1507 Searched for speyside whiskeys

We’ve got just two releases this week as things quiet down before the holidays. From Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Isle of Harris Distillery has two single cask offerings, both limited-release retailer exclusives. In American whiskey, Chattanooga Whiskey has unveiled its third annual Vault Series , featuring three creatively finished bourbons—in terms of the finishing choices and the length of time (4 to 5 years) spent in that secondary maturation. And we would have liked to report on the new 21 year old Toasted Single Barrel bourbon from Barrell Craft Spirits, announced this past Tuesday, but that one sold out almost immediately. Who says there's no excitement out there in the whisky world? Witness too the crowds that gathered at Stranahan's distillery in Denver last weekend for the annual release of its Snowflake limited edition single malt, which draws bigger numbers each year.
The Hearach Cask No. 1281 Scotch Single Malt
ABV: 56%
SRP...

Gifting a bottle seems easy enough, but finding the right bottle for a whisky lover is where the difficulty lies. You could play it safe by buying a bottle of their usual pour, but that isn't very exciting. Alternatively, you could surprise them with something completely new—but then you run the risk of buying something they won't like. 
A great way to start is to focus on flavors. The best approach is to look for whiskies with profiles your giftee likes—focusing on familiar foods like chocolate and barbecue, beverages like coffee or wine, or certain things like cigars—that you know will hit the spot. To cut out the work for you, we've assembled a list of 26 high-scoring whiskies that will please your whisky lover's palate and put a big smile on their face.
Dessert Lovers
For whisky lovers with a sweet tooth, there are plenty of options to choose from, including well-aged bourbons, inventive blends, light-bodied Irish whiskeys, and beyond. The...

Last Friday marked the 92nd anniversary of the repeal of the Volstead Act, an event that effectively ended Prohibition in the U.S. Nearly a century later, December 5th has become an informal holiday in the whiskey world, with whiskey lovers and makers raising a glass on Repeal Day. For some distillers, the occasion is also a good opportunity to release new Prohibition-themed whiskeys, with a notable example being the annual Remus Repeal Reserve bourbon from Ross & Squibb. This year, Old Forester has commemorated the holiday with Prohibition Era Still Proof, a high-proof 117 Series bourbon inspired by whiskeys the distillery produced a century ago.
High-Proof Homage
Like Old Forester’s other bourbons, Prohibition Era Still Proof starts off with the distillery’s trademark mashbill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley, distilled at 140 proof. It was barreled at 125 proof and aged just shy of 5 years before bottling at 130 proof.
That high proof point is...

While they’re already serving up robust cocktails in inviting atmospheres, these distilleries are getting a makeover this holiday season—transformed into pop-up bars with festive lights, holiday decor, and playful themes to bring holiday cheer. We’ve rounded up 13 distilleries that are pulling out all the stops, with looks ranging from winter wonderlands to iconic Christmas movie-themed makeovers. There’s plenty of yule-themed fun at these distilleries.
Artisan Distillery & Craft Bar – The Elf Bar
San Antonio, Texas
Open through December 24th
Artisan Distillery and Craft Bar in downtown San Antonio mainly makes vodka, though it also produces a handful of whiskeys. This holiday season, its downtown location has been turned into a North Pole-themed wonderland inspired by the film “Elf”. Book a table and enjoy an interactive experience filled with surprises, karaoke, Christmas trivia, and of course, specialty cocktails to sip...

Cardamom is a cask and grain-derived flavor noted when tasting whisky, though it takes a little practice to identify it. Learning more about cardamom can help you pick out these subtle notes, but keep your senses on high alert whenever you put your nose in a particularly spicy dram, whether it’s rye whiskey, single pot still, grain, or scotch.
Think of cardamom, and you likely think of those spindle-shaped seed pods wrapped in papery green shells, notable for their triangular prism body shape—the spice equivalent of a Glenfiddich bottle. The pods can be used whole or the 10–20 seeds in each pod can be extracted and ground into powder to heighten the aromas and flavors. Cardamom has a wide variety of culinary uses, from Indian and Middle Eastern savory dishes to Scandinavian cakes, cookies, and desserts. In drinks, it can be found in cardamom chai and Turkish coffee; it is a common botanical used by gin makers, and cardamom bitters can spice up a cocktail with an...

Today, we unveiled our 2025 Whisky of the Year, capping off a week of Top 20 reveals. The list features whiskies from around the globe, all of which came out over the past year. As we celebrate our 2025 winners, let’s look at the whiskies rolling out this week—who knows, maybe one of these bottles will appear in next year's Top 20.
Still Austin is back with its second edition of Tanager, a bourbon series that's intended for pairing with cigars. Wilderness Trail has three new single barrel whiskeys, all 6 years old; elsewhere in Kentucky, Buzzard's Roost has debuted a single barrel bourbon of its own, this one celebrating Repeal Day. Bourbon-armagnac blend Hogsworth is back with its oldest releases yet, and on the collectible side, Glenlivet has released a 56 year old single malt. 
Still Austin Tanager Cigar Blend Bourbon (2025 Release)
ABV: 53.75%
SRP: $150
Availability: Limited
Texas craft distillery Still Austin has...

For nine decades, Heaven Hill has turned challenges into opportunities, building America's largest independent, family-owned distillery from a Depression-era startup with no inventory, no warehouses, and remarkably, no brands. As the country's second-largest holder of bourbon barrels marks its 90th anniversary, Heaven Hill executive chairman Max Shapira and his daughter, Kate Latts, the company’s co-president, are doing what their family has done best for three generations of leadership: taking the long-term view.
Industry alarmists cite decreased consumption habits by younger drinkers, the cooling of the bourbon category, and agave’s steady rise. The Shapiras have seen similar cycles before; Max has been with the company for 55 years. Heaven Hill just opened Heaven Hill Springs, a new $200 million distillery in Bardstown, doubling down on bourbon's staying power while continuing to evolve the company’s tequila pipeline through its Tequila Ocho brand.
In this...

While it’s well south of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Cave City is poised to become a destination for whiskey fans: a distillery is set to open there, and a trio of craft distillers has announced tasting rooms in this Southern Kentucky town.
Cave City is best known as an entrance to Mammoth Cave National Park, home to the world’s longest cave system and a UNESCO World Heritage site. But beginning in mid-December, it will also be home to tasting rooms for Dueling Grounds Distillery and MB Roland Distillery.
Festivities kick off December 12, when both distillery and municipal officials will host a ribbon-cutting to honor the opening of the tasting rooms for Dueling Grounds and MB Roland. Included in the celebration are whiskey tastings, exclusive bottle releases, and food vendors.
The tasting rooms are located adjacent to each other on Broadway Street. The Dueling Ground space, called The Barrel Room, will offer guided tastings of the distillery’s...

The newest Sotheby’s 2025 Whisky & Whiskey auction, Festive Spirits, is now open for bidding and will culminate in a live auction on December 12. Among the scores of lots are ungodly scarce bottles, many beyond unicorn status—what’s rarer than a unicorn? A Pegasus?—including a 1950 Very Very Old Fitzgerald 15 year old “Blackhawk”, a Macallan 78 year old, and 22 pints of 1953 Old W.L. Weller 5 year old.
Standing toe-to-toe with these Pegasus bottles, one collection that’s already attracting bids is a selection of 30-plus bottles from Preservation Distillery’s Marci Palatella—specifically, a slew of Very Olde St. Nick expressions from the early ’90s, along with collector editions such as The Legends of the Wild West and Outlaw Collector series.
“We’ve never seen this many [Preservation] bottles come to auction at once,” says Zev Glesta, assistant vice president and whiskey specialist for...

It’s officially holiday season, and many bars across the country embrace this time of year with themed décor and special menus to enhance the cheer. Holiday and winter pop-up bars abound in December, creating a haven for whisky lovers who want to enjoy their favorite sips while immersed in the wonder of the season. Pull up a seat and enjoy some seasonal and specialty whisky drinks in festively decorated bar spaces. Here are some of our favorite holiday pop-up bars.
Miracle
150 locations nationwide
Nobody does Christmas pop-up bars like the team behind Miracle. The Miracle concept has grown to encompass nearly 150 bars in more than 40 states, plus international locations in seven countries. It works like this—already established bars can join the Miracle team and convert their spaces into decorated and themed Miracle bars for November and December, offering specialty drinks and glassware to fit the holiday season.
In Louisville, Miracle on Market...

For decades, the old Castletown Mill stood silent on Scotland’s rugged Northern Highlands coast—a fading reminder of the industrial past of this northernmost tip of mainland Scotland, where the Orkney islands lie just 10 miles off the coast. Now the founders of nearby Dunnet Bay Distillers, best known for Rock Rose gin, have completed a multi-million-dollar restoration of the historic building to transform it into Stannergill Distillery.
Castletown is situated at the southern end of the surfer’s paradise of Dunnet Bay, on the road between Thurso and John O’Groats. In its early 19th-century heyday, the village was famous for producing flagstones for sidewalks. The Castletown mill and grain store was built over 200 years ago; an imposing T-shaped structure with thick walls of Caithness stone and stepped gables. The millers stopped work there nearly a century ago, when the mill was closed in 1930. The buildings were sold to a local butcher for use as a...

Pablo Moix built Rare Character Whiskey Company on a reputation for bold barrel-proof whiskeys that showcase both exceptional single barrels (for the Brook Hill line) and blending craftsmanship (for labels such as Old Cassidy bourbon). Now Moix is coming full circle, returning to his bartending roots with Hurst Knoll, a 7 year old Kentucky straight rye bottled at 101 proof, designed specifically for cocktails and priced at $60. It launches this month.
“Many Rare Character offerings are barrel proof, which are harder to use in cocktails, and people may not want something that hot,” Moix explains. With bars and restaurants requesting more mixable options, he identified a gap between rye workhorses often behind the bar and high-end rye offerings: age-statement rye with enough punch to stand out in any cocktail. One that won’t sting your wallet, either.
Craft cocktails are a space Moix knows well. He started bartending in New York before moving to LA in the early...

When Gordon & MacPhail opened The Cairn Distillery in 2022, it wasn’t simply unveiling a new production site. It was a declaration of a long-term vision for the company, marking the beginning of a significant change in direction. Set on the northern edge of the Cairngorms National Park overlooking the River Spey, this modern distillery was designed as a counterpoint to the traditional handcrafted ethos of Benromach, the company’s first distillery. There, The Cairn makes unpeated, medium-bodied Speyside single malt, not due for launch until it’s 12 years old, with a flavor profile designed to resonate with global consumers in emerging markets.
While most Scottish distilleries are named after their location, the thinking behind the new distillery’s name was different. A cairn is a stack of stones used as a landmark or way marker, and the distillery echoes this idea architecturally—much of it is constructed from natural stone. Climbers often add a...

Memphis, Tennessee-based spirits company Morningside Brands has partnered with country music star Riley Green to launch Duck Club Bourbon, a new line of whiskeys geared toward those who love the outdoors. The brand is launching with two expressions this month, for sale online and in retail stores in seven states, with plans for national expansion in 2026.
Duck Club’s flagship bourbon (46% ABV/$30) is a four-grain blend of two whiskeys. One comprises 88% and is a 5 year old with a mashbill of 67% corn, 23% rye, and 10% malted barley. The second accounts for the remaining 12%, and is a 6 year old wheated bourbon with a mashbill of 51% corn, 45% wheat, and 4% malted barley.
The other label in this release from Duck Club is High Brass (55% ABV/$40), and it’s also a blend of two bourbons: 82% of which is a 5 year old from Kentucky with a mashbill of 67% corn, 23% rye, and 10% malted barley. The remaining 18% is an 8 year old Kentucky bourbon with a mashbill of 75% corn...

In scotch whisky, Glengoyne 18 year old is back after a five-year absence from the U.S. Among American whiskeys, we have Bardstown Normandie Calvados Cask, New Riff Winter Whiskey and a sherry cask-finished malted rye, Barrell's new blend, Wyoming Whiskey's latest National Parks expression, Old Forester's Texas tribute King Ranch, and a single malt from Laws. 
Glengoyne 18 year old scotch single malt
ABV: 43%
SRP: $150
Availability: Nationwide
In 2020, Glengoyne ceased bringing its 18 year old single malt to the U.S. After a five-year drought, brought on by a lapse in production in the mid-aughts, it’s now returning to the American market. The Highland malt is matured predominantly in oloroso sherry casks, with a smaller portion aged in refill casks. As it makes its way back to shelves, it’ll be in new, sustainable packaging as well, bottled in 49% recycled glass and a fully recyclable box (the latter of which...

Heaven Hill debuted its Grain to Glass annual series in the summer of 2024, starting with a trio of whiskeys—a bourbon, a rye, and a wheated bourbon—distilled in 2017. Last summer came the 2025 version of that threesome, distilled in 2018. All six of these expressions have won high praise, scoring in the 92-94 point range with Whisky Advocate’s tasting panel. Now the Grain to Glass series has headed in a new direction, exploring the use of wood with a bourbon, a wheater, and a rye fully matured in chinquapin oak.
Exploration of Oak
Chinquapin is a type of white oak that’s native to North America, primarily in the Central and Northeast U.S. and some areas of Canada. It’s a close cousin of American white oak (Quercus alba), often used to make whiskey barrels, with some small differences: The Chinquapin is shorter than the American white oak, topping out at around 70 feet compared to 100 feet, and tends to grow in slightly drier soil. It hasn’t...

There are three things I recall from my camping days of long ago. The first is that rain was all but guaranteed on every trip. The second is that cheap beer tastes far better in the woods. And third is the absolute deliciousness of s’mores.
While my post-camping self doesn’t miss the rain or the cheap beer, campfire s’mores are another matter entirely. There is something about the almost magical combination of graham crackers, chocolate, and flame-roasted marshmallow that belies its apparent simplicity.
Perfect S'mores Recipe
Fortunately, you don’t actually need a campfire to make a s’more. The original version and all of its spin-offs may be prepared in the comfort of one’s own kitchen.
Of the home methods available, including a most unsatisfying microwave option and near incineration under the broiler, the best by far is baked. To make this version, preheat the oven to 400° F, lay out graham crackers atop a parchment...

Chip Tate, who founded Texas-based Balcones Distilling in 2008 and took the craft world by storm with his unusual grain recipes and production techniques, was named master distiller for innovation at Foley Family Wines two years ago. The California-based wine company had branched into spirits with the acquisition of mothballed Nevada-based grain-to-glass distillery Bently Heritage Estate (later renamed Minden Mill) in May 2023, and there was a promise of more to come. Now that "more" is here—Tate has debuted Ampersand, an intriguing new trio of whiskies that melds his blending prowess with his love of cask finishes.
Ampersand’s three expressions are  Malus, Vinea, and Opimus. Malus is a blend of 51% rye (sourced from Lawrenceburg, Indiana) and 49% calvados, an apple brandy native to Normandy, France, that is one of Tate’s favorite spirits. While he fully acknowledges that Malus isn’t a blended whiskey, it's something of a cousin...

In the underground cellars of Paul John Distillery’s production facility in Goa, India, rest 3,500 casks, painted in a blueish hue by the overhead lighting. “These barrels mature more slowly in this area, so we’re using it for experimentation,” explains Paul John’s master distiller and blender Michael D’Souza, as he plunges a whisky thief into a barrel he’s just hammered open. “This is our whisky that’s been finishing in Caribbean rum casks from Foursquare,” he says, splashing some of the 14 year old liquid into my Glencairn.

It’s delicious, noticeably more delicate than the 3 to 7 year old core single malts that I just tried, which were aged in the warehouses above ground, where up to 30,000 casks are maturing in a total of five warehouses. Here, about seven miles from the Arabian Sea, Goa’s tropical climate transforms the liquid at such a rapid pace that it would lap scotch if it were a race. A Speyside...

Earlier in the week, we saw the release of the new Sazerac Full Proof. Here, we cover the release of Booker’s fourth and final batch of 2025, Phantom Pipes, as well as two new expressions from Barrell—its New Year edition and a 21 year old. In scotch, Johnnie Walker Blue is out with its annual Lunar New Year expression. From Bardstown, Kentucky, veteran-owned Four Branches has a new bourbon. And from New York’s Hudson Valley, Tenmile Distillery is calling all history buffs with a collection commemorating next year's 250th anniversary of the United States, which has already begun releasing. 
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Year of the Horse Blended Scotch
SRP: $264
ABV: 46%
Availability: Limited-edition design, imported by Diageo, New York
Johnnie Walker has released its 2026 Lunar New Year edition, a limited-edition design of Blue Label. The Year of the Horse edition was created by fashion designer Robert Wun, known for...

When Buffalo Trace introduced Sazerac Rye 100 Proof earlier this year, it was widely praised as a welcome bump-up from the standard 90 proof expression. Sazerac has always been a great cocktail brand, and bartenders in particular expressed their enthusiasm. But some voices in the higher-proof crowd clamored for more, saying that 100 Proof didn’t quite go far enough. Now Buffalo Trace has taken it up a notch again with Sazerac Rye Full Proof, bottled at 62.5% ABV and releasing this month as a permanent member of the Sazerac lineup.
The term “full proof” applies to whiskeys that are bottled at the same proof they entered the barrel, as opposed to “barrel proof,” which refers to whiskeys that are bottled at their proof when taken from the barrel. This means that by rule, a full proof whiskey can be diluted back down to its entry proof when it exits the barrel. That proof will be lower in Kentucky, where the hot climate boosts alcohol content during...

Glenlivet is having a moment. Riding high after the record sale of its SPIRA 1965 60 year old in October, a likely unassailable highest hammer price of the year, two rare Glenlivet whiskies are vying for the 20-highest hammer prices of this month. First, Glenlivet dropped its second one-of-one release in as many months with Glenlivet 56 year old, the second release in the Eternal Collection. Sold in partnership with Sotheby’s, London, the gold-plated 700-ml decanter of Speyside single malt is not a single cask expression; rather, it’s a bespoke assemblage of aged Glenlivet. Initially matured in bourbon casks, it was finished in a sherry butt seasoned with a blend of oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, and palo cortado sherries. Carrying an age statement just four years younger than the 1.5-liter SPIRA that sold for $693,682, Glenlivet 56 year old is expected to sell for $46,000–$92,000. The first release with Sotheby’s, last year’s Glenlivet 55 year old 200th...

On the evening of November 5th, scotch whisky’s leading lights gathered at New York City’s Metropolitan Club for the annual dinner of the U.S. chapter of the Keepers of the Quaich, the Scotland-based society that honors and recognizes the distillers, writers, marketers, ambassadors, and evangelists of the scotch whisky industry.
The Keepers induct new members at ceremonies held twice a year at Blair Castle in Scotland. (Whisky Advocate editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken was one of the original inductees at the first Keepers ceremony in 1988.)  In addition to those two events in Scotland, the U.S. chapter holds this annual dinner, a night steeped in Scottish tradition, including haggis, bagpipes, poems, and, of course, drams.
This year, the evening started with a cocktail hour in the Metropolitan Club's Grand Hall, where tasting stations were arranged throughout the marbled space and a three-piece band played on the grand staircase as attendees sipped...

This year marks the 90th anniversary of Heaven Hill’s founding, and the distillery has been celebrating with a slew of memorable releases. In June, we exclusively reported that Old Fitzgerald, one of the distillery’s most sought-after collectibles that usually releases two batches per year (in spring and fall), added a budget-friendly 7 year old that will be available year-round. Just two months later, the distillery rolled out its fourth Old Fitz VVS—a rarer “Very Very Special” batch, aged 11 years and identified by its maroon label. The following month, Heaven Hill commemorated the opening of its new Bardstown distillery with Master Distillers Unity, a bourbon blend that contained some of the distillery’s last “pre-fire” barrels. Just weeks later, the distillery announced news that its popular Elijah Craig Barrel Proof series was receiving a rye expression, with three batches dropping annually alongside its...

Michter’s 20 year old, Garrison Brothers’ Cowboy, and Cedar Ridge Double Barrel are just some of the new offerings in this week's parade of new American whiskeys, while in scotch, Highland Park is out with a new bottling in its cask strength series. Among world whiskies, Nikka celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Nikka From The Barrel whisky with a commemorative release, and Paul John has unveiled its annual Christmas Edition. Somewhat related is news that Bobby Garg, the U.S. importer of Indian whisky label Rampur, has released his own bourbon. 
 
Michter’s 20 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 57.1%
SRP: $1,200
Availability: Limited
While Michter’s 20 year old bourbon is an infrequent release, fans of this coveted whiskey are in luck: for the second year in a row, the distillery is releasing the 20 year old bourbon next month. The 2025 bottling is selling at the same $1,200 price tag as...

As leaves turn and temperatures drop, whisky enthusiasts turn their attention to fall's most anticipated releases. This season's landscape spans the spectrum, from coveted Kentucky bourbons to scotch single malts to American whiskey with experimental cask finishes. While there are a lot of bottles generating much-deserved buzz in 2025, these 16 (presented in no particular order) represent what collectors, enthusiasts, and bar professionals are hunting, pouring, and enjoying.
Old Cassidy Bourbon (2025 Release), 60.5%, $199
This indulgent blend from Rare Character Whiskey Company melds several “exceptional barrels ranging in age,” hand-selected by co-founder Pablo Moix, including 18 year old Kentucky bourbon. Blended by Chad Watson, the final batch comes in at 123 proof, though it noses and drinks far lower. Flavors of sweet cherry syrup and cinnamon buns abound, and the protracted finish is decadent.
Stranahan’s Diamond Peak American Single Malt (2025...

On November 14th the New York Marriott Marquis transforms into whisky paradise—and you're invited. WhiskyFest New York is the not-to-be-missed event for everyone who enjoys whisky and other fine spirits. Whether you’re an expert, a fan looking to expand your horizons, or simply starting your whisky journey, WhiskyFest is the place to be. Admission includes access to hundreds of whiskies and other spirits, as well as a Glencairn tasting glass, gourmet buffet, and more.
Plan ahead for an evening that will enrich your tasting experience. Start by visiting the WhiskyFest website to view a selection of whiskies to be poured—and check back often as it’s updated regularly. You’ll find brands you know and likely some favorites, but don’t overlook those you’ve not heard of before. Remember, this night is an opportunity to learn more about your favorites, but also to discover new. Make a priority list of the brands you want to taste, and leave some...

