Whisky Watch: Knob Creek Cask Strength, Balvenie 1931 Collection, Aberfeldy 18, 2XO Hip-Hop Blend & More

Our annual WhiskyFest event is set to take New York by storm in just nine weeks, and there are some exciting changes to the program this year. Readers will be very happy to hear that seminars are officially back in a big way, with Masterclass Pass holders invited to sip some truly remarkable whiskies including Michter’s 20 year old bourbon, a very special 50 year old blend from Dewar’s, a trio of sought-after Japanese single malts from Yamazaki, Highland Park 30 year old and 40 year old, and Littlemill 30 year old, just to name a few. And—in a first for Whisky Advocate—our editors will also announce the 2026 Whisky of Year live at the event. For an unforgettable night of camaraderie, education, and superb drams, be sure to secure your ticket while they’re still available. We look forward to seeing you there!

As summer draws to a close with the promise of cooler temperatures on the horizon, the whisky world remains red-hot with a plethora of new and interesting whiskies. This week Knob Creek unveiled a cask strength version of its beloved 12 year old bourbon, Garrison Brothers announced single barrels for its PX and oloroso cask bourbons, 2XO’s Dixon Dedman collaborated with the Sugarhill Gang for a new blend, independent bottlers Pursuit Spirits and Shortbarrel joined forces for a collaborative blend, Wilderness Trail has a pair of well-aged bourbons, and The Ingram Distillery dropped its latest annual River Aged Flagship batch, among other releases. Across the pond, Balvenie focuses on grain with two new age-stated single malts in its 1931 Collection, while Aberfeldy continues its exploration of wine casks by finishing an 18 year old in barrels that previously held Sangiovese wine from Tuscany.

The Balvenie 1931 Collection: 12 Year Old scotch single malt

ABV: 47.5%
SRP: $100
Availability: Limited

The Balvenie 1931 Collection: 15 Year Old scotch single malt

ABV: 47.8%
SRP: $200
Availability: Limited

Joining an 88 year old single malt in the recently released Balvenie 1931 Collection are two new releases, a 12 and 15 year old. The 12 year old is made from 100% floor-malted barley, and the 15 year old is made entirely from barley grown and malted at the distillery. The year 1931 is when The Balvenie began floor malting. The whiskies were aged in American oak before a secondary maturation in sherry butts. As with the 88 year old expression, Balvenie collaborated with artist Daniel Arsham on the packaging of the 12 and 15 year olds. While they’re not quite as opulently packaged as the 88 year old, the design is cohesive among the three releases, with green and copper tones throughout. The 15 year old is limited to Global Travel Retail, while the 12 year old is available on a wider basis.

Aberfeldy 18 year old Sangiovese Red Wine Cask Finish Scotch Single Malt

ABV: 46%
SRP: $100
Availability: Limited

The latest single malt in Aberfeldy’s Red Wine Cask series is finished for a year in first-fill sangiovese casks from the Valdarno di Sopra region in Tuscany. The distillery last released an 18 year old Tuscan wine cask-finished single malt in 2022; that was finished for 4 to 5 months in barrels from the Bolgheri appellation. More recently, the series added a 15 year old Bolgheri cask finish, which received 2 years of secondary maturation (and scored 94 points with our panel last year). In another nod to the lineup’s pedigree, an 18 year old finished in French red wine casks that debuted in 2020 took the No.-10 spot on our Top 20 list that year.

Knob Creek 12 year old Cask Strength Bourbon

ABV: 60.6%
SRP: $90
Availability: Limited, nationwide

Since it first hit the scene in 2019, one of the most popular releases in the Knob Creek lineup has been the 12 year old—a 100-proof bottling that, at 95 points, was named our No.-2 Whiskey of 2020. Now it has a cask strength counterpart that cranks up the proof to 121.2. This limited edition whiskey was batched from 10 separate lots of bourbon aged in the distillery’s Clermont rickhouses.

