Whisky Watch: Evan Williams, WhistlePig, and Rittenhouse Celebrate America's 250th Birthday

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, and with it, the unofficial start of summer. And this summer marks a particularly momentous occasion: The Semiquincentennial, or the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding. Many industries are getting in on the celebrations, so it’s no surprise that whiskey makers are taking part as well, and we’re seeing a flood of new releases to that effect.

Heaven Hill has added commemorative bottlings to both its Rittenhouse rye and Evan Williams bourbon lineups, while WhistlePig has debuted patriotic rye and wheat whiskeys, and Four Branches—a brand created by Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine veterans—has a celebratory doubled-oaked bourbon. Elsewhere, Blue Run has partnered with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a limited edition, Indiana-exclusive bourbon, Sespe Creek has the latest edition of its Warbringer mesquite-smoked bourbon, and Shortbarrel has introduced a new maple-finished bourbon. In the American single malt realm, Colorado’s Root Shoot has a new high proof expression, while Seattle’s Copperworks has unveiled its latest club release.

Rittenhouse 10 year old Bottled in Bond 250th Anniversary Commemorative Edition Rye

ABV: 50%
SRP: $100
Availability: Select retailers

Heaven Hill has announced a patriotic expression that commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Like other Rittenhouse expressions, this one features a mashbill of 51% rye, 35% corn, and 14% malted barley—championing what Heaven Hill calls the “Kentucky-style” rye that’s often sweeter than the traditional high-rye Pennsylvania style—and it’s bottled in bond. This one stands out for its whopping 10 year age statement, joining other recent ultra-aged expressions from Heaven Hill. It also has commemorative packaging, including the dates “1776–2026” along with an icon of the Liberty Bell.

Evan Williams America 250 Bourbons

ABV: Varies
SRP: Varies
Availability: Limited

As we draw closer to the country’s 250th anniversary, whiskey makers are getting in on the celebration. That includes Evan Williams, which is out with three patriotic bottlings:

Evan Williams Black Label (43% ABV, $25/1.75 L)
Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch (45% ABV, $24/750 ml, $38/1.75 L)
Evan Williams Single Barrel (58.88% ABV, $40/750 ml)

While the Black Label and 1783 Small Batch bottles feature the same liquid as their core counterparts, the Single Barrel bourbon is drawn from 250 barrels and bottled at 117.76 proof, in a nod to the country’s founding year. Alongside the new releases, Heaven Hill has announced a $75,000 donation to Folds of Honor, a nonprofit that issues educational scholarships to the spouses and children of fallen or disabled military service members and first responders.

WhistlePig Red, White, & Blue PiggyBank Rye

ABV: 55%
SRP: $250
Availability: Limited

WhistlePig Declaration Wheat

ABV: 43%
SRP: $74
Availability: Limited

WhistlePig has two new American-themed bottles. The first one is a new PiggyBank edition—this time it’s silver with patriotic red, white, and blue labeling—that holds 10 year old straight American rye whiskey. The second is named Declaration, and it moves in a different direction from WhistlePig’s usual rye-centric modus operandi. This one is a wheat whiskey with a high-wheat mashbill and features a cracked Liberty Bell on the top.

Both of these whiskeys follow a campaign started by WhistlePig that aims to declare rye as America’s official whiskey, owing to the style’s historical prominence in the years before Prohibition. The campaign is co-signed and endorsed by Max Miller, best known for his YouTube channel Tasting History that explores historical topics through the lens of reproducing historical cooking/baking recipes. The petition can be signed via WhistlePig’s website. If it manages to reach 1,776 signatures, the brand pledges to take it before Congress.

Four Branches Liberty Reserve Bourbon

ABV: 50%
SRP: $120
Availability: 1,776 bottles; nationwide

Founded by Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine veterans, Four Branches Bourbon has debuted Liberty Reserve, a bourbon that celebrates the Semiquincentennial. It’s a blend of sourced 10 year old bourbon from an undisclosed Kentucky distillery with Four Branches’ own-make four-grain bourbon; once married, it's finished in toasted American oak. It’s available for pre-sale order now on the brand's website.

Blue Run Indianapolis Motor Speedway Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 55.5%
SRP: N/A
Availability: Indiana exclusive

Ahead of the Indy 500 auto race on May 24th, Blue Run has collaborated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a limited edition high-rye bourbon. It’s made from Blue Run’s standard high-rye bourbon mashbill—65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley—and bottled at 111 proof. The label, meanwhile, features commemorative imagery, with the brand’s Viceroy butterfly medallion overlaid with a checkered pattern in a nod to racing flags; the neck label also features the official insignia of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Warbringer Cowboy Edition Mesquite Smoked Bourbon

ABV: 55%
SRP: $125
Availability: Online

California distillery Sespe Creek has worked with prominent mixed martial arts fighters in the past for collaborative releases. Now it’s joining forces with UFC legend Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone to release a single barrel of its mesquite-smoked Warbringer bourbon. This barrel was hand-selected by Cerrone from an array of casks assembled by master distiller John Campbell (formerly of Laphroaig). It taps mesquite at two different stages of production: It’s distilled from mesquite-smoked corn flaking grits (coarse corn with the hulls and germs removed) at the very start, and it’s thrice-filtered through mesquite charcoal at the very end. The batch yielded 160 bottles.

Shortbarrel Sapsquatch Sugar Maple-Finished Bourbon (2026 Release)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $90
Availability: Select retailers and online

Last May, Atlanta-based blending house Shortbarrel released a rare maple-finished bourbon called Sapsquatch. Now, a follow-up batch has been released, featuring a longer list of blending components than its predecessor. The 2026 version accounts for 20–30 barrels sourced from Jim Beam, Barton, Bardstown, Green River, and MGP, all of which were aged for 6–8 years. It undergoes a two-step finishing process, first spending 6–8 weeks in steel tanks filled with sugar maple infusion spirals before being transferred into Kelvin Cooperage toasted barrels that previously held a mix of Vermont and Ohio maple syrups. Shortbarrel says that it pairs well with Southern-style barbecue, which could make it an interesting option for Memorial Day sipping.

Root Shoot Homestead High Proof American Single Malt

ABV: 60%
SRP: N/A
Availability: Colorado exclusive

Farmer-turned-distiller Root Shoot Spirits has launched a new High Proof series. The first whiskey is a 120-proof blend of three 5 year old American single malt barrels and two 4 year old American single malt barrels, all of which were pot distilled and aged in new, medium-char American oak. The whiskeys were made from barley that was grown and malted on Root Shoot’s family farm in Loveland, Colorado.

Copperworks 2019 Scotch Cask American Single Malt

ABV: 50%
SRP: $90
Availability: Copperworks Whiskey Club exclusive

Seattle single malt specialist Copperworks Distilling Co. has unveiled its latest club release. This one was distilled in 2019 from Baroness malted barley, a brewing varietal originally from Germany, that was grown by Joseph’s Granary in Colfax, Washington. The whiskey was aged for 7 years and 2 months in a cask previously used to age Auchroisk Speyside single malt. The release accounts for 297 bottles. Memberships can be purchased online.