Diageo Special Releases, the annual collection, first introduced in  2001, quickly grew in popularity with its rare, collectible bottles of Brora and Port Ellen often selling out on the day of release. The collection typically included whiskies with age statements of 25–52 years, giving whisky lovers the opportunity to taste single malts and grains from closed distilleries, including Rosebank (now reopened), Convalmore, Glenury Royal, Linlithgow (St. Magdalene), Brechin (North Port), Pittyvaich, Port Dundas, Caledonian, and Cambus. As collecting, investing, and flipping whisky grew in popularity, prices for the Diageo Special Releases climbed. But those stocks couldn’t last forever, and Diageo took the series in a different direction in 2021with fewer precious releases, steering those into the Diageo Prima & Ultima annual collections, which ran between 2020–2023.
The transformed Diageo Special Releases of the early 2020s encapsulated mythical...

Last August, James B. Beam Distilling unveiled The Infinite, an extension of its sought-after Little Book series that put the focus on family—blending bourbons made by three Beam master distillers, including Freddie Noe, his father Fred, and his grandfather Booker. The inaugural release was well received, scoring 91 points with our tasting panel, and the distillery promised that other multi-generational blends were on the way. Each new entry would include some of the liquid from the previous batch. Now the second batch, called The Infinite Edition II, has been released. 
Edition II’s recipe starts with some liquid from Edition I—itself a blend of four straight bourbons, including a 20 year old distilled by Booker, a 14 year old made by Fred, a 7 year old distilled by Freddie, and an 8 year old that Fred and Freddie worked on together. Freddie then blended this component with three other bourbons. The first one was distilled by Booker: an ultra-aged 22...

When James B. Beam master distiller Fred Noe laid down barrels of Knob Creek’s flagship bourbon in 2004, there wasn’t an expectation that a portion of them would rest in the warehouse for more than two decades. But as the whiskey matured and passed its baseline of 9 years old, the distilling team left some barrels from the lot untouched, buoyed by the results they were seeing. Finally, at 21 years old, the barrels were emptied and the bourbon was bottled, becoming the oldest whiskey that Knob Creek—or James B. Beam Distilling overall—has ever released.
While some of Knob Creek’s core whiskeys are chill-filtered, this ultra-aged bourbon was not. But Noe and son Freddie Noe did proof it down slightly from a cask strength of 55% to 50% ABV, smoothing out some of its rougher edges. Right off the bat, the bourbon’s age is apparent, signaled by a deep mahogany color; aromas of oak, barrel char, and crème brûlée that also point...

Citing the impact of a slumping whiskey market and higher state taxes, Washington craft distiller Heritage Distilling announced that it will shutter all five of its tasting rooms in Washington and Oregon, effective December 31st. Production at the distillery’s Gig Harbor, Washington, and Eugene, Oregon, distilleries is expected to end in mid-February. The move will cut operating expenses by more than $5 million.
Heritage plans to outsource its spirit production to other distilleries by year-end, and will continue to sell its products online and through some wholesale channels.
Heritage, founded in the small city of Gig Harbor on Washington’s Puget Sound in 2011, makes whiskeys including its Salute and Special Operations series, as well as Stiefel’s Select flavored whiskey. It also produces vodka and ready-to-drink cocktail products. The company, which announced an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in the fall of 2024, is also noteworthy for its...

Over the past few years, one of the biggest stars in the Jack Daniel’s lineup has been Coy Hill. The whiskey, which first hit the scene in 2021 as part of the ongoing Single Barrel Special Releases Series, took the classic Jack Daniel’s profile recipe and cranked it up to 11—showcasing high-proof (often hazmat) single barrels that were aged on the eponymous Coy Hill, the highest point on the distillery’s campus that contains five rickhouses. Last year’s batch, Barrelhouse 8, scored 95 points with our tasting panel, making it one of the highest-rated Jack Daniel whiskeys we’ve ever tasted. Now the distillery is applying that same blueprint to rye with a new expression, Tanyard Hill.
Sky-High Rye
As the name suggests, this release was aged on Tanyard Hill, an area on the western side of the Jack Daniel Distillery campus. Specifically, it’s located southwest of Coy Hill, just up the hill from the Lynchburg Hardware & General...

Each October, more than 1,500 runners from over 25 countries descend on Speyside for the Dramathon—a race, founded in 2017, that turns Scotland’s whisky heartland into a marathon course. The route threads from Glenfarclas to Glenfiddich, passing the pagoda roofs and malt-sweet air of distilleries like Cragganmore, Cardhu, and Balvenie. Some run for time, others for the scenery, and a few simply for the promise of a dram at the finish line.
It was still half-dark when I arrived at Glenfiddich Distillery, my breath fogging in the pre-dawn cold. Runners were huddled in clusters in the parking lot on this late-October morning in Speyside, stamping their feet, the air heavy with the sharp mix of coffee, adrenaline, and sweat—many had just sprinted from Mortlach Community Hall, 15 minutes away, where they’d collected their race numbers and a dram. The sound of bagpipes could be heard from near the maturation warehouses. This will be finishing line for...

A confluence is the meeting of two rivers; for Newport, Kentucky-based New Riff Distilling and Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Chattanooga Whiskey, The Confluence Project is a meeting of distilleries, joined by a singular mashbill. The mashbill in question is a 100% wheat whiskey, made from four varieties of wheat: 60% red turkey, 24% Appalachian malted, 8% dark malted, and 8% caramel malted. It’s a callback to both New Riff’s Red Turkey wheat whiskey and Chattanooga’s adherence to specialty malts in its high-malt mashbills.
While they may share the same mashbill, the two whiskeys took drastically different journeys to the bottle. New Riff took the whiskey through its standard production process, which includes the use of limestone-filtered water, a four-day fermentation, a barrel entry proof of 110, and new charred oak for maturation. Chattanooga, on the other hand, fermented its whiskey for a full week, entered it into the barrel at various entry proofs ranging...

After several high-octane weeks, where the pace of new releases seldom faltered, we have a quieter week here, with just five new whiskies. Aberfeldy, the sole new scotch, has continued its exploration of wine casks, releasing a 15 year old single malt finished in Bolgheri red wine barrels. In Tennessee, Jack Daniel Distillery has added another whiskey to its coveted Single Barrel Special Release Series, this one a rye. Kentucky is well represented with five new whiskeys: three are from Beam, which has launched the latest terroir-driven series under its Hardin's Creek label; another comes from blender Frank August, which has a new Case Study bourbon; and the last is a blend of bourbons and ryes from independent bottler High n' Wicked. 
Aberfeldy 15 year old Bolgheri Red Wine Cask Finish Highland Single Malt Scotch
ABV: 46%
SRP: $85
Availability: Limited; specialist retailers; imported by Bacardi
Tuscany is known for its breathtaking landscapes...

Chattanooga Whiskey is taking whiskey and cola back to its roots with an unusual approach: infusing a bourbon with a series of all-natural ingredients that were used to create soda-fountain cola in its early days.
Unlike some of Chattanooga’s other experimental releases, which use the distillery’s flagship high-malt “Barrel 91” bourbon recipe, this one starts off with a blend of four bourbon mashbills. The mashbill has a strong component of malted grains, with the recipe including eight types—pale malted rye, floor-malted barley, pale malted wheat, honey malted barley, caramel malted barley, Munich malted rye, caramel malted wheat, and pale malted barley—alongside unmalted yellow corn. The whiskeys were blended together for this release.
After assembling the blend, distiller Grant McCracken infused it with a mix of 10 botanicals, specifically targeting ingredients that were commonly used to make cola back in the 19th and 20th centuries. The...

Whisky knows no season, but there's something about rye that seems extra fitting during the colder months but any whisky is perfect for pumpkin spice season. Like every other category of whisky, a rye's flavors can run the gamut of peppery, spicy, herbal, oaky, fruity, and sweet. As distillers dabble with heirloom varieties and employ interesting finishing barrels, the flavors are becoming more unique and varied.
Less popular than bourbon, rye has seen a revival in the last 10 years. That's largely thanks to craft distillers who took an interest in distilling's history and were inspired to innovate as they recreated the pre-Prohibition style. Distillers like Leopold Bros. have gone back to the roots of rye distillation with its Three Chamber rye, and Dad's Hat in Pennsylvania recreated the state's rye of its heyday with heirloom Rosen rye. New York distillers have harkened back to the state's pre-Prohibition rye whiskey heritage by...

Russell’s Reserve is back with a new iteration of Single Rickhouse, the highly sought-after collection that first launched in 2022 and has since achieved cult status. Westland Distillery, meanwhile, marks a major milestone with the release of Garryana 10th Edition, which carries a 10 year old age statement. And finally, O.H. Ingram, which ages its whiskeys on barges moored to the banks of the Mississippi River, has a new iteration of its Flagship bourbon label, an annual release.
 
 
Russell’s Reserve Single Rickhouse Collection: Camp Nelson E bourbon (2025 Release)
ABV: 64%
SRP: $300
Availability: Limited
This year’s Russell’s Reserve Single Rickhouse release is the fourth in the series. At 64% ABV it’s the highest proof bottling ever released from Russell’s Reserve, or from Wild Turkey, for that matter. The barrels were selected from rickhouse E on the Camp Nelson site—one of...

This week’s new releases include three scotch whiskies—a 16 year old from Highland Park, and 12 year olds from Bunnahabhain and Glenlivet. On the American side, Heaven Hill has three new extensions to its Grain to Glass Series: a bourbon, rye, and wheated bourbon aged 6 years in chinquapin oak. Old Overholt rye has a new cask strength 12 year old, while Whisky del Bac continues to branch out from its single malt roots with a new bourbon, this one with mesquite-smoke staves inserted into the barrels. Elsewhere, we have two new whiskeys from Barrell, the oldest whiskey yet from Pinhook, a stout cask-finished expression from Virginia Distillery Co., and much more.
 
Bunnahabhain 12 year old Cask Strength (2025 Edition) scotch single malt
ABV: 56.4%
SRP: $149
Availability: Limited
The 2025 edition of Bunnahabhain 12 year old cask strength is an unpeated Islay whisky created by Bunnahabhain master blender Julieann Fernandez. The series was...

Water. Malted barley. Hops. Yeast. Copper. Oak. Fire. Family. Money. Rebellion. Power. These 12 words flash across the screen in the opening moments of Netflix’s smash hit “House of Guinness,” a signal that it’s time to pour a glass of good Irish whiskey and settle in.
"House of Guinness" was written and created by Steven Knight, and the dark cinematography and slick pace have a natural affinity to “Peaky Blinders,” Knight’s best-known work. The power struggles and sibling rivalries bear a close resemblance to another family drama, “Succession.” The costumes for the principal parts are magnificent, subtly drawing on the rich color palette of a pint of Guinness: think black, cream, and deep reds. The hustle and bustle of the brewery and cooperage are vividly brought to life through the sweat, grime, and noise of the men working the coppers (giant riveted fermenting vessels), shoveling coal into fires, and repairing and rolling...

With record hammer prices paid for Glenlivet, Glen Grant, and Port Ellen, the Distillers One of One auction certainly created plenty of headlines. Beyond these notable successes, three lots are worth highlighting for their better-than-expected performance. The Ladyburn Marilyn Monroe by Sam Shaw 1966 58 year old sold for $240,121, the value boosted by the 20th-century cinematic icon on the label and the rarity of the whisky, which was distilled during the founding year of this short-lived single malt distillery. Ladyburn was built within William Grant & Sons’ Girvan grain distillery in 1966 and operated until 1975. There’s no real connection between the distillery and Marilyn Monroe—after all, she died in 1962 before Girvan or Ladyburn distilleries were around—but it certainly made for an eye-catching label.
Few whisky drinkers will know the name KANDOBLANC as it’s a design house, not a distillery, dedicated to the creation of one-of-a-kind...

Each fall, single malt scotch savants are served a new collection of Special Releases from Diageo. These whiskies are collectible in nature as they are one-and-done releases, selected for some innovative or unusual quality that may not be recreated again. This year’s collection, Horizons Unbound, presents experimental takes on some of Diageo’s most iconic single malt and single grain whiskies; this includes a mezcal cask-finished whisky from The Singleton, a Talisker malt matured in volcanic rock-toasted American oak, and a single grain from Teaninich, as well as four others. The collection was curated by master blender Dr. Stuart Morrison.
Bottles of the 2025 Special Releases are available now on malts.com and at select retailers.
Diageo 2025 Special Releases: Horizons Unbound
Talisker Molten Seas
ABV: 53.7%
SRP: $185
This 14 year old was matured in bourbon barrels before finishing in new American oak that was toasted by the heat of...

Back in 2000, Buffalo Trace introduced the first iteration of its Antique Collection. That inaugural release of three whiskeys—Eagle Rare 17 year old bourbon, Weller 19 year old wheated bourbon, and Sazerac 18 year old rye—were among the distillery’s rarest and oldest whiskeys, creating the blueprint for the annual series. In the years that followed, the Antique Collection expanded to include more expressions, and for the most part higher proof points; the 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC) further ups the ante, celebrating 25 years of releases with the first new addition to the collection in almost two decades.
The 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Newcomer
Joining the “usual suspects” of the modern Antique Collection—Eagle Rare 17 year old bourbon, George T. Stagg bourbon, Thomas H. Handy rye, Sazerac 18 year old rye, and William Larue Weller bourbon—is Colonel E.H. Taylor bottled in bond bourbon. The first new addition...

Blue Run Spirits has launched a multi-city cocktail and music experience, offering an immersive encounter that highlights its signature Kentucky straight High Rye bourbon and the classic Vieux Carré cocktail, with support from local DJs at each location. The Vieux Carré & Vinyl Tour kicked off on October 1st in Nashville and has planned stops at cocktail bars in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami through early December. Admission is free for guests who rsvp online here.
The events include craft cocktails that feature Blue Run’s portfolio of whiskeys, with High Rye bourbon and the Vieux Carré taking center stage. A traditional Vieux Carré cocktail combines rye whiskey and cognac with sweet vermouth, herbal liqueur, and bitters. Blue Run notes that the spicy flavor of its High Rye bourbon complements the sweetness of the Vieux Carré’s other ingredients and amplifies the fruity and floral elements in the drink, offering a modern take on...

Cask finishing can take many forms; its ultimate purpose is to imbue a whisky with layered flavors that elevate its character after initial maturation in a different type of barrel. Rum cask-finished whiskies generally present notes of juicy tropical fruits. Casks that previously held light rums might lend more clean, vegetal sweetness, while richer, molasses notes can shine through in a whisky finished in casks that held dark rum. The flavors imparted by a rum cask can enhance a whisky, from mirroring bourbon’s inherent sweetness, balancing out spice in a rye, or adding layers of flavor to a grain or single malt scotch.
The use of rum casks to finish whisky is an idea that goes way back among makers of scotch and Irish whiskey. In American whiskey, Angel’s Envy was one of the pioneers, coming out with a Caribbean rum cask-finished rye 12 years ago. Producers use rum casks in different ways: as a solo finishing cask, in combination with other casks, or as the sole...

As we move full-on into fall, we are loaded up with high-profile whiskies this week. King of Kentucky is out with its eighth annual release, while Widow Jane drops its seventh annual bottling of The Vaults, the series highlighting ultra-aged bourbons made with unusual cask finishes. Woodford Reserve has a new barrel strength rye, while Baltimore rye specialist Sagamore Spirit has released its first bourbon, a high-rye expression made entirely at the distillery. Among other whiskies, scotch whisky blender Compass Box has tapped into the dessert lover’s palate with a new expression called Crème Brulée Royale, while India’s Rampur Distillery has a new single malt. Meanwhile, college football is in the air: Teeling is back with another expression honoring the legacy of Notre Dame's legendary team, and former Rutgers University football star Eric LeGrand toasts his alma mater with a new bourbon saluting its mascot, the...

“More people have reached the summit of Mount Everest this year than will ever taste this whisky,” states Stephen Rankin, director of prestige at Gordon & MacPhail, indicating the whisky glasses in front of us. Each vessel contains a pour of the world’s first 85 year old whisky, a Glenlivet single malt scotch, the news of which was revealed in July.
This historic spirit was filled into Gordon & MacPhail’s cask No. 336 on February 3, 1940, during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. At the time of its release, it is older than any currently living U.S. president. The whisky was made from barley grown in 1939, Britain’s last peacetime harvest for six years, and malted at the distillery using local peat. It’s matured in a first-fill American oak sherry butt; the oak trees used for the cask would have been growing when Abraham Lincoln was a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. Before maturing this whisky, the cask was used to...

Whisky makers are facing some tough challenges these days: rising inventories, greater competition from other spirits types, and now potential regulatory disruptions as a result of the government shutdown that went into effect on October 1. While the store shelves remain stocked for whisky lovers, distillers face significant hurdles that could impact future releases.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)—the federal agency that issues distilling permits, approves labels, and evaluates formulas—has furloughed 87% of its workforce during the shutdown. According to the agency's official shutdown plan, all permit processing, label approvals, and formula evaluations have completely ceased. Only 61 of the agency's 459 employees remain to handle tax remittances, protect federal property, and maintain criminal enforcement activities. Here’s a breakdown of how the shutdown impedes whisky (and other distilled spirits). 

Label...

This Michigan distiller’s single malt blends whiskeys aged 4 to 8 years. There’s sweetness to the nose, as peach, malt, Apple Jacks, and cedar rush in. On the palate, those notes are countered by peppery spice, heightened char, and cinnamon babka. It’s hot for a whiskey of its proof, and water doesn’t quite solve the equation, but fans of hefty spice coupled with fruit flavors may find a lot to like about this.

Rye whiskeys from Jefferson’s are a rarity, but the bourbon-forward producer showed some serious rye prowess with this release. The nose packs a well-spiced punch of cinnamon and pepper, accented by fainter hints of cedar, anise, and black raspberry. Spice multiplies on the luscious palate, joined by dark chocolate, dried herbs, and cinnamon ice cream. On the finish, even more spice, plus soft mocha flavors, a bit of berry, and a dry, ashy note on the back...

Diageo’s prestigious whisky program, The Twelve by Casks of Distinction, has unveiled a cask of Mortlach 1984 as the pinnacle of its 2025 collection. The launch in Singapore, in front of elite whisky collectors and luxury connoisseurs, marked the global unveiling of this year’s 12 exceptional casks
Casks of Distinction is an annual private cask sale program, with Diageo’s team of master whisky makers sourcing and evaluating rare casks from the company’s reserves of more than 10 million casks. Casks are available from £150,000 (approx. $200,000) and up.
The coveted twelfth cask, Mortlach 1984 Cask No. 4155, has been maturing in an American oak hogshead for 41 years. In a statement, master blender Dr. Craig Wilson said, “Despite its age, a fresh maltiness still comes through and as black pepper and clove build on the palate, the unmistakable Mortlach meatiness and a dry woodiness carry through to an exceptionally long finish.”
The...

An eclectic and interesting array of new releases has greeted us this week, starting with Tuesday’s unveiling of  Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Beacon, the final bottling in the distillery’s long-running Master’s Keep series. In today’s roundup, we have a rare sweet mash whiskey from Jack Daniel’s, a 12 year old French oak finished bourbon from Barrell Craft Spirits, and the fall release of Still Austin’s bottled in bond bourbon, this one a 7 year old that’s the distillery’s oldest whiskey yet. Among new scotch releases, Ardbeg has announced Y2K 24 year old, which was distilled in 2000, while Nc’Nean offers an amarone-finished single cask expression as a U.S. exclusive.
Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series No. 15: Sweet Mash Tennessee Whiskey
ABV:  58.5%
SRP:  $45/375ml
Availability: Distillery exclusive
Jack Daniel’s is best known for its sour mash whiskey, but the distillery also...

Even Kulsveen, best known for resurrecting Willett Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, and helping to pioneer the renaissance of American whiskey, died on September 23 at the age of 79.  Born in Norway, he emigrated to the U.S. at age 14 and eventually came to work at Willett, a move that would define his life.
Willett Distilling Co. was founded by Thompson Willett on his family farm in Bardstown in 1936, and released its first barrel the following year. While doing business with Thompson, Even met his daughter Martha, and the two were married in 1972.
The bourbon industry entered a long slowdown in the 1970s, Willett was shuttered by the end of the decade. Even and Martha gained ownership of the property in 1984, and although the stills were silent, Kulsveen used the space to become an independent bottler. He was way ahead of his time in spotting the opportunities to buy quality aged bourbon amid the glut, and by 1991 he was doing a...

Buffalo Trace has created an exciting new way for bourbon lovers to sample the distillery’s notoriously hard-to-find whiskeys: The Buffalo Trace Distillery On Tour. A traveling tasting experience, the U.S. debut will kick off by visiting four cities in October, and the best part is it’s free with online registration.
The tour will stop in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, and Jacksonville and Tampa, Florida, next month, and the pouring will take place in modern, high-style event spaces in each of those cities. Each stop will feature pours of Buffalo Trace bourbon, Eagle Rare 10 year old, Weller Antique 107, and Sazerac 100 proof rye, which will be served during a 90-minute guided tasting experience. The distillery has teased that some whiskey surprises may also be available. There is no charge to attend as long as guests pre-register here. Registration opened in mid-September and sold out within hours, but fear not—additional availability has been added...

What a week for new releases! There’s no shortage of new whiskies as we transition from summer into fall, and they range from highly allocated collectible single malts and experimental limited editions to widely available permanent expressions.
Scotch lovers have plenty to be excited about, with new malts and blends coming from all over the country. Laphroaig has debuted the third edition of its experimental Elements series; Single Cask Nation has bottled three new single malts; Buchanan’s has added a luxurious new blend; and Johnnie Walker has launched a limited-edition Blue Label bottle and box that celebrates the Indian festive season. In bourbon, there’s cask finishes galore. Both Barton 1792 and Hirsch have introduced cognac-finished bourbons, while Widow Jane is back with its maple syrup-finished Decadence, and Steph Curry’s Gentleman’s Cut has a Pedro Ximénez sherry-finished bourbon, made in collaboration with chef José...