Garrison Brothers PX Cask Finished Single Cask Bourbon

ABV: 61%–67.6%
SRP: $190
Availability: Nationwide starting next month

Garrison Brothers Oloroso Cask Finished Single Cask Bourbon

ABV: 62.3%–68.35%
SRP: $190
Availability: Nationwide starting next month

Back in May, Texas distiller Garrison Brothers kicked off its new Ranch Reserve series with a pair of sherry cask-finished bourbons. Now the distillery is releasing single cask versions of those whiskeys, representing a selection of 27 barrels from the original batch that master distiller Donnis Todd held back for their bold, distinctive profiles.

These barrels yielded around 3,000 bottles for each expression. The first 984 bottles of each will be available at a tailgate at the distillery on October 17^th, coinciding with the Texas Longhorns vs. Florida Gators college football game. The remaining bottles will be made available at retailers nationwide.

O.H. Ingram River Aged Flagship Bourbon (Batch 6)

ABV: 56.9%
SRP: $80
Availability: Select retailers and at the distillery

The Ingram Distillery, a Kentucky producer best known for its river-aging process that matures barrels on floating rickhouses moored to the banks of the Mississippi River, has a fresh batch of its annual Flagship bourbon. This one comprises a blend of 25 barrels, including four from upper decks and 21 that were aged on the lower decks. It has a mashbill of 70% corn, 21% wheat, and 9%, and it carries a 7-year age statement.

Brother Justus Founder's Reserve IV American Whiskey

ABV: 55%
SRP: $150
Availability: At the distillery, online, and retailers in Minnesota and Illinois

Minneapolis craft distillery Brother Justus is back with its annual Founder’s Reserve expression. It was distilled entirely from malted two-row pale ale barley and aged for 2–4 years in new charred Minnesota oak barrels. The total batch accounts for 25 barrels, which yielded fewer than 1,000 bottles.

2XO Collectible Series Rapper’s Delight The Hip-Hop Blend Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 52%
Price: $80
Availability: Nationwide

2XO’s Icon Series, since renamed the Collectibles Series, highlights the personal memories, passions, and hobbies of founder and master blender Dixon Dedman. The seventh release in the limited-edition collection taps into Dedman’s love of rap music through a collaboration with the Sugarhill Gang. Named for the group’s seminal 1979 hit, “Rapper’s Delight,” the expression blends two bourbon mashbills: a high-rye (35%) bourbon comprising 90% of the blend and a moderate-rye (18%) bourbon making up the remaining 10%. It follows several high-scoring releases in the collection, notably the Vinyl Blend (2025), the Kiawah Blend, which landed at No. 14 on our 2024 Top 20, and the Tribute Blend (2023).

Wilderness Trail 10 year old Symphony of Disruption Bourbon

ABV: 61.45%
SRP: $190
Availability: 414 bottles

Wilderness Trail 8 year old Cask Strength Rye

ABV: 58.05%
SRP: $80
Availability: 408 bottles

The first of Wilderness Trail’s two new ultra-limited releases is a bourbon that celebrates co-founders Dr. Pat Heist and Shane Baker in light of their induction into the Kentucky Distillers’ Association Bourbon Hall of Fame. Named “Symphony of Disruption”—a reference to the distillery’s championing of sweet mash fermentation as opposed to the more standard sour mash—the new bourbon is a 10 year old wheater comprised of three barrels. Just 414 bottles are available, and they’re exclusive to the Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky.

The second release is an 8 year old rye that was selected by Wilderness Trail national brand ambassador Haley Perros and the distilling team. Made from the distillery’s signature rye mashbill of 56% rye, 33% corn, and 11% malted barley, the new rye is also a distillery exclusive, limited to 408 bottles.

Copperworks Craft Malt Month 2026 (Cask 488) American Single Malt

ABV: 63.2%
SRP: $90
Availability: Limited

In commemoration of Craft Malt Month, which comes every September, Washington-based Copperworks has debuted a new single cask American single malt. The new whiskey is distilled from baronesse barley grown by Joseph’s Grainery in Colfax, Washington, and malted by LINC Malt in Spokane. It aged for 5 years in a rye whiskey barrel, marking the first time Copperworks has matured one of its whiskeys in a rye cask. For every bottle sold, $10 will go directly to the Craft Maltsters Guild.

