity expressions were also released in partnership with Lalique.

Ballantine’s 40 year old Masterclass Collection The Remembering
Style: Blend
Origin: Scotland
Age: 40 year old
ABV: 44.9%
Price: $11,000
Release: May 2023
Availability: Global release of 108 individually numbered bottles available via select retailers with 24 bottles available through BlockBar.com, marking Ballantine’s first NFT release.

Need to know:

This is the first release in Ballantine’s Masterclass collection, an annual release of new 40 year old blends that mark past and present Ballantine’s master blenders. Five releases are in the works, counting down to the bicentenary of Ballantine’s scotch whisky in 2027.

Whisky Advocate says:

‘The Remembering” marks Ballantine’s master blender Sandy Hyslop’s 40^th anniversary in the scotch whisky industry. His blend honors his mentor and teacher Jack Goudy, master blender from 1959–1994, who trained Hyslop in the art of blending in the Dumbarton warehouse. Hyslop bottled the first chapter in this series at natural cask strength using casks laid down by Goudy, making a key flavor of the whisky produced through the Coffey still at the closed Dumbarton Distillery.