There’s no doubt that we’re entering the busiest part of the auction year. September’s provisional 20-highest hammer prices of the month rocketed past the value of last month’s total before the end of the first two weeks. The calendar has been packed with major auctions, as well as charity endeavors, including Bourbon Bonanza, Art of Bourbon, and the Legacy de Forge auction for Bourbon Heritage Month.
Spink, China ran an exclusive Springbank auction featuring over 100 lots, with a bottle of Springbank Millennium 50 year old fetching a hammer price of $10,272. Whiskyauction.com concluded their long-running ninth auction of the year on September 13th, which had been open for bidding for 56 days since July. Their highest bid was $26,020 for a bottle of Karuizawa Noh Whisky 1971 41 year old Cask No. 1842, one of a number of Karuizawa bottles vying to make the 20-highest hammer prices for September. Bowmore had a clean sweep at Scotch Whisky Auction’s...

Woody Creek Distillers, the Colorado craft distillery that specializes in rye distilled from local grains and counts award-winning actor and director William H. Macy among its partners, has announced that industry veteran Stephen Julander has been named senior operations manager, effective immediately. As part of his new role, Julander will run the distillery’s day-to-day operations, lead the distilling team, and manage the supply chain—replacing head distiller Blaine Hudson who has moved on from the brand. 
For Julander, who brings with him 13 years of distilling experience, this is something of a whiskey homecoming. His first production job came in 2012 at Denver-based Laws Whiskey House, located just a few hours away from Woody Creek’s home base in the town of Basalt. After a four-year tenure at Laws that saw him reach the rank of senior production distiller, Julander then founded Heartwood Spirits Solutions, his spirits consultancy that specializes...

Denver was one of the birthplaces of the craft brewing movement, which led to craft distilleries, some helmed by pioneering brewers. The city boasts some of the nation’s oldest craft distilleries, with an unusually strong focus on whiskey compared to other spirits, especially American single malt. But, from distilleries to bars with elaborate cocktails, Denver covers all the bases and is arguably the nation’s best big city for whiskey lovers. It’s also quite affordable.
Making Denver even more appealing is a reliable international airport with non-stop flights from around the country and the world. It has the best public transport connection to downtown of any U.S. airport, with direct rail service into the city’s Union Station, the heart of downtown, at just $10 for the 37-minute ride. Once there, most top bars, restaurants, hotels, and distilleries are nearby—some walkable, and none more than a short rideshare away. For sports fans looking to double...

Creativity and artistic expression are not typically the first things that come to mind when you think bourbon.  Then again, there’s not much typical about Brother’s Bond.  The name is fitting, because the brand was born from a friendship between Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, but that was just the beginning. Between a differentiated and sought after style, accolades that include one of the top whiskeys in the world, and intensely hands on founders, this is a brand that surprises in all the best ways.

Each expression of Brother’s Bond is driven by their unique, hand-selected mash bills creating profiles rich in aromas, textures and flavors. Richness, smooth drinkability and a luxurious finish are hallmarks of their distinctive style.
This whiskey has soul and co-founder Ian Somerhalder sees to that. As the resident Blending Master, he looks for equal sensory proportion, where complexity is achieved in layers, across each of the...

With one notable exception, American whiskeys are the stars this week’s new releases. Most are limited edition and experimental, such as the two distillery exclusives from Angel’s Envy—one a bourbon that explores grain and the other a rye that features flavors of peat smoke—and the latest Master’s Collection bourbon from Woodford, which does a deep dive into just how American oak can influence whiskey. Heaven Hill has also introduced this year's Grain-to-Glass wheated bourbon, while O.H. Ingram, the brand best known for aging its whiskeys on the Mississippi River, is back with a wheater of its own. From outside Kentucky, there’s even more bourbon to mine. The Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick-owned Sweetens Cove returns with not one but two new Tennessee bourbons, Texas-based Garrison Brothers has debuted a bourbon finished in rye barrels, and Colorado’s Laws has added another bourbon to its Four Grain lineup. From Seattle...

From 1935 until 1996, Kentucky distiller Heaven Hill made its whiskey at its original distillery, Old Heaven Hill Springs, in Bardstown. On November 7, 1996, that distillery was destroyed by fire. Since then, Heaven Hill has produced its whiskey at its Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, but it had a homecoming of sorts this past April, when it filled its first barrel at the brand new Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown. With then new distillery now fully operational, Heaven Hill has marked this milestone with a new bourbon that ties together its past and present.
Heaven Hill Master Distillers Unity is a 27-barrel blend of bourbons that includes one 34 year old “pre-fire” barrel—the very last one Heaven Hill had in its arsenal—distilled in 1991 by then-master distiller Parker Beam. The remaining barrels consist of 6, 8, and 14 year old bourbons, all of which were produced at Bernheim. Their makers include former master distillers Parker Beam and...

Vanderbilt Hall in New York City’s Grand Central, once the primary entrance to the terminal built in 1913, will be home to a Glenfiddich x Aston Martin F1 pop-up experience on Tuesday, September 23rd and Wednesday, September 24th. Operating from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on both days, anyone 21 years and older is welcome, no reservations required, and admission is free.
A full-size replica of the Glenfiddich-branded Aston Martin F1 car will be on display, driving reflexes can be tested in an F1-inspired Batak simulator, swag can be collected, and the highlight for whisky lovers: Glenfiddich’s newly released limited-edition 16 year old single malt can be sampled neat or in cocktails.
Beyond the pop-up, Grand Brasserie and The Campbell, both located in the terminal, will offer samplings of Glenfiddich 16. Additionally, Central Cellars at Grand Central will be offering free bottle engraving with every purchase of Glenfiddich 16. Members of the brand team will engrave the...

The Fred. B. Noe Distillery, on the sprawling grounds of James Beam’s Clermont, Kentucky, campus, is Freddie Noe’s innovation playground. It’s where the Beam family’s eighth-generation master distiller gets to experiment on a smaller version of Jim Beam’s big still—in a building a stone’s throw away—and unlock new flavors, production enhancements, and more. It’s also where Booker’s and other higher-end, smaller batch Beam whiskeys are made.
It’s a bit of a shrine to the Booker’s brand itself. Enter and look left to see a bottle of every batch ever made, including the first one Booker Noe (Freddie’s grandfather) made back in 1979 as a gift for his distributors. The distributors loved the uncut, unfiltered, high-proof bourbon so much that the response was, “Why aren’t you just selling this?”
Booker began doing precisely that—and sending a delightfully pointed rejection letter to...

Each year since 2007, Heaven Hill Distillery releases a new expression in its sought-after Parker’s Heritage Collection. The collectible series gets its name from legendary master distiller Parker Beam—grandnephew of Jim Beam—who spent nearly six decades working at the distillery, during which he created such iconic labels as Elijah Craig Small Batch, Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel, Rittenhouse Rye, and others. Beam was diagnosed with ALS in 2010, and shifted into an emeritus position at the distillery until his death in 2017. As a way of paying tribute to him, every Parker’s Heritage release from 2013 onward contributed a portion of its sales toward ALS research—raising more than $1.4 million over the years.
The collection is best known for its many creative expressions, which often showcase an experimental production process. Each batch typically starts with well-aged whiskey and features an interesting maturation, finishing cask, or unique...

New whiskies are coming from all over the world this week. Glenmorangie has its latest Tale Of limited-edition single malt, this one a spotlight on spices. Elsewhere across the pond, Torabhaig has the fourth installment in its Legacy Series, Port Ellen celebrates its 200th anniversary with a 42 year old single malt, and Teeling debuts another release in its multi-year partnership with the University of Notre Dame. In American whiskey, there’s plenty to enjoy, with new ryes from Sagamore Spirit, Wigle Whiskey, and Blue Note, and bourbons from Yellowstone, 15 Stars, and Jackson Purchase. And for the single North American single malt fans, WhistlePig has brought out a 30 year old bottling finished in Italian dessert wine casks.
 
Glenmorangie A Tale of Spices Single Malt Scotch
ABV: 46%
SRP: $92
Availability: Limited; imported by Moët Hennessy USA
The sixth installment in Glenmorangie’s annual A Tale Of limited-edition series, A Tale...

A strong August for Macallan helped the 20-highest hammer prices for the month reach a combined total of $557,495. This pushed Macallan’s appearances on this year’s table past the $3 million mark—reaching that goal faster than last year, and with a larger share of bottles overall. Notably, August of 2024 managed to reach a total of just $366,215.
The Grand Whisky Auction delivered the highest hammer price of August with a bottle of Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old. Single malt scotch dominated the top five positions overall, including a Dalmore 50 year old signed by master distiller Richard Paterson. Vintage scotch performed well, with entries including Samaroli Bowmore Bouquet 1966, Laphroaig 14 year old from the 1950s, and Gordon & MacPhail Port Ellen 1969 15 year old. A stronger month for Irish whiskey too, with two bottles of Midleton making the list, including the 95-point Midleton Very Rare 30th Anniversary Pearl Edition. Rye...

With around 50 operating whiskey distilleries and thousands of traditional pubs, the Irish drinking scene has much to offer the whiskey lover. While the island is small enough to fit into California five times over, it packs in a huge amount of distilling power and whiskey history for its size. Our suggestions will help you tailor your itinerary to ensure you take in the very best distillery tours, bars, restaurants, whiskey shops, and visitor attractions the Emerald Isle has to offer.
DISTILLERIES

Midleton Distillery Experience
County Cork
At the recently revamped Midleton Distillery Experience, visitors enter the lobby to find a wall of 1,100 whiskey bottles before being ushered into the new auditorium to watch an immersive video as the tour begins. Midleton, celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, is home to all the Irish Distillers labels—including Spot Whiskeys, Redbreast, Powers, and Method & Madness. It’s worth taking the extended...

Blends and cask finishes are here, there, and everywhere in this week's new releases. Both Barrell Craft Spirits and Bardstown Bourbon Co. have not one, but two new whiskeys out: From Barrel, its latest Cask Finish series, an armagnac-finished blend of straight bourbons, and a new single barrel line of microblends, while Bardstown Bourbon has collaborated with Maison Ferrand for a second cognac-finished blend and also introduced the 13th bottle in its Discovery Series. Elsewhere in the U.S., independent bottler Lost Lantern has unveiled its latest Far-Flung blend of bourbons, Chattanooga Whiskey explores maple syrup cask finishing, and Pursuit Spirits has an 11 year old cask strength bourbon. Across the pond, Bunnahabhain has revealed the first single malt in a new three-part annual series.
Barrell Bourbon Cask Finish Series: Armagnac
ABV: 56.5%
SRP: $85
Availability: Limited
Barrell Foundation Single Barrels
ABV: Varies
SRP: $TBD
Availability...

After four decades of silence, one of Speyside’s lost distilleries is poised to make a return. Coleburn Distillery, mothballed since 1985, will be reborn as The Distillery at Coleburn—a modern whisky production site with historic roots and a projected annual capacity of one million liters of pure alcohol. At the helm of the distillery’s revival will be Keith Cruickshank, former master distiller at Benromach. Cruickshank has particular experience in this field, as Benromach was also closed in the early 1980s and subsequently brought back into working order by Gordon & MacPhail in 1998. He left Benromach in January 2025 after more than 26 years, and will now serve as master distiller and head of whisky at Coleburn, overseeing spirit production and helping shape its future character.

The original Coleburn Distillery was established in 1897, designed by legendary distillery architect Charles Doig. Located between Elgin and Rothes, Coleburn was originally...

It's a big week of new releases for bourbon and other American whiskeys, with announcements from major stars including Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch (covered earlier this week), as well as Maker's Mark Cellar Aged, Michter's US*1 Toasted Barrel Sour Mash,  Baker's 13 year old, and numerous others detailed below. In scotch, Glenfiddich has a new 16 year old in partnership with Aston Martin's Formula One racing team, while the Tormore single malt brand has a trio of new whiskies as it prepares for a broader U.S. introduction in 2026.
Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged (2025 Edition) Bourbon
ABV: 56.45%
SRP: $175
Availability: Limited
Since its debut in 2023, Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged has represented a dramatic departure from the distillery’s standard bourbon, which is ready at around 7 to 8 years old. While Cellar Aged, like the flagship Maker’s, bears no age statement, it has featured whiskey 11 years or older. The barrels used...

The Irish whiskey narrative over the past 15–20 years has been a story of restoration, perseverance, and conviction, galvanized by a resilient spirit that recognizes how the island nearly lost its whiskey industry in the 20th century. Dozens of new distilleries and hundreds of new Irish whiskey brands were founded with aspirations of capturing the U.S. market, but now find themselves facing a post-Covid world battling the combined effects of geopolitical uncertainty, economic downturns in China, trade tensions, and a sober-curious Gen Z.
Persuading whiskey drinkers to explore beyond Jameson has been a challenge, such is its dominance among Irish whiskeys. As all styles of whisky struggle, the global casualty list of distilleries keeps growing, the most high-profile Irish example being Waterford Distillery, which went into receivership in November 2024 with substantial debt. Others are in similar straits, and even the country’s number-one whiskey maker, Irish...

When Four Roses first debuted its Limited Edition Small Batch bourbon back in 2008, the whiskey went under a different name. Then-master blender Jim Rutledge called it “Mariage” (with just one “r,” yes). It was a daring proposition at the time, namely for its barrel strength ABV—high proof whiskeys didn’t have anywhere near the fan base they command today—and the fact that Four Roses had been on a steady upward climb back from rock bottom, one that hadn’t yet included a high-profile, higher-end release. By 2010, the whiskey’s name shifted to “Limited Edition Small Batch.” Still, it was born of the same blueprint: a blend of at least two of the 10 Four Roses recipes, which are made from combinations of two different mashbills (B: 60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% barley; and E: 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% barley) and five different yeast strains (V, K, O, Q, F). Now, Limited Edition Small Batch is in its 18th year.
The...

Woodford Reserve has released a wide variety of whiskeys in its nearly 30-year history as a brand. The distillery’s roster includes a variety of bourbons, among them the fan-favorites Double Oaked and Double Double Oaked, as well as a rye, wheat, malt, and a slew of more creative blends and finished whiskeys under its Master’s Collection and Distillery Series. Now, the Distillery Series lineup is expanding with a whiskey that marks a first for Woodford: an American single malt.
This isn’t just any single malt—take, for instance, its age. At 12 years old, this is among the oldest American single malts you’re likely to find on shelves; few other American single malts out there that have reached such an age, though there are a couple from Stranahan’s, which has 12 year olds in both its Mountain Angel and Founder’s Release whiskeys, as well as similarly aged releases from Triple Eight Distillery in Nantucket and Michigan’s Grand...

This week is primarily dominated by extra-special releases from familiar names. Heaven Hill has debuted its fourth Old Fitzgerald VVS bottled in bond bourbon; not to be outdone, Glenmorangie has brought back a 25 year old single malt to its core range, while Suntory has released its oldest Yamazaki yet, this one fully matured in mizunara oak. On the craft level, Brooklyn's Kings County Distillery has introduced a widely available Empire rye, and Single Cask Nation has also put the spotlight on New York rye and peated American single malt with its latest drop.
 
Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 11 Year Old VVS 2025 Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 50%
SRP: $170
Availability: Kentucky exclusive
The fourth release in Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald VVS (Very Very Special) line is an 11 year old bourbon made from the distillery’s classic wheater recipe of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley (as all Old Fitzgerald whiskeys...

Auctions in the first week of August indicated a stronger trend than in July. Topping the performance list was Grand Whisky Auction, which delivered the highest hammer price so far this month with a bottle of Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old, selling for $72,192. This is only the second such bottle to sell at auction in 2025. Still, it represents a 24% drop in value over the six months since it set the highest hammer price of the month in February.
A Sotheby’s sale in New York featured the first opportunity to bid on bottles of I.W. Harper 34 year old. A lot containing WhistlePig The Boss Hog editions I–X fetched a hammer price of $19,000 and saved one lucky collector the effort of tracking down each edition individually. A bottle of Stewart Pure Rye 1898 made a hammer price of $5,500; these simply labelled bottles from Stewart Distilling Co., Philadelphia surface occasionally. Look out for the company name on bottles of Carstairs whiskey. Old MacBrayer 17 year...

Inspired by the classic summertime cocktail, the Whiskey Smash, this meringue-based dessert is a showstopper that’s simple to pull together. Like the cocktail, it highlights summer’s bounty of fresh strawberries married with a slightly dry, oaky whiskey and enhanced by mint’s brightness.
Mint and whiskey have a special affinity, likely thanks to the mint-forward compounds whiskey picks up from barrels during maturation. Hard Truth sweet mash rye is a solid addition to the recipe, thanks to a minty punch in the form of what our tasting panel found to be peppermint patties, Moroccan mint tea, and Andes chocolate. It’s the backbone of a boozy syrup, made with fresh mint, tossed with strawberries and strewn atop a free-form meringue shell alongside dollops of fresh whipped cream. 
Like the Smash, this three-part recipe is marked by a key technique: “muddling” or “smashing” so the flavors are evenly incorporated. Here it’s...

There’s a lot to consider this week, with two familiar annual releases—Parker’s Heritage from Heaven Hill and Garrison Brothers Laguna Madre—as well as new entries from Macallan, New Riff, High West, A. Smith Bowman (that very underrated whiskey from Sazerac), and Blue Note, among others. Off the beaten path are Penelope's pre-mixed Old Fashioned in a 750-ml. bottle, and a new blackberry entry from Jack Daniel's—technically not a whiskey since it’s below 40% ABV.
Heaven Hill Parker’s Heritage Collection 11 year old Kentucky Straight Whiskey (2025 Edition)
ABV: 61.25%
SRP: $180
Availability: Limited
Now in its 19th year, Heaven Hill’s Parker’s Heritage Collection showcases the distillery’s innovative side, as a tribute to late master distiller emeritus Parker Beam’s legacy. The latest Parker’s Heritage whiskey is a blend of three distinct whiskeys: 15 year old Kentucky straight...

Since releasing its first whiskey in 2022, Kentucky-based 15 Stars has distinguished itself as one of the country’s more notable blending houses. Thus far, we’ve reviewed eight of its whiskeys: one scored 90 points, and the others were all at 91 points or higher. The company, which was founded in 2019 by the father-son team of Rick and Ricky Johnson, has been best known for its limited-edition blends that typically include various combinations of aged whiskeys sourced from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana.
The Johnsons took an interesting route into the whiskey business. Their background is in the popcorn industry, where they came to know a variety of heirloom corn strains—including the red, white, and blue corn, as well as the rare black variety, among others. The original idea was to make bourbon using those heirloom strains, and five years ago they started doing that in a custom distilling program with Bardstown Bourbon Co. Thus far, 15 Stars has worked with...

An American history museum may be the ideal place to learn more about our heritage, but it’s generally frowned upon to sip a whisky as you roam the halls. Thankfully, you can stop into some of the country’s oldest bars and instantly become immersed in history—and better yet, imbibe as you learn. From bars that are even older than the country itself to those frequented by noteworthy historical figures to the birthplaces of iconic cocktails, these bars are captivating destinations whether you’re a history buff, a whisky enthusiast, or both.

The Carousel Bar & Lounge New Orleans
Located in the historic Hotel Monteleone, this 25-seat bar—which opened in 1949, replacing the former Swan Room—is a literal carousel, completing a full rotation every 15 minutes. Enjoy the ride as you sip your whisky or, better yet, a Vieux Carré ($21) right in the spot where it was created in the 1930s by hotel bartender Walter Bergeron. This...

From Scotland, this week's releases feature a new price-friendly Kilchoman expression, while Isle of Arran Distillers is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its Lochranza Distillery with a limited release of just 30 casks. Among American whiskeys, Westland is out with the second annual release of its core wine and beer cask finished whiskeys, and Minnesota single malt maker Brother Justus has announced the third release in its Reserve series. Last but not least, Jim Beam has a new release called Jim Beam Sunshine Blend, a 40% ABV expression meant for lighter occasions.
Isle of Arran 30 Year Old Scotch Single Malt Casks
Price: £7,250 (roughly $9,500)
Scotch whisky maker Isle of Arran Distillers is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its Lochranza Distillery, and is marking the occasion by offering a limited commemorative release of 30 casks of Arran single malt. New make spirit with an ABV of 63.5% will be poured into first-fill palo cortado sherry...

When Whisky Advocate did a cover story on scotch whisky cask ownership back in 2008, we quickly learned that some scotch producers hadn’t considered how their U.S. customers would get their whisky home once it matured. Nowadays, distilleries will simply tell you that it’s your responsibility to arrange shipment. The problem is that distilleries can’t bottle and ship the contents of a single cask to private individuals in the U.S. unless it gets sold through the three-tier system (producer-distributor-retailer). But that doesn’t mean you’re completely out of options.
Although distilleries including Springbank, Macallan, Bruichladdich, and Glengoyne previously offered cask-buying programs, today most established scotch makers stay away from cask sales. The practice is now largely led by cash-stretched start-ups, where the quality of the whisky is still largely unproven, as distilleries in their first decade of operation might not have aged stocks...

Update September 26, 2025: Newly formed Blackstar Company, founded by whiskey industry veterans, has announced its purchase of Black Button Distilling. Founder Jason Barrett will remain to lead production. Get all of the details here.
So far, 2025 has been a rough year for the whiskey industry, and, while distillers of all sizes have certainly grappled with headwinds, conditions have been particularly brutal in the craft scene. As we reported just a few months ago, many producers have scaled back their production, with some, like Owensboro, Kentucky’s Green River Distilling sacking a significant portion of their workforces. Other craft players have fallen on harder times, shutting down their distilleries or filing for bankruptcy, with notable examples including Westward, Kentucky Owl, Boston Harbor Distillery, Luca Mariano, and Garrard County. Just weeks ago, Pennsylvania craft distillery Manatawny Still Works suddenly closed its locations after 11 years of operation. The...

Brothers Wright Distilling Co., a bourbon brand that will eventually age its whiskeys in underground coal mines, has expanded its footprint in Pike County, Kentucky, with the acquisition of Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery in downtown Pikeville. The deal includes not just Dueling Barrels’ production facility—which houses three Vendome pot stills, a 350-gallon moonshine still, 19 stainless steel fermenters, two cypress fermenters, and equipment for brewing beer—but also an on-site 150-seat restaurant, tasting room, gift shop, and event space.
The expansion into downtown Pikeville marks a major shift for Brothers Wright, which has thus far operated in a more rural part of Pike County (Kentucky’s easternmost county, and home to around 55,000 people), and without a public-facing site. Brothers Kendall and Shannon Wright founded the brand in 2021 on a specific premise: coal mine maturation. They had tossed the idea around since 2009—and...