Pursuit x Shortbarrel Found Footage Blended

ABV: 56.2%
Price: $100/700-ml bottle
Availability: Limited

Louisville, Kentucky-based Pursuit Spirits and Atlanta-based Shortbarrel have teamed up for a collaborative barrel-proof expression. The blend combines a barrel of Pursuit’s Double Oak rye from its United lineup and Shortbarrel’s Sapsquatch, a maple syrup barrel-finished bourbon. Its name, Found Footage, references a fictional tale in which a beast guarding the maple-finished bourbon is lured out by the United rye, with grainy “recovered” camera footage inspiring the release’s name and custom label. The whiskey debuted at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, with the remaining bottles from the small run allocated to the brands’ respective subscription clubs, P. Club and The Shortlist.

The Maven Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 47%
Price: $200
Availability: Limited

Non-distiller producer IJW Whiskey has debuted the flagship Kentucky straight bourbon for its new label, The Maven. The 7-plus year old, high-rye blend of six whiskeys puts a large emphasis on oak. The bourbon combines whiskeys aged entirely in toasted American oak with others initially matured in traditional charred American oak, then finished in toasted barrels made from four species of oak from around the globe: Kentucky chinkapin, Pacific Northwest garryana, French, and Japanese mizunara. Master blender Steve Hughes developed a proprietary toasting profile for the casks, designed to draw additional caramelized sugars and flavor from the wood.

While IJW Whiskey Company has operated under the radar, sourcing and storing barrels, it has begun releasing whiskey under its own labels in recent years, including Bondstone, First Call, MacFarlane’s Reserve, and Old Emmer. The Maven represents its latest—and most oak-focused—addition. It’s currently available at retailers in Kentucky, with rollout to California and New York coming this October.

Silver Brothers 3 year old Rye (Batch 2)

ABV: 46%
Price: $78
Availability: New York retailers and online

Silver Brothers Whiskey has unveiled a 3 year old rye, the third expression in its rapidly growing portfolio that launched earlier this year. A marriage of six 30-gallon barrels, the rye marks the distillery’s first release made predominantly with estate-grown grain, a major milestone for the regenerative farm-focused operation. The mashbill comprises 80% rye from the label’s first-year harvest, namely the AC Hazlet varietal, said to have a lighter flavor profile than other rye varieties. The remaining 20% is malted barley.

Situated on a picturesque 220-acre farm, Hudson Valley's Silver Brothers Whiskey opened its doors with the inaugural Empire Rye whiskey this past June, followed by an American single malt in July. It focuses on creating terroir-driven whiskeys using estate-grown and New York grain. In 2020, the husband-and-wife team of Matthew Greitzer and Kimberly Driessen-Greitzer purchased the property. Their first grain harvest was in 2022, and spirits production began in 2023.

Dublasé Signature No. 9 V 5 year old bourbon

ABV: 50.15%
Price: $55

Dublasé Signature No. 9 VII 7 year old bourbon

ABV: 54.3%
Price: $70

Dublasé Signature No. 9 X 10 year old bourbon

ABV: 54.45%
Price: $90

Availability: Florida, California, Washington D.C., Maryland, and online shipping to 38 states.

Jacksonville, Florida-based DuBlasé launched in 2021 with a vanilla-flavored whiskey, later adding its signature No. 11 Bourbon in 2023. Now, it’s debuting three new age-stated bourbons: 5, 7, and 10 year olds. All three were aged primarily in Indiana, with the exception of the 5 year old No. 9 V, which spent two years there before traveling to Florida for three-plus years of maturation in the subtropical climate. The V and VII share a mashbill of 75% corn, 23% rye, and 2% malted barley, while the 10 year old X leans further into rye at 60% corn, 38% rye, and 2% malted barley.

Giving back is central to the label’s mission: A portion of bottle-sale proceeds supports the DuBlasé Foundation, which funds STEM education, scholarships, and youth innovation programs.