While we normally associate Barrel Craft Spirits with its bourbons, this Louisville-based blender sources its distillate from a total of 67 producers, including two distilleries from outside the U.S. Its latest release, Decade, is from Canada, and it's not the first Canadian offering from Barrell. In recent years, the company's Canadian repertoire has grown fairly substantially, and our previous reviews can be seen here. Also among this week's new releases is an American blend from New Riff, with corn whiskey comprising 28% of the mix. In total, this one is a blend of five whiskeys, and is available only to New Riff Whiskey Club, which anyone can join.
Barrell Decade Canadian
ABV: 71.35%
SRP: $199
Availability: 3,900 bottles
The releases in Barrell’s Black Label series demonstrate some of the blender’s oldest, most creative whiskies, and Decade is no different. Made in Canada but blended and bottled in Kentucky...

Just one month after bringing Stitzel Reserve to shelves, Diageo-owned Stitzel-Weller Distillery is unveiling another ultra-aged bourbon, this one under the I.W. Harper label. At 34 years old, the new whiskey is billed as the rarest, oldest release in I.W. Harper’s 150-year history.
I.W. Harper dates back to the 1870s, when German-Jewish immigrant brothers Isaac Wolfe (I.W.) and Bernard Bernheim opened a trading company, Bernheim Brothers, in Paducah, Kentucky and within it, launched bourbon brand I.W. Harper (the brothers believed their last name was both too German and too Jewish for an American whiskey brand, and so used the name of a popular thoroughbred breeder and trainer, John Harper).
Within a few years of its debut, the bourbon had gained fans across the country, and by 1888, the brothers had enough capital to purchase the Pleasure Ridge Park Distillery in Louisville, which they renamed Bernheim Distillery. Production of I.W. Harper continued throughout...

Today, Buffalo Trace announces the launch of two Weller expressions: Weller Millennium No. 2 and Weller 18 year old, the latter representing the oldest age statement in the brand's history. Today’s announcement coincides with the 200th birthday of William Larue Weller, the legendary distiller who pioneered the use of wheat in his whiskey making. Both releases pay homage to Weller's original mashbill recipe from 1847, which revolutionized American whiskey by substituting wheat for rye in the mashbill, creating the famously smooth wheated bourbon profile.
What Exactly Is Weller Millennium No. 2?

Weller Millennium No. 2 follows its inaugural release from last May, which presented a marriage of vintage straight wheated bourbon and wheat whiskey, with the components distilled at Buffalo Trace in 2001, 2003, and 2006. The liquid was specifically earmarked for this project. The suggested retail price for Weller Millennium No. 2 is the same as the first edition...

At some point or another, every conversation about Frey Ranch inevitably turns to grains. That’s because the Fallon, Nevada-based operation, which has been distilling since the early 2000s, has become one of the country’s most prominent figures in the farm-distillery scene. These days, many producers boast a “grain to glass” approach to making whiskey, but few walk the walk like the Freys, whose family has been cultivating grains in the high desert country of Northwest Nevada since 1854. That tradition is still alive and well today, with Frey Ranch’s whiskeys made exclusively from corn, rye, wheat, oats, and barley that are grown by owner and fifth-generation farmer Colby Frey on his 1,500-acre family farm.
Of all the grains used by Frey Ranch, oat is the rarest one by far. After all, it’s the only type that’s absent from the distillery’s flagship four-grain bourbon recipe. But in recent years, we’ve seen the distillery...

The week is off to a busy start, with new releases from a variety of American distillers. Sazerac has introduced a higher-proof iteration of its flagship Sazerac rye, bumping it up from 45% ABV to 50% ABV. Another new 100-proof whiskey in the mix comes from James B. Beam Distilling Co., which has added a 7 year old Old Grand-Dad bottled in bond bourbon to its roster. Beam has also released the second edition of Jim Beam Lineage, this one made from a low-rye mashbill and aged for 15 years. Finally, Nevada's Minden Mill is taking its estate-grown rye nationwide.
Sazerac Rye 100 Proof
ABV: 50%
SRP: $30/1L
Availability: Nationwide
A higher-proof Sazerac rye is entering the mix. The new expression, which has a 5% bump-up in ABV from the flagship Sazerac rye, was developed in response to bartenders’ demands for a higher-strength version of the original, according to brand owner Sazerac Co.
Higher proof and higher age statements are both trending in the whisky...

This week in new whisky, it's all about returns. Laphroaig has introduced the latest release of fan-favorite Càirdeas; this year's edition is a cask-strength iteration of the distillery's core single malt Lore. In Kentucky, Knob Creek has brought back Bourbon x Rye, a limited edition blend of straight whiskeys that landed on our Top 20 list last year, while Old Forester is rolling out its 1910 Extra Extra Old bourbon for the first time since 2022. Elsewhere in the U.S., Wyoming Whiskey has its newest National Parks release, this one an ode to Acadia in Maine, Bib & Tucker has a bourbon that combines the worlds of whiskey and coffee, and Wolves returns with its latest Willett collaboration.
 
Laphroaig Càirdeas Lore Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch
ABV:  59.6%
Price: $110
Availability: Limited
Laphroaig has unveiled its annual Càirdeas release, a fan favorite that launched in 2008 for its Friends of Laphroaig club members...

A bottle of Dalmore Constellation Collection 1964 46 year old sold for a record hammer price of $95,453 at Whisky Auctioneer this month. This is the oldest vintage release in the series, and the sale set a new record for the highest price paid for a single bottle from the collection, as well as becoming the highest hammer price paid for a bottle of Dalmore this year. The Dalmore Constellation Collection was released in 2012 and consists of 21 vintages from 1964 to 1992. A full set of the Dalmore Constellation Collection, each bottle signed by master distiller Richard Paterson, first sold at auction in 2022 at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, achieving a hammer price of $445,868.
WVA Whisky Auctions had three different Glenfarclas Pagoda releases on the block, each distilled in the early 1950s and bottled at over 60 years old, but none of them reached the reserve price. This series helped Glenfarclas to place six bottles in the 20-highest hammer prices of the month in 2024, but the...

Royce Neeley, master distiller of Sparta, Kentucky’s Neeley Family Distillery, had first seen the listing online. The 1.34-million-square-foot Stitzel-Weller campus in Shively, inclusive of 15 rickhouses (with capacity for nearly 330,000 barrels), a bottling line, and thousands of square feet of office space, was up for sale, listed at $34.8 million. But there’s a catch: the distillery building itself, which housed the original still and whiskey-making equipment, is not part of the deal. He absorbed that information and went about his day, forgetting about it until a few weeks later when he got a call from a realtor asking if he would like to buy Stitzel-Weller.
The answer was a decisive no. “It doesn’t come with the IP, so you don’t get the Stitzel-Weller name, but I’d want the distillery too,” he says. “It’s a little funny to sell the distillery and not include the actual distillery.” He notes the age of the warehouses...

One of the more curious appetizers of the 21st century must certainly be the slider. After all, they’re simply sparingly garnished small hamburgers, yet sliders hold an allure their larger and more copiously accessorized cousins do not.
Perhaps it’s their cuteness. Or their portability. Or maybe they really are something quite different.
First introduced by the White Castle restaurant chain in 1921, it’s been said that the slider served to assuage the American public’s widespread distrust of the cleanliness of ground beef at the time, presumably the same reason the castle was white, suggesting hospital-like sterility. It’s only within the past two to three decades, however, that the slider has made the jump from fast food and hors d’oeuvres to restaurant staple.
Leaving aside for the moment the many variations served today, the basic mini-burger slider differs from its regular-sized counterpart due to the way it is cooked. Often...

French oak, traditionally used to age wine and cognac, is also a popular choice for finishing bourbon and scotch. Its value is due to its tighter grain, which makes it less porous than American oak and thus able to impart flavor at a slower rate, creating delicate flavors like baking spices, honey, and caramel. We’ve rounded up 10 expressions across several styles that explore the nuances of French oak finishing, whether as a sole finishing method or in combination with other casks.
94 Points - Balvenie 16 year old French Oak Pineau Cask Finished scotch single malt, 47.6%, $175
This Speyside scotch was initially matured in bourbon barrels for 16 years before being finished for several months in French oak that formerly held fortified wine from France’s Pineau des Charentes region. A complex, creamy, and smooth mouthfeel with flavors of brown sugar, chocolate, and golden raisins, all cloaked in vanilla and sprinkled with savory spice.
93 Points - Barrel 33 year...

Bourbons, blends, and compelling finishes set the tone for this week's new whiskies. The year's second batch of Booker's is here, blending whiskeys from seven different production dates that aged in eight separate warehouses. Peerless has debuted the second iteration of its Toasted Rye, which aged first in new oak before being finished in barrels with a medium toast. From Bardstown Bourbon Co. comes the latest Distillery Reserve Series release, this one a blend of bourbon, rye, and Tennessee whiskey finished in mizunara oak; World Whiskey Society has gone with a different Japanese finish for its new bourbon, putting it in shochu casks. Castle & Key, Wheel Horse, and Rebel each have new bourbons, while Uncle Nearest unveils its newest Master Blend. Rounding out the U.S. contingent are an imperial stout cask-finished straight rye from Old Potrero, a new single cask American single malt from Copperworks, and a Kentucky whiskey aged in Scotland from...

Whether you’re a casual whiskey drinker who values readily available brands or a serious enthusiast seeking out the most compelling expressions in allocated quantities, there are ample hot options on the open market. The 12 whiskeys that follow represent the full spectrum of desirability, from those with exceptional quality and scarcity to those with wider availability.
Culled by scouring secondary markets, fan forums, sub-Reddits, and online chat groups, this list comprises bottles at the top of their class, whether from legendary Kentucky rickhouses or emerging craft distilleries. Here they are:
Redemption 18 year old bourbon (2025), 51.7%, $400
Redemption first launched its Ancients series of ultra-aged Indiana-distilled bourbon in 2017. (First, an 18 year old rye, next, a 36 year old bourbon.) Then…nothing further. Until now. Redemption’s Ancients series makes a triumphant return with an 18 old year blend of 69 barrels, or about 2,400 bottles. It...

Golf and whisky just go hand in hand. It makes sense, after all, as the game was cultivated in a region where, for just as long, whiskies were crafted with similar attention to detail, care, and passion. And nothing celebrates a day on the links better than a dram.
When the game was first introduced stateside in the late 19th century, it brought whisky enjoyment with it. Golf resorts have since flourished, both in the U. S. and throughout the British Isles, and so we celebrate golf courses with whisky programs that match the elevated level of their play. A visit to one of the following seven destinations will find exceptional whiskies being poured once the day’s final putts are holed.

Adare Manor
COUNTY LIMERICK, IRELAND
For first-time guests, visiting Adare Manor can be an overwhelming experience. Located just over 10 miles outside the southwest city of Limerick, this five-star luxury resort is home to a sparkling Irish manor house designed in the Gothic...

Happy Birthday, America! For this 4th of July weekend, we've rounded up 15 American whiskeys to celebrate the day. The selection spans the great American whiskey landscape to include bourbons, ryes, wheat whiskeys, and American single malts. Sip them neat, with ice, or in cocktails, enjoy the fireworks and cookouts, and have a great weekend!
95 points - Bernheim Original Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey (Batch A225), 62.7%, $67 
The first of two annual batches, the palate offers a mouthwatering combination of cinnamon spice, vanilla soft serve ice cream, Rolo candy, dark chocolate, and a hint of nutmeg.
94 points - Booker's "Barry's Batch" 7 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon (Batch 2025-01), 62.85%, $100
"Barry's Batch" is named in memory of former Jim Beam chairman and CEO, Barry Berish, who is credited with holding the company together during bourbon's downturn of the 1970s and 1980s.  The nose starts with fragrant dryness of burlap, corn seed...

It’s a great week for American whiskey lovers, with new releases from Beam, Heaven Hill, Michter’s, Barrell, Kentucky Owl, and more. Freddie Noe has introduced another chapter of Little Book, which spotlights unique blends; this release is no different, combining five unique bourbon and rye components. Heaven Hill has followed up the May release of its Grain-to-Glass bourbon with the second iteration of its Grain-to-Glass rye. Elsewhere, Michter’s returns with its two Legacy Series brands, Shenk’s Homestead and Bomberger’s, which honor key figures in the distillery’s history. Rounding out the week in new releases are fresh bourbon batches from Barrell and Kentucky Owl, a rye from Wigle Distillery, a high-rye straight malt from Root Shoot Spirits, and an Irish single grain from Two Stacks.
Little Book Chapter 9: “None For Granted” Blend
ABV: 60.9%
SRP: $160
Availability: Limited
Fred B. Noe master distiller...

Update 7/16/25: Cincinnati native Molly Wellman is the newly appointed master taster at Hidden Barn Distillery. Wellman is an author, self-taught mixologist, and former owner of bars in Kentucky and Cincinnati, including Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar, Myrtles Punch House, The Annex, Neons, Melt, and Japp's. In her new role, she will be involved with the batching and single barrel selections of Hidden Barn's whiskeys, building on the styles developed by her predecessor, Jackie Zykan, who departed Hidden Barn last month (story below). Given her background in mixology, it's possible that you'll be able to find Wellman behind the bar at the Neeley Family Distillery (Hidden Barn's mothership) as well.
 
When Jackie Zykan departed Old Forester in 2022, she was part of a wave of master distillers and blenders at legacy brands who were setting out on their own and pursuing new posts. While she wasn’t driven by a desire to own a whiskey brand...

Brendan Coyle, who’s worked at High West Distillery in Park City, Utah since 2008, has left to focus full-time on Dendric Estate, a cidery that he co-founded with his wife Carly in Kamas, about 15 miles east of Park City. Coyle has juggled his duties at High West and those of his fledgling business since 2023, shifting from the master distiller role to become its spirits consultant. Now, Dendric (whose name refers to the branch-like “dendritic” tributaries that flow from the Uinta Mountains that flank the estate) will take total share of his time, just as it gears up to launch its first cider next month.
Dendric’s debut cider, Dry Cut—a reference to its bone-dry flavor profile—is six years in the making, the result of multiple R&D trials both in the orchards and on the production side. Coyle likens it more to a dry sparkling wine than a sweet cider, given that it’s made using traditional winemaking techniques, among them the...

Single malt scotch makes a good showing this week, with new releases from Glenmorangie, Nc’nean, and Bladnoch, in addition to a collectible Laphroaig. In keeping with previous changes to its other core whiskies The Original and The Nectar, Glenmorangie has added some extra aging to its popular Lasanta expression, while Nc’nean unveils its annual release of Huntress. Both whiskeys have reasonably wide availability. Meanwhile, Lowlands scotch maker Bladnoch follows with the second release in its Wave series, and Laphroaig delves into the archive to release a new 38 year old. Among American whiskeys, Blue Note offers a single barrel rye, while Pursuit United has a rye—sourced not from MGP, but from Bardstown Bourbon and Sagamore Spirit. In bourbon, Kentucky Senator has two new additions, while Michigan’s Coppercraft has an MGP-sourced 9 year old.
Glenmorangie The Lasanta 15 year old Highland Single Malt Scotch
ABV: 43%
SRP...

The June auction market got off to an impressive start, with a bottle of Yamazaki 55 year old selling at the highest hammer price of the year, thanks to a $200,000 bid at Bonhams Skinner, Massachusetts. Yamazaki’s value has fared well in the current market; the last bottle of this Japanese whisky to sell at a U.S. auction house made $210,200 a year ago. Last year, the three highest hammer prices were all Japanese single malts, and two of them were Yamazaki 55 year old. 
Sotheby’s sold antique spirits this month, the prized collection of Mark Wade, co-founder of the Vintage Whiskey Society. Most of the historic bourbon and ryes achieved hammer prices in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and many exceeded their estimates. Three vintage bottles made $10,000 a piece; Old Stagg Special Reserve 24 year old, Four Roses 1917 16 year old, and Old McBrayer 1917 17 year old.  These were eclipsed by the $24,000 bid for a relatively modern bottle of...

One of the biggest hurdles to tasting a small, sought-after craft whiskey is finding it. We’ve all been there: You hear about an interesting craft whiskey from a friend, or you fall in love with one at a tasting event, only to discover that these bottles are impossible to find at nearby liquor stores. It’s a problem that’s long plagued the craft scene.
Many craft whiskeys are small and lack national distribution, but the issue is also a symptom of the way alcohol sales are regulated in the U.S. After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the federal government left alcohol regulation up to the states, with one key stipulation: It mandated the establishment of the so-called three-tier system, under which the producer (Tier 1) sells to a distributor (Tier 2), who then sells it to a retailer (Tier 3). The problem is that today’s distributors have consolidated into mammoth companies that are too busy selling big-volume brands to devote much attention to tiny craft...

Despite having a sizable arsenal of well-aged inventory, ultra-aged releases from Redemption Whiskey are few and far between. Back in November 2017, Redemption released a pair of ultra-aged expressions in its Ancients series. The first one was an 18 year old rye, distilled in 1998 at Ross & Squibb Distillery (then called Jos. E. Seagram Lawrenceburg Plant). At the time, the 18 year old was touted as Redemption’s oldest whiskey ever released—but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Just a few weeks later, Redemption rolled out a 36 year old bourbon that was limited to 18 bottles and carried a $1,200 price tag.
Those expressions were well received, and aged Redemption expressions were getting attention from whiskey lovers. In 2023, a bottle of 36 year old Redemption rye appeared in a Sotheby’s American whiskey auction, and wound up selling for $18,000. But by then Redemption had discontinued the Ancients series, and turned its focus on younger and more...

Even if you like to explore different whisky styles, one that you may not have seen is light whiskey. It’s a curious, mysterious genre, and people are often left wondering what it really means. Spoiler alert: it’s not called light whiskey because it’s diet-friendly, because of its color, or because of its proof. The term is partly meant to describe the whiskey’s flavors, but that isn’t the whole story.
By definition, light whiskey must be produced in the U.S., with a distillation proof of more than 160° (80% ABV) but less than 190° (95%), and aged in new uncharred or used oak containers. There is no rule on what grains can be used, a fairly typical part of most other whiskey definitions. It seems to fly in the face of what most people have come to expect from American whiskey. Yet light whiskey is undergoing something of a renaissance in recent years. The style, looked down upon for decades, has suddenly been generating some buzz.
One of...

One of the most popular whiskeys made by Buffalo Trace Distillery is Eagle Rare, and its calling card has always been its high age statements. The flagship expression today is a wildly popular 10 year old bourbon, mirroring the original Eagle Rare from the Seagram days, which was bottled at 10 years old and 101 proof. The rest of the lineup only goes higher from there, including unicorns like Eagle Rare 17 (part of the Buffalo Trace antique collection), the 20 year old Double Eagle Double Rare, and Eagle Rare 25.
Those older bottlings have largely been out of reach for most whiskey lovers, with the oldest carrying astronomical price tags and the others selling out quickly at retailers. But Buffalo Trace has just announced a new expression that should be a bit easier for people to find: a 12 year old bourbon that will now be a core expression.
Aging Up
Except for the two-year age difference, the newcomer is nearly identical to Eagle Rare 10 year old. Both whiskeys are...

Updated 9/30/25: Wyoming Whiskey's Buffalo Bill Cody (see details below), originally released as a Wyoming exclusive, is now available nationwide. The ABV is 48%, compared to the Wyoming-only release's 48.5%.
A mixture of bourbons, ryes, and American blends leads the week’s new releases. High West brings back its The Prisoner Wine Co. red wine-finished blend of bourbon and rye, while Penelope has a blend that includes straight bourbon, American single malt, and American light whiskey. Woodinville has upped the age on its flagship rye, while 15 Stars introduces its oldest blend of rye yet; new bourbons include the fourth chapter of Castle & Key’s Untold Story series, a wheater from Great Jones, and a tribute to Buffalo Bill Cody from Wyoming Whiskey. Overseas, Tomatin, Loch Lomond, and Gordon & MacPhail all have new single malt scotch whiskies.
 
High West The Prisoner’s Share (2025 Edition) American blend
ABV: 51%
SRP: $175

Distillery-exclusive expressions are something of a double-edged sword for whiskey lovers. For the truly dedicated followers of a particular brand, there’s a lot to get excited about—namely, the prospect of scoring a new release while paying a visit to their favorite distillery. But fans who aren’t able to make that trip must choose between overpaying on the secondary market or doing without.
Kentucky distillery Old Forester has found a way to make sure both groups go home happy. The distillery has announced that its popular President’s Choice series, which has historically been a distillery-only release, will be available for nationwide distribution for the first time. The national debut, which also includes the first rye whiskey in the series, will take place this month.
Casting a Wider Net
President’s Choice whiskeys have always been hard to find. The first President’s Choice expression was made in 1890, when Old Forester president...

Heaven Hill master distiller Conor O’Driscoll reverently refers to Old Fitzgerald as a “grand old brand.” He’s right, of course—the whiskey dates back to the 1870s, when, as the story goes, Old Judge Distillery worker John E. Fitzgerald had a whiskey named after him and went on to sell it to steamship lines and private clubs throughout the South. The name “Old Fitzgerald” was trademarked in 1884, and the whiskey hit the wider market by 1889. In the century-plus that followed, the brand changed ownership several times, surviving Prohibition and coming under the ownership of Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle at Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Van Winkle was instrumental in modernizing Old Fitzgerald, adjusting the whiskey’s recipe to include wheat in the mashbill and transforming its look by bottling it in heavy glass decanters.
Stitzel-Weller was sold to a forerunner company of Diageo in 1972, and Old Fitzgerald stayed...

Early last year, we reported that Lisa Roper Wicker, longtime president and head distiller of Brooklyn, New York-based Widow Jane (among numerous other roles throughout the industry), had taken on the role of master distiller at Garrard County Distilling Co. in Lancaster, Kentucky. Her tenure there was fleeting—she was reportedly fired after just 11 days, and the distillery shuttered just last month, with a $2.2 million lawsuit at its doorstep. Wicker isn’t on the job market any longer, however, as she’s landed at Frankfort, Kentucky-based distillery Whiskey Thief as its director of distilling.

Ross Caldwell founded Whiskey Thief on his family’s 127-acre farm in 2012; nine years later, the distillery passed into the hands of Walter Zausch, who had previously bought barrels from it for his own wholesale company, Distijl. All of Whiskey Thief’s releases are made with grains grown on-site and bottled as single barrels at cask strength (hence...

When Whisky Advocate published a cover story on the craft distilling movement back in 2013, there was much to talk about—smaller barrels (to age the whiskey faster), new and exciting grain varieties, experimental distilling techniques, and much more. But most of the whiskeys were still quite young, and many of today’s stars were just getting started. Thus, with some notable exceptions—like Balcones, Clear Creek, Stranahan’s, and Leopold Bros.—the buzz was more about the excitement rather than the whiskey itself. A good number of craft whiskeys simply didn’t live up to the hype, and soon the discussions of craft moved into the future tense—just wait a few years, people would say, and the quality will emerge.
Today, more than a decade later, those craft distilleries have grown to whiskey adulthood. Except for a few pioneers in the 1990s and early 2000s like McCarthy’s, Old Potrero, St. George, and some others, the big wave of openings...

This week's new release round-up features American whiskeys, led by a port cask finished blend from Woodford Reserve and a California red wine cask finish from Rebel. Elijah Craig has dropped the second barrel proof batch of the year, while Nashville pitmaster Carey Bringle is offering a 15 year old rye. Elsewhere, Cedar Ridge has a new single malt finished in a multiplicity of casks, while other new offerings are from Frank August, Spirit Hound, Milam & Greene, and World Whiskey Society. And in a separate story, we cover two distillers who've announced releases honoring the U.S. military.
 
Woodford Reserve Distillery Series: Tawny Port Finish Blend
ABV: 45.2%
SRP: $65/375 ml
Availability: Limited
Master distiller Elizabeth McCall’s newest Woodford Distillery Series release first combined rye and bourbon together. From there, McCall added a tawny port-finished bourbon to the blend; once that was married, she balanced the...

This week, in the run-up to Memorial Day weekend, two American whiskey makers marked the occasion by announcing releases made to honor our military. Kentucky distiller Green River is toasting the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary with a special release that will be out in June. Meanwhile, Minnesota's Brother Justus will be offering two expressions—one coming out this month, and the other to be released in November. 
Green River Army 250th Anniversary Edition bourbon
ABV: 55.55%
SRP: $50
Availability: Limited 
Green River Distilling Co. is saluting the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary with a commemorative whiskey that will debut next month. Made from a mashbill of 77% corn, 14% rye, and 9% malted barley, the bourbon is comprised of whiskeys aged 4 to 7 years and bottled at 111.1 proof, or what the distillery refers to as “Army Strong” in a nod to Veteran’s Day (November 11th, or 11/11). The special release will be...

Memorial Day is about honoring our fallen soldiers, but the holiday weekend also represents the unofficial start of summer, when the season's gatherings begin. While the weather can sometimes interfere with our outdoor plans, it's often a time for backyard cookouts and parties. Here we add whiskey to the occasion, with a selection of 10 American expressions that are perfect for barbecue sipping. 
 
 
94 points - Booker's "Springfield Batch" Straight Bourbon (Batch 2024-01), 62.25%, $90
Booker's is a longtime barbecue favorite—back in 2018 it even gave one of its releases the name "Backyard Barbecue." The Springfield Batch edition, released last year, was exceptional, finishing at No.-6 on our Top 20 and offering caramel, dark chocolate, baking spice, and a finish that catapults it into greatness. While each batch is different, all are highly flavorful with proof levels and structures giving them plenty of...

Brothers Andy and Charlie Nelson resurrected their family distilling legacy by launching Belle Meade bourbon in 2012 and opening Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery in Nashville two years later.  With Belle Meade and the flagship Nelson's Green Brier, the accolades piled up, and Constellation Brands took a minority stake in 2016, and then acquired majority control in 2019. A few years later, the brothers left the company and their namesake behind.  But at the end of last year, they quietly regained the rights to Belle Meade, returning ownership to the family.
The Nelsons announced the news to friends and family at a celebration held this past April. Now, speaking to the media for the first time since their re-acquisition of Belle Meade bourbon, the Nelson brothers reveal their intentions for the brand.
With Belle Meade once again back in family hands, it will be positioned as a Nashville-centric brand for the foreseeable future. The immediate path forward...

For our Summer issue, we journeyed across the pond to Ireland, where a full-fledged whiskey renaissance is still in swing. The dozens of new distilleries and hundreds of new brands founded over the past two decades are now facing their greatest challenge yet: a post-Covid world that features geopolitical uncertainty, global economic downturns, and sober-curious consumers. Even so, the Emerald Isle seems poised for continued success thanks to the stunning whiskeys its distillers and blenders are putting out. We also highlighted the many distilleries, restaurants, bars, shops, tours, and attractions that make Ireland such a dream destination for any whiskey lover. Elsewhere in the issue, we took a look at Scotland’s many scenic train rides, the world’s best golf course bars, the prizes and pitfalls of Travel Retail, and more, in addition to reviewing 121 whiskies. Plus, this issue debuted a tequila section, a new permanent part of the magazine that spotlights all things...

This week's new releases feature a new edition of Blue Run's Flight Series, a collection of six whiskeys made in micro-batches, with each "flight"  made from a maximum of four barrels. The concept aims to poke fun at the term "small batch," which isn't legally defined and rarely reveals details on the quantities of each batch. On the tasting front, this new Flight Series contrasts bourbon and rye-led mashbills, and showcases their differences. Elsewhere in Kentucky, New Riff celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and it bottled a commemorative bourbon and rye to mark the occasion. Both are now out, though at the distillery only. Meanwhile, Irish whiskey Proper No. Twelve climbs the age ladder with a new 13 year old single malt to show that it can be a contender, while scotch whiskies Glen Grant and Macallan have new ultra-aged offerings.  
Blue Run Flight Series III Blended American
ABV: Varies
SRP: $125
Availability...

Everyone remembers the first bottle or sip of whisky that sparked their passion. And, if you’re like most whisky lovers, that passion blossomed and burgeoned. It can be seen as a snowball effect or a rabbit hole, but the stronghold that whisky collecting exerts is undeniable. Whether that’s hunting for a beloved bottle you haven’t seen in the wild for years or searching tirelessly for the last piece needed to complete a set, there’s a feeling of elation when you tuck a new bottle into its home alongside the rest of your prized finds.
As your collection overflows from a shelf or cabinet to occupy closets, custom-built shelves, basement bars, or entire rooms (all due credit to understanding spouses and partners for these allowances), you may hit a point where you wonder if you’ll be able to enjoy it all in one lifetime. Regardless of how immense your collection becomes, there will always be bottles you obsess over and pursue. That’s just the...

For whiskey lovers, the scorching summer sun and sultry temperatures might call for a pour that's not quite as spicy or bold. Certainly, any whisky is suitable regardless of the weather; a little water or a large cube of ice can work wonders to tame down an otherwise warming pour. But this time of year is ideal to explore wheated bourbons (aka wheaters) and wheat whiskeys. Their sweeter, softer, and less peppery profiles make them ideal sippers when the temps climb. 
 
Whether neat, on the rocks, or in a cocktail, wheaters or straight-up wheat whiskeys might become your summer go-tos. Here's just a sampling of options to begin your wheat journey.
Wheat Whiskey
94 points - Bernheim Original Barrel Proof (Batch A224), 62.6%, $65
At 51% wheat, this batch serves flavors of baked apple, orange peel, musty oak, chocolate fudge, and vanilla. No. 10 in our Top 20 of 2024.
92 points - Dry Fly 3 year old Cask Strength, 60%...

In a consolidation move in the craft whiskey world, Columbus, Ohio-based Middle West Spirits is acquiring Colorado's Old Elk Distillery, Shanken News Daily (SND) reported this morning.
Founded in 2008, Middle West is among the largest independent players in the U.S., with both contract and branded operations. Its offerings include Dark Pumpernickel straight rye, Four Grain Straight Wheated bourbon, and the Double Cask Collection, plus OYO Barrel Finished Honey Vanilla vodka, Vim & Petal gin, and Lux & Umbra gin.
Old Elk, which is based in Fort Collins, was founded in 2013 and is a non-distiller producer whose expressions have developed a strong following among whiskey lovers over the years. Its master distiller is Greg Metze, who worked at MGP from 1978-2016 and had a leading hand in many of the great whiskeys produced there over the years. Old Elk's key labels include Slow Cut bourbon ($40), Old Elk 9 year old bourbon ($60), and Old Elk Cigar Cut...

Heaven Hill’s Grain-to-Glass bourbon returns after its successful debut last year, which also featured a rye and wheated bourbon. Thus far, the 2025 edition includes only the bourbon, with the other two labels in the trio due out later in the year. Elsewhere in bourbon, Old Fitzgerald’s Spring Edition is right on time this year, in contrast with some previous years where this seasonal release was delayed by a few months, and Chattanooga Whiskey has a 2021 vintage bottled in bond expression. In scotch, Speyside distiller Glenrothes has a new 15 year old, which joins the permanent portfolio, while Dalmore is out with a new Luminary expression. From the Lowlands, the innovative InchDairnie Distillery has two new expressions, both flying under the  KinGlassie name.
Heaven Hill Grain-to-Glass Kentucky Straight Bourbon (2025 Edition)
ABV: 52.5%
SRP: $100
Availability: Limited
The second edition of Heaven Hill’s grain-to-glass bourbon—a...

The Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection is a series of collectible Irish whiskeys released between 2020–2025, representing the last whiskey distilled at Old Midleton Distillery and totaling six releases in all. The four single pot still whiskeys, peated malt, and blend in the collection sell for a combined $291,000, with the early releases making several appearances in our auction coverage of the 20-highest hammer prices of the month. As the final chapter is released, Whisky Advocate has reviewed every bottling over the six years of this remarkable project, and our ratings and full tasting notes are below.
Chapter 6 Details
The sixth release is a 50 year old single pot still whiskey priced at $60,000, the oldest Irish whiskey released to date, that has been bottled to mark the 200th anniversary of the distillery’s founding. It was distilled by Max Crockett, the forefather of modern Irish whiskey, whose son, Barry Crockett, master distiller emeritus, was...

Pairing cigars with whisky is a long-standing pleasure. People who enjoy both love to mix and match them together, seeking the perfect pairings that accentuate the flavors of both. But in recent years, some distillers have taken matters into their own hands by introducing whiskies specifically meant to be sipped alongside a cigar. These expressions have drawn equal measures of curiosity and skepticism from those who are confused by what cigar blends actually are.
The cigar-centric names on whisky labels are marketing terms. Just as with other unregulated phrases like “small batch” or “special reserve,” any whisky distiller can slap “cigar” on a label. The proposition is that these whiskies work well with cigars but, technically speaking, the whisky makers aren’t required to light up and evaluate how well they pair. Many distillers do put in the work, and here we outline some of their methods.
Smoke Meets Sweet
The cigar...

Buffalo Trace Distillery’s annual Antique Collection—also known as “BTAC”—hasn’t had an addition to the lineup since 2006, when Thomas H. Handy joined the crew. Today, the Frankfort, Kentucky Distillery confirmed it’s adding a new bourbon to the highly coveted mix for the Fall 2025 BTAC release: E.H. Taylor bottled in bond bourbon.
The E.H. Taylor BTAC bourbon joins an array of Buffalo Trace’s finest whiskeys, most of which honor past industry luminaries behind the distillery’s most sought-after brands. William Larue Weller, George T. Stagg, Sazerac 18 year old, Eagle Rare 17 year old, and Thomas H. Handy comprise the current lineup, so E.H. Taylor will join some esteemed company.
This 100-proof bourbon—a mandated ABV of any bottled in bond product—means E.H. Taylor’s BTAC offering will sit on the lower side of the proof spectrum, adjacent to Sazerac 18 year old rye (typically 90 proof) and Eagle Rare 17...

It’s another plentiful week in new whisky, especially for American craft distillers. Frey Ranch is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an American whiskey made from five different grains, while Chicken Cock has upped the age on its Double Oak whiskey by two years. Filmland Spirits has similarly released an older iteration of its flagship Moonlight Mayhem! bourbon, and North Carolina’s Oaklore Distilling has made its four-grain bourbon available nationwide. In Washington, Heritage Distilling Co. has debuted another bourbon commemorating the stories and veterans of the U.S. Special Operations Forces. Outside the U.S., Crown Royal has introduced a Canadian blend finished in Caribbean rum casks, Hatozaki has a new blend of malt whiskies finished in umeshu plum liqueur casks, and Japanese whisky bar Club Qing is making its U.S. debut with two single casks from Speyside.
Chicken Cock 10 year old Double Oak Kentucky Whiskey
ABV: 46%
SRP: $80

April generated the lowest monthly combined 20-highest single bottle hammer prices since August 2024, reaching $433,030. Despite an 18% gain after three months compared to 2024, the combined value of the top 20 bottles of the month is now down 6% against the first four months of last year. Auction houses had to adapt to the changing tariff rules throughout April: U.S. buyers now need to pay the 10% tariff on all whiskies purchased at overseas auctions, except for American whiskeys. On April 21st, courier DHL temporarily suspended all business-to-consumer shipments of $800 or more to U.S. customers due to the introduction of new customs entry processes, but to the relief of collectors, this decision was reversed on April 28th after dialogue between DHL and the government, enabling operations to get back to normal.
Whisky Auctioneer made much of the play this month, delivering 60% of the 20-highest bottles, though their auction concluded ahead of the tariff announcements...

Did you know that “Star Trek” has its own liquor label? It’s true! Since 2022, the popular science-fiction franchise has been releasing spirits inspired by some of the drinks and props featured throughout the films and shows. The list includes an Earl Grey-infused gin influenced by the favorite tea of captain Jean Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart), a lightning-blue vodka that’s made to look like the highly addictive Romulan Ale, and a line of vintage-dated bourbons that bear the mark of the Starfleet Command, among others. The franchise has just announced its two newest whiskeys, which were made in partnership with the Barrell Craft Spirits label Stellum Spirits.
Out of This World
The first is a blended rye that includes liquid ranging in age from 5 years and 5 months to 7 years old. The provenance of the whiskey is undisclosed, but the blend has a derived mashbill of 82% rye, 14% corn, and 4% malted barley. The final product was bottled at...

In scotch whisky, Ledaig, the peated label of Torbermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull, has released a cask strength 10 year old, while Oban offers a very sherried 15 year old. From the Irish whiskey space, Midleton Very Rare's 2025 Edition uses six different whiskeys of two styles—three single pot still and three grain. Of equal interest is Dingle's U.S. debut of a single pot still whiskey, while Natterjack introduces The Deliberate Mistake, aged in virgin oak casks for a year longer than intended.
Ledaig Hebridean Moon Scotch Single Malt
ABV: 58.8%
SRP: $113
Availability: 7,000 bottles worldwide
Ledaig is Tobermory Distillery’s peated label (the Isle of Mull distillery also makes the Tobermory unpeated label). This new single malt was aged in bourbon barrels and is Ledaig’s first-ever cask-strength 10 year old, and the distillery is billing it as a one-off, with just 7,000 bottles available. It also holds the distinction of being the...

The sign by the roadside reads, “The Official Home of Jefferson’s Bourbon,” but the place could be mistaken for a general store or a farm stand. It's neither—it’s the home of Kentucky Artisan Distillery in Crestwood, Kentucky, where this contract distiller set up shop in 2012. But the sign will soon need an update: for the past decade, Kentucky Artisan has made most of the liquid for Jefferson’s, but that will change later this year, as Jefferson’s gets ready to open its own distillery about 60 miles down the road in Lebanon, leaving Kentucky Artisan to pursue other projects.
For some contract distillers, losing their biggest client might be cause for despair, but Kentucky Artisan master distiller and COO Jade Peterson looks forward to carving out a new path, one that puts greater focus on the distillery’s own brands. That starts with its Artisan Series, a new line launched in February that’s the distillery’s own...

Among the American whiskey releases this week, Angel's Envy, which rose to fame on its barrel-finished expressions, now has a new tequila cask-finished rye, and Washington State's Woodinville Whiskey has a new tequila cask-finished bourbon. Barrell has unveiled its first full-proof bourbon, bottled at 61.5%, while Maryland rye specialist Sagamore Spirit is out with the annual edition of its Cask Strength rye. New Riff, best known for its bottled in bond bourbons and ryes, is back with another release of its American single malt. This is New Riff's first single malt release since 2023, and it contains liquid that's 10 years old, dating back to its founding days. There's also new whiskey from Chicken Cock and Calumet Farm, as well as an unaged expression from California's Sespe Creek, where ex-Laphroaig master distiller John Campbell now creates the whiskeys since joining the company last year.
Angel’s Envy Cellar...

Next month, Kentucky’s RD1 Distillery is set to open the doors of its new home at The Commons in Lexington, a mixed-use development that includes other businesses, a park, restaurants, and amenities. The move initially was expected to take place last August, but weather factors and permit delays pushed it until May 14 of this year.
Located one mile north of the brand's previous home on Manchester Street, now permanently closed, RD1’s new 10,215 square foot, two-story location will have a visitor experience centering around wood finishing, the brand’s calling card since its inception in 2020. Three times larger than the previous location, the new venue offers outdoor seating on both levels, with views of the town’s historic water tower. Inside are multiple bourbon-tasting spaces, including a speakeasy and bourbon bar, four private tasting rooms, private event spaces, and a gift shop with RD1 merch and the label’s bourbon available for purchase...

Earlier this month, we were in County Sligo in northwest Ireland to visit Sazerac’s long-awaited Irish distillery project: a 100-acre campus formerly known as Lough Gill Distillery, which the company acquired in 2022. The immense, immaculately clean facility is relaunching as Hawk’s Rock Distillery, adding a potentially significant new asset to Sazerac’s whiskey portfolio. “We have an eagle [Eagle Rare], and now we have a hawk,” one company representative smiled during our site visit.
We’ve tasted the first whiskey that will emerge from Hawk’s Rock, which will be released this June. The particulars of that liquid are still under wraps, but we can reveal that all the Irish whiskeys being crafted here are being done under the watchful eye of master blender Helen Mulholland.

The list of accolades Mulholland has racked up over the years is lengthy. She spent 25 years work at Bushmills, most recently as its...

In the far reaches of northern Minnesota, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border, Michael Swanson’s family has been farming its 1,000 acres of land for over a century near the town of Hallock. A farm kid through and through, Swanson spent his childhood among fields of wheat, sugar beets, barley, canola, and sunflowers, and in a home surrounded by the sprawling Minnesota plains where his Swedish immigrant great-grandparents had settled. While both sides of Swanson’s family were in agriculture, neither had backgrounds in distilling, so it was a leap of faith when in 2013 he decided to devote some of his harvest toward something new: whiskey. “It made sense to me—to distill whiskey from grain that you grow just outside of the distillery itself. It gives you utmost control over the raw materials and their quality, as well as a story with an authentic feel,” he explains.

Before getting Far North Distillery off the ground, Swanson turned to...

If you’re traveling to Kentucky as a whiskey tourist, chances are the state’s northern reaches aren’t first on your list of places to visit. That’s by no means a snub as much as a statement of fact—the vast majority of the state’s distilleries are dotted across the center of the commonwealth, in the “Amber Triangle” formed by Lexington, Louisville, and Bardstown. These days, however, there’s a hub of whiskey activity humming to the north, with Covington at the center of it all. Here's your guide to spending 48 hours in Covington.

The city of Covington (population 40,984) lies just across the river from Cincinnati, a travel hub with an airport bigger and more accessible than what you’ll find in Louisville or Lexington. Covington touts a rich, albeit lesser-known distilling history (one of its politicians, John G. Carlisle, was a co-creator of the Bottled in Bond Act, for starters) that’s resulted in a...

America’s pastime brings to mind beer, hot dogs, and Cracker Jack. It’s time to add whisky to that list. Although very few baseball stadiums have bars where you can purchase pours, most cities have a standout establishment within walking distance or a short ride away. There, you might be able to enjoy anything from pizza to prime steak with craft cocktails, curated flights, rare selections, or your favorite whisky. From sports bars to speakeasies, here’s where to get your fix before the opening pitch.

Citizen Public House & Oyster Bar

Boston
This cozy British gastropub is a block’s walk from Fenway Park, making it an ideal spot for Red Sox fans and haters alike to suck down local raw oysters, whisky-smoked mussels, and whisky before the game. Pull up a stool at the long, dark wood bar or snag a cognac leather banquette and peruse the list of 375 options, including six single-barrel selections, WhistlePig The Badönkådonk...

There’s never been a better time to be an American rye lover, with rye whiskey coming from across the country. These ryes run the flavor gamut, given that the style has blossomed over the past decade beyond straight rye to include bottled in bond, cask-strength, and barrel-finished variants. Many rye mashbills are at play, too; whereas the 95/5 recipe from MGP once ruled the day, there are now whiskey makers leaning into the style by way of 100% rye mashbills, and others still who operate at the opposite end of the spectrum, with expressions of 51% rye that highlight the softer, sweeter sides of the grain. We’ve rounded up five American ryes that represent just how diverse this style can be (and at prices that don’t break the bank).
92 points - Corbin Cash Merced Rye Small Batch, 45%, $55
Farm distillers, the Souza family, have worked their Central Valley, California farm since 1917 and began distilling in 2007, with a focus on rye. Small Batch rye offers...

It's a light menu of new whiskey releases this week, led by the return of Flaming Heart from blended scotch bottler Compass Box, which is out with a 25th anniversary edition. Chattanooga Whiskey, meanwhile, has a 13th anniversary release, drawn from the distillery's solera systems and made from a different combination of whiskeys than the previous year, in keeping with Chattanooga's tradition. On the other side of Tennessee, in Memphis, Old Dominick has released a single barrel 7 year old wheat whiskey. And finally, Louisville-based Pursuit Spirits pays tribute to its hometown's distilling history with the revival of two lost whiskey names: Mellwood and Derby Town. 
 
 
Compass Box Flaming Heart 25th Anniversary Edition Blended Malt Scotch
ABV: 48.9%
Price: $165
Availability: Limited; 9,384 bottles
Compass Box has announced a new edition of Flaming Heart, its peaty blended malt scotch, to celebrate the company’s 25th...

Few spirits can match tequila in popularity these days, as the tequila space swells with new releases. One particular innovation that has been attracting a lot of attention is additive-free tequila. American whiskey drinkers are already well-versed in additive-free sipping, as whiskeys labeled as "straight" are legally prohibited from using additives. Tequila, however, is relatively new to the additive-free game.
Tequila production is regulated by Mexican law, which states that to be called tequila, a spirit must be made from at least 51% blue Weber agave in one of five Mexican states, Jalisco being the largest and most popular. Of course, most top brands today boast that they’re made with 100% agave. Agave is the key to tequila. The blue Weber agave plant is a large succulent with spiky leaves. The plant’s stalk can grow higher than 10 feet and its leaves can grow to be 7 feet long. On average, it takes five to seven years for a plant to reach maturity for tequila...

When Maker’s Mark was founded in 1953, the whiskey was somewhat novel for using soft red winter wheat instead of rye in its mashbill, given that rye was (and remains!) the more common secondary grain in bourbon. As Maker’s has evolved over the years, its focus has never strayed from that original mashbill of 70% corn, 16% soft red winter wheat, and 14% malted barley, even as the distillery’s experimentation has soared via releases such as Maker’s 46, the Wood Finishing Series (now in its fifth chapter) and Cellar Aged. Now Maker’s is shaking things up with Star Hill Farm, a brand-new wheat whiskey that puts the spotlight on the eponymous farm in Loretto, Kentucky, as well as the soft red winter wheat that the distillery has long bet on.
In making Star Hill Farm Whiskey, the distilling team (today headed by master distiller Dr. Blake Layfield and lead blender Beth Buckner) played with a number of new mashbills before ultimately landing on two: the...

The week's new releases are led by Wild Turkey 101 8 year old, which isn't a new release at all, but one that's been enjoyed for some time in overseas markets and is finally coming home to U.S. distribution. Elsewhere, Jefferson's has a new cask strength offering, and Indiana's Old Hamer label has a new 10 year old bourbon. Smaller releases were announced from Copperworks, Lasso Motel, and Round Barn. In scotch, Royal Salute adds to its Polo collection. Among collectibles, there's a new iteration from Macallan Distill Your World,  Glenrothes tops the age charts with a 51 year old, and The Last Drop has a three-bottle release showcasing an ultra-aged bourbon, scotch, and Japanese whisky. 

Royal Salute 21 year old Rio de Janeiro Polo Edition Blended Scotch
ABV: 40%
SRP: $250
Availability: Limited; specialty retailers including  Flaviar and Caskers 
Royal Salute is releasing a new expression in its Polo Collection, its globe-trotting...

The modern whisky business is driven forward by innovation, and distillers have many avenues to explore in creating bold and dynamic flavors. Sometimes the focus is on the mashbill, using uncommon grains like rice or quinoa, or employing unique strains of grains like Jimmy Red corn or Orkney-grown Bere barley. Some smoke their grains with things other than peat—including mesquite wood and even sheep dung. Others play around with finishes, tapping casks that previously held unusual contents or virgin barrels made from exotic woods.
One area that’s seen great attention recently is maturation. It seems like a simple enough process without much room for innovation: Barrels are loaded into a warehouse where they’re stored until coming of age. But some whisky makers have turned that notion on its head—putting their distillate through unconventional aging regimens, which run the gamut from gimmicky to far outside the box. Here we’ve rounded up some of the...

Tendrils of smoke bobbed and weaved through the air, and Glencairn glasses clinked with abandon at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Florida over the weekend, as avid cigar fans joined forces with whisky lovers at the annual Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest, now in its fourth year.
The night kicked off at 5:30 p.m. with a VIP hour, during which ticket holders were among the first to access the evening’s 30-plus cigars—hailing from Arturo Fuente, La Flor Dominicana, J.C. Newman, and more—and rarefied pours from the likes of Johnnie Walker, Lagavulin, Bardstown Bourbon Co., Penelope Bourbon, Redemption, and Crown Royal. Among those wandering the VIP floor was Eddie Coronado, a longtime Big Smoke attendee (this year marked his 15th), and a regular at the Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest crossover, having attended all four. Coronado was stopped over at the Redwood Empire booth, pairing a Brick House Churchill (Cigar Aficionado’s No.-10 cigar of 2024) with...

Since its inception, the San Francisco-based Hotaling & Co. Distillery has hung its hat on rye whiskey. Hotaling was founded in 1993 as Anchor Distilling, a small offshoot of the venerable Anchor Brewing Company. Back then, Anchor was owned by craft beer legend Fritz Maytag, who purchased the brewery when it was on the brink of failure in 1965 and spent the ensuing decades whipping it back into shape. By the early ’90s, Maytag was planning an expansion into spirits, intending to distill a product inspired by the whiskeys of the 18th century. After doing some research, he was drawn to rye whiskey—a style that had been wildly popular before Prohibition, but was on the verge of extinction.

To make that dream a reality, Maytag set up pot stills in the Anchor Brewing warehouse and left things in the hands of Bruce Joseph—one of Anchor’s most experienced brewers—who would go on to serve as master distiller for over three decades before retiring in...

For the last three years, Neat Bourbon Bar and Bottle Shop in Louisville, has been racking up accolades and awards. Crowned one of the top bars to visit in the Bluegrass State—and also the nation—by dozens of sources (including Whisky Advocate), the venue is beloved by fans for its array of iconic dusty bottles, fanciful and creative cocktails, and whimsical decor. Now, Neat husband and wife owners Owen and Danie Powell are expanding. Neat’s second location will open in Bardstown in April.
The two bars will be located on the same road, incidentally, just 35 miles apart. “Start at our Louisville bar, keep going down the street, and you’ll eventually hit the other location,” Owen Powell laughs. “Makes getting back and forth pretty easy.” As for why Bardstown, the town is undergoing a transformation, infrastructure and tourist-centric offerings finally springing up to serve the scores of visitors to the bourbon capital of the world...

There are just a few whiskeys included among this week’s new rollouts, but those comprise some of the most highly anticipated bourbons on the market. Booker’s leads the way with its first batch of the year, while we also have a new release of Michter’s 10 year old bourbon, and the 11th annual release from Blood Oath. New Riff, meanwhile, has its very limited bourbon and rye labels, both under the Silver Grove name, available at the distillery’s gift shop only, with a portion of sales going to a local charity in nearby Silver Grove, Kentucky. Also new are a double oak bourbon from Buzzard's Roost, and two offerings from the World Whiskey Society.
 
Booker’s “Barry’s Batch” Bourbon (Batch 2025-01)
ABV: 62.85%
SRP: $100
Availability: Limited
The first Booker’s batch of the year has arrived. Named in honor of Barry Berish, a former Jim Beam chairman and CEO (and dear friend of master...

Undoubtedly, after an epic bull market, the whisky industry has been facing some major headwinds. Whisky sales fell in 2023, and then even more in 2024, marking the first consecutive declines in more than two decades. Further uncertainty looms, too, thanks to the threat of tariffs and a potentially prolonged trade war. The ongoing responses by the industry—production pauses, layoffs, and closures—have evoked echoes of previous whisky downturns, when sales slumped and distilleries shuttered. While we’re very far from the lows of the bad old days that took hold in the 1970s, there’s been a mounting turbulence that isn’t behind us quite yet. Below is a look at some of the biggest pauses, job cuts, and closures announced in the past calendar year. 
Irish Distillers
This month, Irish Distillers announced that its Midleton Distillery—producer of such big-name Irish whiskeys as Jameson, Midleton, Redbreast, the Spots, Powers, and...

Old Forester is a bourbon distiller, first and foremost. Founded in 1870, it didn’t release its first rye until nearly 150 years later, in 2019, using an old recipe from a now-defunct rye brand called Normandy rye (of 65% rye, 20% malted barley, and 15% corn) that it had acquired in 1940. Over the years, the Old Forester rye portfolio has seen the additions of cask strength and single barrel versions, but the distillery had never tried its hand at a bottled in bond (BIB) version—until now.
The BIB rye is part of Old Forester’s 117 Series, which gets its name from Old Forester’s former address of 117 West Main Street in Louisville, where it did business from 1892 to 1919, right next door to Old Forester’s current Whiskey Row venue, which is at number 119. (The majority of Old Forester’s whiskey today is produced at the much larger distillery on Dixie Highway in Louisville.)
This new bonded rye is in keeping with the original...

Among the more interesting news items this week was the introduction of Old Forester’s first bottled in bond rye, released as part of the distillery’s 117 Series. We have deeper coverage on that here, including an interview with assistant master distiller Caleb Trigo. Elsewhere in the whiskey world, there are new releases from Barrel Craft Spirits, 15 Stars, Elijah Craig, Kentucky Senator, and Old Potrero, as well as the latest Gentleman’s Cut expression from NBA superstar Stephen Curry, and a new addition to the Wildlife Collection from Milam & Greene.
 
Elijah Craig Limited Edition Toasted Barrel Small Batch Bourbon
 
ABV: 63.3%
Price: $100
Availability: California Exclusive; less than 200 bottles; presale signup available here
Bourbon and golf fans should enjoy Heaven Hill’s new Elijah Craig limited-edition private barrel bourbon, selected in partnership with golf pro and six-time PGA Tour winner Max Homa. This...

Whisky Auctioneer brought the excitement back to whisky auctions this month, breaking the auction record for Hanyu on its way to setting the highest hammer price of the year so far. Close on its tail was a huge bid for a one-off bottle of Macallan 1967 from the Anecdotes of Age Collection. Among an array of high-value sales, these two were Whisky Auctioneer’s highest-value lots to sell since their May 2022 auction. This helped set March on a trajectory that should see the 20-highest hammer prices break the million-dollar mark for the first time in 2025.
That outcome will largely depend on the results from Sotheby’s, whose parallel auctions in New York and Hong Kong conclude this week. Check here to see if Sotheby’s, Hong Kong beat Whisky Auctioneer’s new Hanyu auction record, as they too are selling a bottle of Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Series 1988 Ten of Spades this month. Not only that, but Sotheby’s, New York has an exclusive Macallan, a...

What started as a slow burn is now heading toward fever pitch. In little over two decades, collectors have propelled Michter’s to the forefront of modern collectible whiskey. It is one of the few American labels capable of multiple appearances in our monthly online list of the 20-highest auction prices, elbowing its way past notable scotches and cult Japanese bottles. Like LeNell’s, early Willett, and early Pappy, the most valuable Michter’s rarities are the output of barrels of sourced bourbon and ryes snapped up by those smart or lucky enough to be on it at the start when Michter’s president Joe Magliocco was building the business and reviving the Michter’s name.
Michter’s Single Barrel Rye 25 year old holds the brand’s highest auction record and first appeared in 2008. They release single barrel 25 year olds as stock permits, both bourbon and rye, but the gaps between releases can be many years, as the whiskey must meet their quality...

Ginger manifests as an earthy, pungent, and spicy influence in whisky, but it’s a flavor with the versatility to complement savory and sweet flavors too. Unquestionably, it can be hot and fiery, yet it can yield citrus, herbal, and woody notes as well. It’s one of the world’s most familiar spices and has strong associations with cooking, baking, and drinking traditions.
There’s fresh ginger, with its bulbous, gnarly rhizomes, there’s ground ginger sitting in the spice rack, and there’s the sweetness of crystalized or candied ginger. Many associate ginger with comforting treats such as gingersnap cookies, ginger cake, and gingerbread, and its close cousins lebkuchen and pfeffernüsse. For others, it’s about the fresh ginger that perks up stir-fries, broths, salads, and curries in Asian and Indian cuisine, or the slivers of pickled ginger or gari served alongside sashimi.
Ginger's Flavor in Whisky 
Ginger brings a host of...

Whether making bourbon, rye, wheat, or any other style of American whiskey, all distillers are faced with a choice between using sour or sweet mash. But what exactly are they, and what is the difference between the two?
First, a quick review of the initial steps in whiskey making. Milled grains are blended with water to create what’s called a mash. The grain element has natural sweetness, and into this mix goes yeast, which touches off fermentation to turn that sweetness into alcohol. The resulting beer-like liquid—the mash—is then distilled into whiskey.
Generations ago, distillers discovered the idea of adding something to the mash called backset—liquid strained from the previous batch. Whiskeys made without backset are sweet mash whiskeys, and those with backset are sour mash whiskeys. Why would anyone choose to add this strange acidic substance to a mash? Sour mash distillers use the backset to protect against bacterial contamination during...

This week, Texas distiller Garrison Bros. announced the arrival of its Lady Bird limited annual release, which uses the same recipe as previous expressions—4 year old cask-strength Garrison Bros. Honeydew bourbon with a long cognac cask finish. Yellowstone, meanwhile, is out with a 6 year old that’s the first age-stated whiskey ever for the label.
Elsewhere, Chattanooga has a new pre-Prohibition-style bourbon, while Virginia Distillery Co. adds yet another stout cask-finished whiskey to its lineup. In scotch, Tobermory has unveiled the final release in its five-part Hebridean Series, this one a 27 year old oloroso cask-finished expression. Among world whiskies, Taiwan distiller Kavalan has two 2009 vintage whiskies—ultra-aged in Taiwan’s sub-tropical climate, which is no easy feat.
Yellowstone 6 year old Small Batch 107 Proof Bourbon
ABV: 53.5%
SRP: $45
Availability: Nationwide
Yellowstone, the whiskey brand made by Limestone...

Update 4/21/25: Gregg Snyder, former Chicken Cock master distiller, has left that post to join veteran-owned, Bardstown-based Four Branches Bourbon in an advisory role.
When the modern whiskey era and the dawn of craft distilling arrived in the early 2000s, most fledgling craft players “sourced” whiskeys— buying aged distillate from other, larger suppliers— while waiting for their juice to mature. Utah-based High West famously sourced aged rye whiskeys from MGP, using those as the cornerstone of some great whiskeys while its distillery was being built. Others, like Woodinville Whiskey in Washington, chose never to source whiskey, waiting years for its own distillate to mature. Still others, like Smooth Ambler of West Virginia, chose a middle path, blending sourced whiskey with its own make.
Then another business model came upon the American whiskey scene—the producer that’s solely a blender and bottler, with no plans to build a distillery...

Regardless of how or where you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year, you'll need to have Irish whiskey on hand. Whether for sipping neat, with a splash of water, on ice, in a cocktail, or chased by a Guinness, we have you covered! There are four main styles to explore: Single malt, made from 100% malted Irish barley and either double or triple distilled; single pot still, known for its spiciness and distinctive oily mouthfeel, made from a mash of malted and unmalted barley, and occasionally adjunct grains such as oats and rye; single grain, made from different grains in a column still; and blended, made from a combination of any two of the above styles. For the Irish diaspora scattered across the world, St. Patrick’s Day is an opportunity to raise a glass to the old country. When it comes to which whiskeys to pour, we’ve selected everything from neat pours to make-at-home Irish cocktails. In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, whether you’re Irish or...

Stitzel-Weller produced legendary bourbon. The Shively, Kentucky, distillery is the birthplace of W.L. Weller, Old Fitzgerald, Rebel Yell, and Cabin Still, among others. The common thread of all those iconic brands? Using wheat instead of rye in the mashbill for a sweeter, easy-drinking bourbon. This move bucked the normal trend of whiskey making, as did Stitzel-Weller’s beliefs in aging products for protracted periods, more than a decade in many instances.
Founded on Kentucky Derby Day (May 5th) in 1935, the company was a merger of two industry titans: W.L. Weller & Sons, a distributor, and A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, which managed to procure a medicinal license to continue operations during Prohibition. At the company’s helm were Julian Van Winkle Sr. (whom you now know as Pappy), Arthur Philip Stitzel, and Alex T. Farnsley, a trio whose prowess encompassed marketing, distribution, and production.

Now owned by Diageo, the facility underwent a...

Even a quick glance at its name makes it safe to assume that Dampfwerk Distilling in St. Louis Park, Minnesota has a far-flung influence. In this case, that influence is German: Owner Ralf Loeffelholz is originally from the Bavarian town of Muhldorf. There, fruit brandies and herbal liqueurs are deeply entrenched in the culture, and Loeffelholz knew that when he opened his distillery on American soil, those European-style brandies and liqueurs would be at the heart of his business. But Dampfwerk (which translates to “steam works”) is a family affair, and distiller Christian Loeffelholz (Ralf’s son) joined Dampfwerk with American single malt in mind—which he makes on the same German-made still his father uses.

“The still was designed to our specifications; it’s not a traditional whiskey still by any means, but it’s tuned for leaving as much flavor in the product as possible—in that way, we have great bandwidth for brandies and...

Woodford Reserve this week released its annual Derby bottle ahead of the 2025 Kentucky Derby, which takes place on May 3. This year’s label was created by Cuban-American artist Humberto Lahera, who’s based in Louisville. The one-liter bottle retails at $50 and can be purchased on Reservebar, on Woodford’s online store, at the Woodford Reserve Distillery, and selected retailers nationwide.
Among other new releases, Orphan Barrel is out with a 17 year old, while Old Elk has a new flagship bourbon called Slow Cut. Penelope Rio, the amburana cask-finished bourbon, is back with its third iteration, while High West returns with the annual release of Bourye, its rye-bourbon blend. There's plenty more, with new offerings from Buzzard's Roost, Remus, and Westward, among others, including a noteworthy release from Bushmills, which has unveiled the oldest Irish single malt ever—a 46 year old with a limited global release of just 300 bottles, priced at a cool...

Located near an extinct volcano named Dumgoyne just 14 miles north of Glasgow, Glengoyne Distillery occupies a fairly curious spot in scotch whisky—literally and figuratively. The town of Glengoyne straddles the Highland Boundary Fault, a tectonic fault line that serves as a natural border between the Highland and Lowland regions. While the distillery itself falls north of that line—thus qualifying its whisky as Highland single malt—historically Glengoyne has aged its stocks in warehouses in the Lowlands side of the line. That arrangement has sometimes led to confusion among whisky enthusiasts. Even today many drinkers associate its lighter flavor profile more with Lowland scotches than its Highland kin.
The distillery has been operating for over a century and a half—established in 1833 under the name Burnfoot Distillery—but never really emerged as a major player. The early years were fairly quiet, but in 1876 the distillery was sold to Lang...

Higher proof whiskeys have been expanding their presence these days—indeed, among the latest releases, it almost seems like a rare thing to find a whisky with an ABV in the 40% bracket. These new expressions are nearly all in the high 50% or low 60% range, with only two bottlings in the mid-40s. It seems to be what whisky drinkers want as they seek intense, amped up flavors, and, so distillers are delivering. This lineup spans most of the major styles, including bourbon, rye, single malt, and Irish, nearly all pushing up the needle on proof.
Michter’s US*1 Barrel Strength Rye
ABV: 55.25%
SRP: $120
Availability: Limited
While your favorite Michter’s releases can sometimes go on hiatus due to a combination of limited supply and the judgment of master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson, the distillery has made concerted efforts in recent years to make sure that its whiskeys are on shelves. That effort has paid...

Chicago has a long-standing reputation for being a great place to eat and drink. While that used to mean highly acclaimed dining at one place and expert mixologists slinging cocktails at another, today the line between fine dining and fine drinking has been blurred. Now there are venues that combine elevated cuisine alongside curated spirits selections and creative cocktails. And with its thriving craft distillery scene, Chicago makes a great destination for a whisky weekend.
The city is big but compact, so use the train system (known to Chicagoans as the “L”) and rideshares to see all of it.
Day 1

In the Windy City there are plenty of hotels with good bars, so you might as well stay where there’s a whisky focus. Hotel Zachary, across from Wrigley Field, provides views of the iconic baseball stadium and easy access to Mordecai, where creative takes on American classics like wagyu tartare and crackerjack beignets accompany an impressive whiskey...

This week's new releases see several whisky makers take familiar concepts and flip them on their heads. First up is Woodford, which has reinvented its Chocolate Malt Whisper bourbon into a whiskey that, at 69.7% ABV, is the highest-proof expression it has ever released. Elsewhere in Kentucky, Peerless has taken two whiskeys it’s executed well in the past—rye and toasted barrel—and combined them for its first toasted barrel-finished rye. Frey Ranch is also bringing something fresh to the table with the introduction of a whiskey made entirely from unmalted barley. Overseas, Bushmills has had its hands full with cask finishes, while Macallan has debuted the 8th release in its nostalgia-evoking Archival Series. 
Woodford Reserve Chocolate Whisper Redux 139.4 Bourbon
ABV: 69.7%
SRP: $100/375 ml
Availability: Limited; woodfordreserve.com, distillery tasting room, and KY
To understand this new Woodford whiskey, we must first look back to 2021...

 
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Jameson Black Barrel, 91 pts
Sumptuously rich, toasted nuts, raisins, caramelized sugar, dark vanilla, fleshy fruits, peppery spice. | 40%
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Redbreast, 12 Year Old, 96 pts
Impeccable balanced, honeyed, toasted marshmallow, banana bread, bright fruit, golden raisin. | 40%
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Green Spot, 91 pts
Luxuriantly juicy, baked apple, ripe green fruits, spiced sultanas, butterscotch, light vanilla, nutmeg. | 40%
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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...

Founded in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969, The Allman Brothers Band grew to be one of the most influential rock groups in American music. An early Southern rock pioneer, the band’s run spanned 45 years, and their music inspired prominent musicians like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Widespread Panic, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Tom Petty, in addition to a slew of spin-off groups including Gov’t Mule and The Allman Betts Band.
Today marks a milestone for the band: the 53rd anniversary of its third studio album, “Eat a Peach.” On top of having hits like “Melissa” and “Blue Sky,” the record was also a defining moment in the group’s history, as it was the first album released following the death of founding member and lead guitarist Duane Allman, who died in a tragic motorcycle accident at the age of 24 while the album was still being recorded. To commemorate the anniversary, the Allman Brothers estate has partnered with Three Chord...

Savage wildfires have wreaked havoc on the Greater Los Angeles Area this year, prompting companies across all industries to leap into charitable action. Sazerac Co., which owns Buffalo Trace Distillery, is doing its part with a California wildlfire charity program, wherein 100% of proceeds will benefit two nonprofit organizations operating on the frontlines of the disaster: the Jose Andres-led World Central Kitchen, which provides fresh meals to first responders and families, and Another Round Another Rally, an educational resource for members of the hospitality industry that also supplies emergency assistance to industry personnel. As part of the program, Sazerac is offering three distinct prize packages, each featuring Buffalo Trace Distillery’s most sought-after whiskeys.
The first prize is available via silent auction, and for Pappy fans, it’s a big one—the first-ever single barrel of Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 15 year old bourbon...

The latest addition to Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection is a 19 year old straight wheat whiskey, which uses the same mashbill recipe as the one for its Bernheim label. From out west, Utah’s  High West has a new single malt whiskey, comprised of 4 and 8 year old whisks entirely at the Utah distillery, though unfortunately, its distribution is in-state only. From Texas, Garrison Bros. has a single barrel version of its Balmorhea bourbon, and it also is limited, at just 1,000 bottles. Ardbeg is out with its annual Ardbeg Committee Exclusive, Ardbeg Eureka! which blends malt selected by 100 fans who were invited to the Islay distillery to taste five “extreme” Ardbeg samples.
Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 19 year old Kentucky Straight Wheat 
ABV: 50%
SRP: $300
Availability: Limited
This is the latest release in Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection, a series of aged releases launched in 2022 that showcases some of...

If there’s one thing to learn from the Roy family in the hit television series “Succession,” it’s that blood relatives and business often don’t mix. But that adage doesn’t ring true in American whiskey, where many storied families have embraced distilling with enduring success. The oldest distilling families have been at it for centuries— most notably the Beams, where the tradition stretches back eight generations to 1795, when Jacob Beam sold his first barrel of corn whiskey. Closely intertwined with that story is today’s Noe family, who are direct descendants.
Other families might not count eight generations back, but are nonetheless ingrained into the story of American distilling. Think the Van Winkles of Pappy fame, who are now into the fourth generation of whiskey makers, or the Hendersons with three generations of distillers, who created Angels Envy and recently launched True Story whiskey. Willett, too, has long remained a...

A decade after launching its flagship 10 year old small batch rye, Vermont-based WhistlePig has added a 10 year old bourbon to its portfolio with the debut of Snout-To-Tail. While WhistlePig has built its business predominantly on rye, the new offering is a fresh take on bourbon made with a unique finishing and aging process. To complement this release, WhistlePig has announced plans to open a new bar and brand experience center in Louisville, Kentucky this summer, with the goal of setting down roots for its Vermont whiskey in Bourbon Country.
Snout-to-Tail bourbon 10 year old gets its name from the toasted barrels in which it rests. The barrels feature two different toasted heads—the “snout” end has a Vermont oak medium toast while the “tail” end boasts a Vermont oak smoked maple wood toast. The barrels are stored vertically to age, and during the final stage of maturation a forklift flips the barrels 180 degrees—from snout to...

Single pot still is the quintessential expression of Irish whiskey, known for its rich array of textures ranging from creamy to oily, and typically accompanied by a delightful array of spicy notes. It’s made in copper pot stills—by rule at a single distillery from a mash of both unmalted and malted barley, with small proportions of oats, rye, or wheat (known as adjunct grains) permitted.
Until recently, there wasn’t a lot of single pot still available, so this style remains unfamiliar to many whiskey lovers. But that has been changing lately, with more volume coming to market. The most familiar names include Redbreast, Powers, Green Spot, and Method and Madness, but there are many others, such as Teeling, The Busker, Writers’ Tears, Kilbeggan, and Drumshanbo.
While spice is single pot still’s signature, it isn’t one single flavor, as it can range from ginger and spiced fruits to licorice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. The expression of the...

Making whiskey from heirloom grains has been among the many pursuits of Newport, Kentucky-based New Riff Distilling since its launch in 2014. Now it's offering a new iteration of its Balboa rye label, which returns for the first time since its inaugural release in 2019. Meanwhile, Old Forester is bringing back its 1910 Extra Old label, and Westland returns with the third edition of its peated expression Solum, this time with significantly more bottles available. Elsewhere, terroir-drive Colorado distiller Laws is out with a new wheated whiskey, while the World Whiskey Society has expanded its Doc Holliday franchise with a bottled in bond bourbon.
 
Old Forester 1910 Extra Old Bourbon
ABV: 46.5%
SRP: $65
Availability: Limited
Earlier this month, Old Forester reintroduced its 1924 bourbon. Now, the distillery is bringing back another whiskey: 1910 Extra Old, which returns to shelves after a nearly three-year hiatus. The...

Commonwealth Distillery was never a famous name, but for many bourbon lovers, it’s a very special place—known as the launching point for some of American whiskey’s most iconic labels, most notably the Old Rip Van Winkle (ORVW) line and its star, Pappy Van Winkle. The story of Commonwealth began in 1983 when Pappy Van Winkle’s grandson, Julian Van Winkle III, acquired the shuttered old Hoffman Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, converted it into a warehouse and bottling facility, and renamed Commonwealth.
Commonwealth became the Van Winkle outpost after the family had been forced to sell its Stitzel Weller Distillery to a Diageo forerunner company back in 1972. Julian Van Winkle was able to obtain plenty of aging stocks from Stitzel Weller (there wasn’t much demand in those days) and transport them to Commonwealth for aging and bottling, which led to the creation of Pappy. He also bottled a number of other treasured whiskeys at Commonwealth...

It’s not only Japanese whisky that’s exploding in popularity. Tourism to Japan is too, thanks to a vibrant culture, unparalleled hospitality, and a historically weak yen. With $20 cocktails quickly becoming the norm in the U.S., the favorable exchange rate also means some of the best whisky bar deals on the planet are happening right now in Japan.
A couple of things to bear in mind: Bars can be hard to find and located in the basements of buildings, table charges are normal (this is Japan, and space is at a premium) but usually include little snacks, one dram typically measures 30 ml (around one ounce), and bars can’t sell bottles because they usually aren’t licensed for it. The bar spaces are often smaller than you might imagine. While Japan has cracked down on indoor smoking, lighting up is still permitted at some bars, whether cigars or cigarettes. But at others, like Aloha Whisky in Tokyo and One Shot Bar Keith in Osaka, smoking is a no-no.
Whether...

The aged whiskies just keep on coming: Colorado-based Stranahan’s is celebrating American single malt’s official classification with the release of a 12 year old, while Penelope is offering a 17 year old American light whiskey, and single malt scotch Aberfeldy has a 26 and a 39 year old—all of them being limited editions, of course. Meanwhile, Kentucky newcomer Garrard County Distilling Co., which filled its first barrel in January of 2024 at a new distillery in Lancaster, about 35 miles south of Lexington, is relaunching its All Nations brand using sourced liquid. Among other releases, Elijah Craig is out with its first barrel proof batch of the year, while Redwood Empire has a higher-proof version of its Pipe Dream expression. From across the pond, Irish single malt Dingle has the second release in its Celtic Wheel of the Year series
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon (Batch A125)
ABV: 59.1%
SRP: $75
Availability: Nationwide
Each January...

Bidders took their pick of the rarities in the early days of 2025. Whisky Auctioneer delivered the highest prices of the month so far, with a bottle of Macallan The Reach 81 year old leading the field. Not far behind, a bottle of Port Ellen 12 year old created for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Port Ellen Maltings on August 9th 1980 sold for $80,796. If the bottle shape looks familiar, it’s because this expression was bottled in the same design that was used for Oban in the early 1980s. The sale also saw a late bid secure a bottle of Glenfiddich 1937 64 year old for $43,843, one of the 61 bottles of this rare Glenfiddich released in 2001.
Single malt scotch is attracting the month’s highest prices so far. Bowmore topped Whisky Hammer’s auction with sales of the first bottle of Bowmore ARC-52 to sell in over a year, along with a bottle of Black Bowmore 1964 50 year old The Last Cask, which fetched $37,258. In addition, a bottle of Brora 1972 40 year old was...

Irish single pot still whiskey has garnered great attention in the Irish whiskey renaissance of recent years, as a signature style of the country’s distilling tradition and a key element in the Irish revival. Some of Ireland’s newer distillers have been seeing their single pot still stock reach maturity and hit the market.
Clonakilty Distillery, founded in 2016, released its first Irish single pot still expression in the U.S. late last year, while fellow Irish whiskey maker Boann Distillery, founded in 2019, offered its first single pot still expression in early 2023 and returned late last year with two wine cask finished single pot still whiskeys, reviewed here. The Busker, whose whiskeys first came to market in 2020, is from Royal Oak Distillery, which was founded as Walsh Whiskey Distillery in 2016 before being acquired and renamed by Italy’s Illva Saronno in 2019. 
Veteran single pot still label Redbreast offered its Missouri Oak and its highly...

George T. Stagg was one of six distilleries allowed to continue to produce alcohol during Prohibition. Between 1920 and 1933, people could visit a doctor, obtain a prescription for several pints of “medicine,” and legally procure America’s spirit. Today, Stagg is distilled at Buffalo Trace, and Buffalo Trace is honoring its legacy of helping all the ailing Americans during Prohibition by reviving labels and brands from the era.
This five-bottle set, aptly called Prohibition Collection, is now in its second edition of being an annual release. The full 2025 Prohibition Collection No. 2 lineup includes: Mirror Brook blend, Very Oldest Procurable (V.O.P.) bourbon, Anderson’s Belle wheated bourbon, Old Fashioned Mountain Corn whiskey, and Silver Wedding rye.  All were originally produced at George T. Stagg Distillery, under then-president Albert B. Blanton’s leadership, and Buffalo Trace isolated and has used the same yeast strain since Prohibition...

Over the years, Woodford Reserve has introduced numerous intriguing whiskeys through its Distillery Series—a collection of experimental releases sold exclusively at the distillery in Versailles, Kentucky. But few of these expressions have captured the hearts and minds of the Woodford faithful more than Double Double Oaked, which takes Woodford's flagship bourbon and gives it an extra-long finish in toasted oak barrels. For the past decade, interested drinkers had to either journey to Woodford to snag a bottle or take their chances on the secondary market. But today the distillery announces that this bourbon will be available nationwide going forward.
Doubling Down
Double Double Oaked was first released in 2015 and, as master distiller Elizabeth McCall remembers, it was something of a happy accident. Three years earlier, Woodford Reserve introduced Double Oaked, a 5–7 year old bourbon that was finished in toasted and flash-charred barrels for an...

Laws Whiskey House opened its doors in Denver, Colorado’s South Broadway neighborhood back in 2011. Since then, the distillery has gradually built its presence not just in the Centennial State, but around the country, thanks to a wide range of terroir-driven, pot distilled whiskeys that feature strong relationships with local farmers and are made with open-air fermentation and Eldorado Springs water. Now, Laws is taking its game up another notch, with the debut of what it’s calling a “Whiskey Sanctuary.” 
Word of founder and president Al Laws’ intent on building a dramatic whiskey gathering site first came in 2022. While construction was slated to wrap up later that year, the space’s grand opening was delayed until last December due to construction complications. But it appears that the Whiskey Sanctuary was well worth the wait—the building is a feat of brutalist architecture, made with steel, glass, stone, and exposed concrete, and...

As is usual at the start of a new year, the whisky releases are off to a quiet pace. Old Forester has returned with its 1924 label, following up on last January’s debut. Heaven’s Door is back with a sixth volume in its Bootleg Series, and the first Bootleg release since 2023. Originally founded in Nashville, Heaven’s Door put down stakes in the Kentucky down of Pleasureville in late 2023, with a distillery and plans for opening a visitor center the public in the summer of 2024, but summer passed with no update. Kentucky bourbon label Wheel Horse has been an infrequent but highly successful non-distiller producer over the years, but it's back now with a new 5 year old. And on the American single malt front, Iowa-based Cedar Ridge has a new and quite complex wine cask-finished release.
 
 
Old Forester 1924 Bourbon
ABV: 50%
SRP: $120
Availability: Limited
This January, Old Forester is bringing back its 1924...

In 2019, Mike Paladini and his business partner Danny Polise were one year into their venture, Penelope Bourbon, when MGP—the Lawrenceburg, Indiana, supplier of the whiskey for their New Jersey-based non-distilling production operation—called with an unusual offer. Would the duo be interested in 24 barrels of experimental straight wheat whiskey, with a mashbill of 95% wheat and 5% malted barley, that had been laid down six years prior?
They’d always been “super close” with the folks at MGP Distillery, according to Penelope master blender Polise, and after an inventory system update, “that call came in from [MGP’s Ross & Squibb Distillery’s master blender] Sam Schmetlzer, and he said, ‘these barrels are cool; you should check them out.’ We got the samples and were 100% in,” recalls Polise.
One problem: “We didn’t have any money,” laughs Paladini.

“The cost was $25,000 or...

The 20 whiskies that achieved the highest hammer prices of 2024 sold for a combined value of $2.8 million. Japanese whiskies took the three highest hammer prices of the year, whereas 12 months earlier, the top three spots were all occupied by scotch. American whiskey had an impressive year, with Buffalo Trace, Old Fitzgerald, and Van Winkle, all sold by Unicorn Auctions, each making the 20-highest hammer prices of the year list. That’s three more American whiskeys than in 2023. That said, the secondary market for whisky had mixed fortunes in 2024. There were no million dollar bottles or the boost of a Distillers One of One auction, making it slightly unfair to directly compare the results with the year before. It’s true to say that there were more high-value whiskies on sale than there were buyers, and with less competition in a softening market, prices began to fall. That was good news for buyers who were able to pick and choose what they wanted for a favorable price, but...

December rounded off the auction year with a strong month for bottles of Macallan, Hibiki 40 year old, and LeNell Red Hook Rye, each making multiple entries in this month’s list of the 20-highest hammer prices. The month’s 20 bottles sold for a combined sum of $862,186. While Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old topped the list, its value has plunged by more than $50,000 since the start of the year. The first bottle of Eagle Rare 25 year old 2024 release came up for sale at Unicorn Auctions, but fetching a hammer price of $22,100, it fell just short of making December’s 20-highest hammer price list. 
In other auction news, Just Whisky launched a new website in December, only to watch as the auction traffic crashed the server in the final hours. The auction finally concluded 24 hours later than planned. Speyside Whisky Auctions announced that they were making some changes in the company, including withdrawing the offer of storage facilities to customers...

We’d wager that for most people, it’s only natural to think first of Kentucky, and then perhaps Tennessee, when thinking of American whiskey. After all, the two southern states possess rich distilling histories that stretch back hundreds of years, and today Kentucky makes about 95% of all bourbon on the market. But there’s another state right next door with a rich whiskey history of its own: Indiana.
The Hoosier State is home to the city of Lawrenceburg, once known as Whiskey City, USA thanks to its prolific rye production from the mid-19th century up to Prohibition. The city, which lies just west of Cincinnati, and under 2 hours northeast of Louisville, built its first distillery in 1847. Originally called Rossville, it has gone through a series of name changes over the years—from Rossville to Jos. E. Seagram Lawrenceburg, then Lawrenceburg Distillers, more recently MGP, and currently Ross & Squibb. It’s a distillery that has supplied whiskey for...

It’s no secret that 2024 was a challenging year in various quarters of the whisky world. Still, through it all, the scene continued to churn with dynamic and exciting change—new distillery and visitor center openings, master distillers taking on new roles, and an increasingly creative surge of sought-after releases. Here's our look at the year in whisky.
Not Used to This
After declining in 2023 for the first time in memory, total American whiskey sales were projected to decrease again this year, according to our research arm Impact Databank. Within that big picture, the leading higher-end American whiskeys generally still saw healthy sales, while scotch faced a slightly different scenario. In late December, UK trade group the Food and Drinks  Federation (FDF) reported that whisky export sales (mostly scotch) fell by 36.4% by value in the first three quarters of 2024. But the most notable headwinds came in the American craft...

We all know the adage about making lemonade when life hands you lemons, but what about when life instead delivers a load of Vienna malt? If you’re the distillers at Portland, Oregon’s Westward Whiskey, who by accident received the lightly toasted variety of malted barley typically used by brewers in place of their usual order, you make a new style of whiskey.
Distilled in 2019 and released as an exclusive to Westward’s Whiskey Club earlier this year, to say that Vienna Malt Single Barrel is unusual is a bit of an understatement since distillers almost universally favor the use of the pale, enzymatically rich cereal known as distiller’s malt over any other type of malt, including Vienna. It is not, however, unprecedented.
Glenmorangie Distillery’s director of whisky creation Dr. Bill Lumsden was inspired to formulate a scotch single malt based on his love of coffee. To do so, he turned to a roasted malt. Figuring that roasted malt might bring to...

Popular theory often commits only the older set to be admirers of rum-raisin, but in reality, it's a classic for a reason and is the unsung spiced up hero for everyone, not just your grandmother. Every classic needs a twist, and this one is for whiskey lovers. 
Swap out the chill of ice cream for the warmth of a cookie, and whiskey for rum and you’ll be rewarded with vanilla and spice notes that feel comforting but sophisticated. This recipe taps into the art of cask-finishing, specifically with a rum cask-finished whiskey—which offers all the robust whiskey flavor with a subtle kiss of tropical fruit notes. The raisins are soaked in whiskey anywhere from 24 hours up to a week before baking, becoming plump and hydrated. The alcohol evaporates, leaving a chewy (and boozy) flavor in every bite.
Though there is no shortage of delectable rum-finished whiskies on the market, some shine through in this recipe. Moderately priced at around $30, Teeling Small Batch is...

“America’s Finest City” is a nickname San Diego earned in large part for its famously good weather and beaches. But for whiskey lovers, its downtown, especially the Gaslamp neighborhood, is a hotbed of standout bars. The city is also famous for its locally beloved happy hours, so ingrained that virtually every watering hole joins in the fun. Establishments have specials from late afternoon and/or early evening on weekdays and in some cases weekends.
San Diego’s airport is less than 10 minutes, without traffic, from downtown where parking is scarce. Readily available rideshare services are your best bet.
Make Aero Club Bar the first stop on your way to the Gaslamp or the last stop before you depart; there are over 1,000 whiskies to choose from.
Day One
The Horton Grand Hotel opened in the Gaslamp District in 1886, and catered to celebrities from Wyatt Earp to Babe Ruth to President Benjamin Harrison. Today it’s a reasonably priced...

Native to the dense jungles of South America, the tall, slender amburana tree can be found growing in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia. Though it’s sometimes called “Brazilian oak,” amburana actually belongs to the legume family, making it a relative of chickpeas and mesquite rather than oak.
These trees, which can reach heights of 100 feet, have traditionally been tapped as a source of timber. Amburana wood is fairly light—nearly half the weight of oak—and has a tight interlocking grain that offers good liquid retention. Brazilian distillers have long used amburana casks to age cachaça, and American brewers have also experimented with them. In recent years whiskey makers have started using the casks as finishing vessels.
In 2019, Vermont’s WhistlePig became the first distillery to release an amburana cask-finished whiskey. Chief blender Meghan Ireland initially heard about the wood through its long and storied history for aging...

As long as cocktails have been around, so have bitters—the very definition of a cocktail, according to Jerry Thomas’s 1862 book “Bar-Tenders Guide: How to Mix Drinks,” includes bitters, plus spirit, sugar, and water. These potent little bottles typically contain neutral alcohol—though alcohol-free brands do exist today—that’s been infused with any number of herbs, spices, botanicals, and roots, adding instant complexity to a cocktail. After all, an Old Fashioned without a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters just isn’t the same drink, no matter how delicious the whisky is you’ve chosen to mix with.
“Think of bitters as the spice cabinet of your home bar,” says Laura Unterberg, former head bartender at The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club in Nashville. “Adding richness and depth of flavor, bitters are an indispensable part of your cocktail, especially for mixing with spirits like whisky that have no added...

Sonoma County, California-based distiller Redwood Empire will soon be getting a new base of operations on Mare Island, the peninsula located on San Pablo Bay in Vallejo, California at the southern end of Napa Valley. Redwood’s owner Purple Brands today announced the acquisition of Mare Island-based Savage & Cooke Distillery from California vintner Dave Phinney, with a plan to use the distillery to expand production of Redwood Empire, which has risen to 55,000 9-liter cases in the U.S. and is growing at about 30% annually. Terms weren't disclosed.
“We'd been working with Dave and Savage & Cooke for years, producing some additional products to support our inventory,” Purple Brands CEO Aaron Webb told Whisky Advocate sister publication Shanken News Daily. “It includes several thousand barrels of inventory, which we need for Redwood Empire. Out of the gate, we'll be able to make between 2,500-3,000 barrels at Savage & Cooke, and we can expand...

Bidding at December’s auctions continued in the successful fashion of November’s sales, with strong prices achieved for Macallan, Hibiki 40 year old, and bottlings of LeNell’s Red Hook Rye in particular. In addition to the highlights below, Whisky.Auction received a winning bid of $46,895 for a bottle of Macallan The Red Collection 78 year old, while Scotch Whisky Auctions sold a Macallan Anniversary Malt 50 year old for $31,862.
This month also saw the first auction appearances of Macallan Time: Space 84 year old, beginning with Whisky Auctioneer in Scotland and then at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong. Sadly, neither set found a buyer, taking away the opportunity this year for it to make history by becoming the oldest-ever whisky to sell at auction. The holder of that record, Macallan The Reach 81 year old, has also struggled to sell at auction in the last few months, though Macallan remains the leading brand in our monthly list of top 20 hammer prices.
Look out...

Oregon has played a key role in making whiskey since the dawn of America’s craft distilling movement—one of its major contributions being the birthplace of American malt with McCarthy’s Oregon single malt, which debuted in 1996. The city of Portland is best known for its craft breweries, lively food scene, and whimsical reputation for weirdness. But it’s also a whiskey city, with a distilling culture that dovetails nicely with Oregon’s wine and beer background. This culture stretches far beyond Portland, spilling across the rest of the state, too. Here’s a sampling of prominent distilleries that have helped put Oregon on the whiskey map.
PORTLAND DISTILLERIES
Westward Whiskey
FOUNDED 2004
westwardwhiskey.com
Westward Whiskey wasn’t the first to brew an ale and then distill it, but the Portland distiller has certainly perfected the craft. “We have a rich brewing history in the Northwest, and a lot of us at Westward...

The best high-proof whiskies offer a combination of balance, power, and amped-up flavor. Generally defined as being above 50% ABV but often going far higher than that, they make for great whisky sipping any time of year but are perhaps best suited for the winter months. Sipping over ice or with a bit of water—which coaxes out additional flavors—is the preferred tasting method for most people, though some brave souls enjoy them neat. We've assembled this list of high-powered sippers that will make great gifts for the holiday season, or you can enjoy them on your own. There's quite a bit of variety here, with American whiskeys leading the way, joined by a strong contingent of scotch, an Irish expression, and an Irish-American blend. The good news is that they're all priced at $100 or lower, with some coming far below that threshold.
13 High-Proof Whiskies Perfect For The Season
95 points - Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Special Release Coy...

When shopping for the whisky lover(s) in your life, it might be tempting to get them a bottle of whisky and call it a day. A beloved bottling is a thoughtful gift, to be sure (and our Top 20 list is a great place to look when going that route), but there are plenty of whisky-centric presents that are more personalized to certain interests, hobbies, or livelihoods. From whisky-themed jewelry and apparel to whisky-infused chocolates, whisky-scented candles, and even whisky-branded golf putters, there are a number of more distinctive gifts for all the pals and loved ones in your life who appreciate whisky.
Stuff Those Stockings
Tasting Note Notebook ($15)

Great for either the blossoming whisky taster in your life or the seasoned pro, this 48-page memo book from Field Notes is a fantastic way to log a whisky journey, and the notes tasted along the way. As a bonus, it's waterproof, so there's no need to cry over spilled whisky (unless it's more than a splash, of...

There’s cause for cheer among Pappy Van Winkle devotees, as the latest Van Winkle lineup is here (and just in time for gifting at that). Made at Buffalo Trace Distillery in partnership with the Van Winkle family, the collection comprises six whiskeys. Their names and prices should be familiar to those who keep a close eye on Van Winkle releases:

Old Rip Van Winkle Handmade Bourbon 10 year old (53.5% ABV; $130)
Old Rip Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12 year old (45.2% ABV; $150)
Old Rip Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 year old (47.8% ABV; $200)
Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 15 year old (53.5% ABV; $200)
Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 20 year old (45.2% ABV; $320)
Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 23 year old (47.8% ABV; $450)

All Van Winkle bourbons are made with a (closely guarded) wheated recipe, and the singular rye—which is made with a lower rye content—remains the only Van...

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...

Fans of Knob Creek’s single barrel bourbons and ryes are in for a treat:  Knob Creek owner The James B. Beam Distilling Co. has created the Beam Private Barrel Club, which will allow them to select, buy, and bottle whiskey from their very own barrel of Knob Creek, right at the distillery. The program launches in January and is a first for Beam, which previously has offered this service only to retailers, restaurants, bars, and other members of the spirits trade.
The Knob Creek single barrel bourbons are aged for a minimum of 9 years, while the Knob Creek single barrel ryes are aged at least 7 years. Only barrels that pass Beam’s own review qualifications  will be made available. For now Knob Creek will be the only Beam label on offer, though the company said it will be evaluating the possibility of adding some of its other whiskeys, which include Jim Beam, Basil Hayden, Booker’s, Little Book, Baker’s, and Old Grand-Dad.
Buying an entire barrel...

Angel’s Envy has done quite well for itself by using ruby port casks over the years. Its trademark Port Cask bourbon, which launched in 2011, features a 6-month finish in ruby port barrels. It’s widely accepted as being the first-ever cask-finished bourbon—laying the foundation for a practice that’s now widespread in the U.S. There’s also the high-scoring Cask Strength version of Port Cask, a ruby port-finished annual release that’s one of the distillery’s most popular whiskeys and recently made an appearance on our Top 20 Whiskies of 2024 list. This year’s cask strength iteration, Batch C13, shakes things up by adding tawny port casks into the mix alongside the typical ruby port barrels.
The new batch comprises three base bourbons, each accounting for about a third of the overall blend. Two of those components were distilled by Angel’s Envy in 2016 and 2018. The third is a blend of distillates from 2012–2015 that...

If you’ve ever wanted to buy your own cask of Brora or Talisker, then The Twelve by Casks of Distinction might be just what you’re looking for. Casks of Distinction offers exclusive access to purchase individual barrels of rare single malt scotch whisky from Diageo’s inventory. Under the auspices of the Diageo Luxury Group, a dozen casks have been selected for the 2024 collection. These  barrels will allow their new owners to taste rare whiskies laid down during the last decades of the 20th century. First launched in 2023, The Twelve by Casks of Distinction is squarely aimed at Diageo’s private clients and offered through a series of invitation-only events in select global locations.
The most eye-catching name on the list (see below) is a cask of Brora 1977, currently 47 years old, selected by Dr. Craig Wilson, one of Diageo’s master whisky makers. Brora Distillery closed in 1983, and its bottlings grew in popularity under the Diageo Special...

When entrepreneur Bill Foley purchased the mothballed Bently Heritage Distillery in Nevada last May, the news was received with great interest in the whiskey world. His California-based Foley Family Wines company was already a prominent player in the wine business, with 19 wineries in the U.S. and 8 others around the world, but this deal marked his first serious expansion into spirits. Since then, Foley has made a series of other whisky moves—including being named importer for Two Stacks Irish whiskey and Loch Lomond scotch, and the release of an impressive Texas whiskey. But things were quiet at the Nevada distillery, which was renamed Minden Mill shortly after the acquisition. Now that silence has broken, with the debut of the first Minden Mill whiskeys. 
The defining feature of Minden Mill’s inaugural whiskeys is their mashbills, which were all made with estate-grown grains sourced from within five miles of the distillery and snowmelt from the Sierra...

The week’s list of new releases is led by the American side, with bourbons and American single malts at the fore, as well as a new tequila-finished rye from High West. From Scotland, Kilchoman offers its annual Sanaig release, and from Ireland, we have what might be the final release from Waterford Distillery, which went into receivership in late November. It seems likely that funding will be found to keep Waterford going, possibly under a different owner, but for now, everything remains on hold.
On a happier note, Indian single malt maker Paul John has just released its annual Christmas Edition. Those who’ve discovered or wish to discover this producer should take note: two previous Paul John Christmas releases we’ve reviewed both scored 91 points. And from Kentucky, Blue Run also gets into the season with its new Blue Run Ember release, made with holiday sipping in mind.
Old Forester 117 Series: Warehouse I Bourbon
ABV: 47.5%
SRP: $65/375ml

A bankruptcy filing by Stoli Group USA has created uncertainty for its Kentucky Owl whiskey brand and its planned Kentucky Owl Park distillery and visitor center in Bardstown, Kentucky. That project, announced soon after Stoli USA acquired Kentucky Owl in 2017, is envisioned as a 420-acre campus complete with a distillery, warehouses, bar, restaurant, hotel, and even a light railroad. But it has been plagued by delays from the start, most significantly from Covid-19, casting doubt on whether it will come to fruition. The bankruptcy filing complicates matters even further.
Kentucky Owl Park aside, the Kentucky Owl brand has released some excellent bourbon and rye whiskeys under Stoli’s ownership, most notably its Maighstir Edition in September 2023,  Straight Batch 12 in November 2022, and The Wiseman in September 2021, which finished at No. 17 on our Top 20 list that year. All but one of Kentucky Owl’s whiskeys reviewed by Whisky Advocate since 2017...

At any given time, Buffalo Trace has upward of 15 whiskey brands on offer, ranging from straight bourbons to ryes to wheaters and white dog (unaged whiskey). Within those styles, there are numerous legacy labels, and within those labels, various offshoots, whether cask strength iterations, assorted age statements, or newfangled finishes. With so many whiskeys in the arsenal, you might think the distillery is working with all sorts of recipes—but in fact, it relies on just four key mashbills, plus a few outliers that are utilized far less frequently, as in, say, the one-off releases that populate the Experimental Collection. Technically, Buffalo Trace's recipes are tightly held secrets—no one but master distiller Harlen Wheatley and the distilling team are privy to the exact details of each mashbill—but savvy whiskey drinkers come to their own conclusions on the basic makeup of each.
Mashbill #1 (Bourbon)
The first of Buffalo Trace’s mashbills is the...

The Tennessee Whiskey Trail is offering some holiday bells and whistles this year with a new Carols & Barrels trail of themed stops at distilleries and bars in Middle Tennessee. Running through January 5, the Carols & Barrels trail highlights whiskeys and festive winter cocktails at each stop and allows visitors to earn stamps on a digital passport by checking in at each location. When the passport is filled there’s a commemorative prize—a Tennessee Whisky Trail cocktail set that includes a shaker tin, bar tools, and an ice mold.
Whiskey fans can sign up for a digital passport on this website by entering their email and cell phone number, which will be used to receive the passport. When visiting a participating distillery or bar, guests can check with their phone to stamp the location. Both distilleries and bars are participating, and there are 12 stops along the Carols & Barrels trail. All of the locations have been transformed into Christmas and...

Barrel proof and cask strength are interchangeable terms indicating that the content of a bottled whiskey matches that of the liquid when it finishes maturation. No water is added to bring the product down to a specific, targeted strength. But what about  “full proof,” a term that’s gaining traction but does not seem to have as clear of a definition? It seems that full proof isn’t quite so “foolproof” at all.
What Does Full Proof Mean?
Well, that depends on who you ask. “Full proof” isn't defined or regulated in any way by the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau, and thus a producer can choose to apply it however it chooses. This is similar to how terms such as “small batch” lack a definitive meaning, and are therefore open to interpretation and misinterpretation.
Buffalo Trace uses the term full proof in a very specific way, and perhaps due to whiskey lovers’ fascination with everything the distillery produces...

Waterford Distillery, the terroir specialist of Irish whiskey, has fallen into receivership following unsuccessful attempts to raise more funding to keep it afloat. The Irish Times reported that the business entered receivership following an emergency board meeting this week, and distillery staff were informed of the news on November 27th. The Waterford online shop was taken offline the same day. The receivers will seek a new buyer for the business, but if that doesn’t materialize, the distillery and its stocks could be put up for sale.
 Located in the city of Waterford in the southeast of Ireland, Waterford was launched by Mark Reynier in January 2016 from a former Guinness brewery along the city’s riverfront. Four years earlier, Reynier had exited his position at Islay’s Bruichladdich Distillery, having voted against its acquisition by Rémy Cointreau. From the outset, Waterford enabled Reynier to take his vision of terroir-driven whiskey...

Since Matt Hofmann’s departure last year from Seattle-based Westland Distillery—a pioneer American single malt maker that he co-founded in 2010—he’s quietly had new projects percolating. While he’s not quite ready to share everything just yet, one item has come to light: He’s now directing the whiskey program at Talking Cedar, the first tribal-owned U.S. distillery.
Talking Cedar opened its doors in Rochester, Washington, about an hour and a half south of Seattle, on Chehalis Tribal lands in 2020. A combination distillery, brewery, and restaurant, Talking Cedar boasts a 25-foot continuous still, the tallest on the West Coast (and west of the Mississippi for that matter), in addition to three pot stills. While the distillery has been operational from the start, it has focused primarily on gin, with a few a la carte whiskeys and cask-finished brandies available on a smaller scale. But that’s set to change with Hofmann in the driver’s...

High West Distillery and Casa Noble are joining forces for a groundbreaking release. Known as The Noble Share, this collaboration features a blend of straight rye whiskeys aged 4-10 years old, finished in Marques de Casa Noble añejo barrels.
Utah-based High West Distillery has earned a reputation as an industry leader for its meticulous approach to blending, resulting in products that surpass the sum of their parts. Casa Noble, a legendary tequila producer, traces its heritage through seven generations of maestro tequileros to a distillery located just outside the town of Tequila, Jalisco.

Pepe Hermosillo, Casa Noble Founder & Maestro Tequilero, shared “This collaboration between Casa Noble and High West is a true celebration of craftsmanship and tradition, where the bold, botanical spice of High West rye meets the refined elegance of Casa Noble’s Marques Añejo French Oak barrels. Together, we’ve created something exceptional...

There’s a wintry feel in this latest round of new releases, led by New Riff’s latest Winter Whisky offering, as well as two new stout cask finished expressions—one from Nelson’s Green Brier in Nashville and the other from distiller-brewer Town Branch in Lexington, Kentucky. Then we have a honey barrel-finished bourbon from North Carolina distiller Southern Star, inaugural releases from Distillery of Modern Art, based in Chamblee, Georgia, another shot to get your hands on World Whiskey Society's 13 year old Wyatt Earp Hazmat Edition, and whiskey-based liqueurs. Plenty to add to your Black Friday shopping list!
New Riff Winter Whiskey Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 50%
SRP: $55
Availability: Limited
A seasonal release first introduced in 2020, New Riff Winter Wheat is made from a mashbill of 65% corn, 20% malted oats, 7% pale ale malt, 5% steel-cut raw oats, and 3% chocolate malt. As with many of New Riff’s whiskeys...

These days, what constitutes a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner could stir up as big of an argument as when your aunt inevitably brings up the election. Some people even forgo roasting a huge turkey and only serve sides. So there's no reason you need to serve pumpkin pie for dessert if you don't want to. And the perfect replacement (for adults, at least) is a whisky cocktail like Scotch and Spice.
The deep, warm amber hue of the drink, topped with silky white foam and dotted with red pomegranate seeds is a festive visual that appeals to the eyes, but of course, it's the flavor that will most impress your guests.
“The blend of smoky scotch and herbal amaro complements the tart pomegranate and warm, spiced persimmon, making it a great way to end a Thanksgiving meal. Its beautiful presentation and delicious flavor will make it a memorable part of the evening,” says creator Sayora Khamidova, general manager of New York City's Jimmy Soho.
Scotch and...

Following an action-packed event in Florida last month, WhiskyFest made its final two stops of the year in Chicago and New York. Both nights provided with top-flight drams, educational seminars, and the opportunity to meet some of the people behind their favorite brands.
Whisky in the Windy City
WhiskyFest Chicago took place on the evening of November 15, with a horde of enthusiastic whisky fans storming the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The event kicked off at 5:30 with an exclusive VIP hour—offering ticket holders an early taste of the evening’s whiskies. The VIP hour also included a slew of exclusive and highly sought-after pours, including Octomore 15.1, Compass Box Metropolis, Dewar’s Double Double 21, Heaven Hill 18 year old Heritage Collection, and Little Book among others.
One of the hot spots for VIPs was Brown-Forman’s scotch booth, which offered a smattering of single malts from Benriach, GlenDronach, and Glenglassaugh. Manning the booth was...

The return of Michter’s 20 year old bourbon after being away for two years was certainly the highlight of the week, although getting hold of a bottle of this limited release will prove to be a challenge as always. The 20 year old's arrival came just in time for WhiskyFest New York on Wednesday night, where it was in high demand. Elsewhere among the new  American whiskey releases, Tattersall has two limited edition bottled in bond expressions, while Colorado’s Laws offers two cask-finished bourbons. Other new announcements feature Pendleton, Hidden Barn, and Wyoming Whiskey.
In scotch, Johnnie Walker Blue is out with its Lunar New Year release to commemorate the Year of the Snake, while Macallan has two new whiskies in the fourth edition of its Harmony Series, which this year celebrates Macallan’s use of oak. And finally, from Ireland, Teeling has released another of its aged whiskeys, this one a 24 year old.
Michter’s 20 year old...

The whiskeys of A. Smith Bowman don’t get as much attention as the rock stars of the bourbon world, but this Virginia distiller has a long pedigree dating back nearly 100 years, and its Virginia Gentleman label once vied for whiskey leadership in the state. The Bowmans, an old Virginia family, owned the distillery until 2003, when it was acquired by Sazerac. Nowadays the focus is on limited-edition bourbons with  big, sweet flavor profiles, made by distiller David Bock with the participation of Sazerac’s Buffalo Trace Distillery team, and its whiskeys are quietly in the ranks of some of Buffalo Trace’s best.
This past March, A. Smith Bowman launched the Abraham Bowman Oak Series, which showcases different types of oak. That inaugural release focused on French oak, and was aged in a mix of charred and uncharred French oak barrels—the uncharred portion making it technically not a bourbon. The latest edition in the series is centered on American oak...

Update December 9, 2024: The two bottles of Willett sold above the pre-sale estimate and achieved $13,750 each. The sale price includes the buyer's premiums/fees.
Nine years ago, Lexington, Kentucky-based priest Father Jim Sichko wanted to bring something that embodied the spirit of Kentucky on a trip to Vatican City to meet with Pope Francis. Sichko’s gift? Pappy Van Winkle 23 year old bourbon. The moment, predictably, went viral, and ever since, Sichko has been bringing Pope Francis rare and allocated whiskeys as gifts.
Sichko’s visit with His Holiness this past May included two rare Willett Distillery bourbons, but those bottles weren’t gifted; instead they were signed by Pope Francis and will be heading to a Sotheby’s Whisky & Whiskey auction, with all proceeds benefiting a quartet of charities. The auction opens for bidding on November 20 and will end with a live sale on December 7.
What Are the Papal Willett Distillery...

Port, second perhaps only to sherry, is the most traditional cask used to finish whisky. As with sherry, various styles of port can be used—tawny, ruby, white, rosé, and even vintage port. Port-finished whiskies are often noteworthy for their deeper color and flavors that include plentiful berry notes of cranberry and blackberry, cherry, plum, and chocolate nuttiness, among others. 
Even peated whiskies can be finished in port barrels, and Islay, the spiritual home of peated scotch, has many smoky port-finished offerings. Port-finished bourbons have only been around for a little more than a decade, but they too are now figuring more prominently in port cask finishing. And almost every other whisky country in the world nowadays offers port cask-finished whiskies.
While port finishing’s flavors are discernible to the experienced palate, identifying them is unimportant. Why? Because if you can identify the finish too easily, then...

Single barrel whiskeys from Four Roses and 2XO are just two of the week’s highlights among the new releases on the North American side, which also feature Barrell's oldest age statement whiskey to date—a Canadian expression—as well as new creations from Remus, Pinhook, and Milam & Greene. On the scotch side, Compass Box has a new peated offering that aims to showcase the sweeter side of peat, particularly in comparison to its sibling label Peat Monster, a long-beloved mainstay of the Compass Box portfolio. Elsewhere in scotch, Dalmore weighs in with two new vintage expressions—one distilled in 2006 and the other 2009.
Four Roses Single Barrel Collection
Price: $50
ABV: 50%
Availability: Four Roses Distillery, Cox’s Creek facility
Every year since 2004, Four Roses has released a single barrel bourbon. While the single barrels have varied—some have had age statements, and the proof jumps...

In the two years since the departure of master distiller Denny Potter, Maker’s Mark went without filling the principal role, functioning instead with a collective distilling team. That changed this week, with the announcement of Dr. Blake Layfield as the new master distiller.
Layfield joined Suntory Global Spirits (the distillery’s parent company) in 2019, coming on board as its senior manager of research and development. He became exclusively Maker’s-oriented in 2022 upon being named head of innovation, blending, and quality. Before joining Suntory, he spent nearly five years at Diageo; before that, he was hard at work on his Ph.D. in food science, which had him wading through brewing sciences, yeast biology, and fermentation processes for over a decade—suffice to say he knows what he’s doing!
As master distiller, Layfield will oversee not just the production of Maker’s Mark whiskeys, from its legacy expressions to innovative offshoots...

In January 2018, the Kentucky Vintage Spirits Law was enacted. The law’s aim is to allow bars, restaurants, and liquor stores to sell vintage spirits without using a distributor. Alcohol in the U.S. normally must be sold through what’s called the three-tier system—starting with a producer, who sells to a distributor, who then sells to a retailer. But now Kentucky’s licensed retailers (including bars and restaurants) can buy old bottles from ordinary citizens and sell them in their establishments. Among other advantages for whiskey lovers, it provides an outlet to those who previously had to seek out “old dusty” vintage whiskeys on the illegal secondary markets that flourish on Facebook.
However, some ambiguous wording in the law created multiple problems over the past six years. Numerous sources we spoke to shared stories of state liquor enforcement agents misunderstanding the law, leading to confiscations of products and fines. Here are some of...

Higher-proof whiskies began growing in popularity around 20 years ago, thanks to bartenders who loved their ability to stand up to competing flavors in a drink. But over the years, whisky fans increasingly gravitated toward drinking them neat, with the perception that more proof means more flavor. Recently, proof bombs have gained a cult following, primarily thanks to American whiskeys like Jack Daniel’s Coy Hill and others. Most of the whiskies on this list are fairly gentle compared to those, but all have robust levels of alcohol. At their worst, high-ABV whiskies simply hide behind their proof, attempting to ride the high-proof craze without offering much beyond that. But at their best, well-made high-proof whiskies offer loads of accentuated flavors and complexity to sip and enjoy.
95 points - Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Special Release Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 Tennessee whiskey (2024), 67.35%, $80
Coy Hill is the highest...

Whiskeys of great age are in evidence once again this week, with Old Grand-Dad releasing its first-ever 16 year old bourbon, Stranahan’s dropping one of the oldest American single malt ever in its new 12 year old  Mountain Angel, and Barrell Craft Spirits releasing a far older version of its New Year Blend than last year's expression. Whatever the reason for all this aging up, it’s certainly good news for whiskey lovers, as older whiskeys are usually, though not always, a better sip.
Elsewhere, J. Mattingly and Jeptha Creed once again honor our veterans—Mattingly with the fifth release of its 1845 Combat Infantry Badge Bourbon, and Jeptha with the third batch of its Red White and Blue bourbon, with a portion of sales for both going to military-related non-profits. Finally, The Hearach, the single malt scotch made on the remote island of Lewis and Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides and founded in 2015, has added a new...

If you had to pick an all-time favorite finish for whisky—scotch whisky in particular—it would be sherry. It's no accident that nearly all the whiskies in the list we present here are scotches, except for a Finnish rye and an American single malt whose inspiration comes entirely from Scotland. But there are many facets to the role of sherry in scotch whisky, including distinctions between the various sherry styles such as oloroso, manzanilla, and Pedro Ximénez, among others.  And there are scotch whiskies that are sherry-finished as opposed to being fully matured in sherry casks. The serious sherried scotch makers contract with bodegas in Jerez (and sometimes own them, in the case of Macallan),  and they provide very detailed specifications on how their casks will be built and seasoned. But the truly coveted sherried whiskies are those matured in barrels that actually held sherry for extended periods of time. Those are...

Growing up, Tennessee-born Marianne Eaves was passionate about math and science, and her appetite for both eventually led her to pursue a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Louisville. During her sophomore year, she took an internship that would set the tone for the next decade-plus of her life: a research and development co-op at Brown-Forman. There, she found that the analytics and applications required of her math and science disciplines could be applied to whiskey making, in everything from discerning mashbills to fermentation and distillation, and she was hooked—she’s been making whiskey ever since, and quite a lot of it, under many different names.
While Eaves cut her teeth at Brown-Forman, studying under then-master distiller Chris Morris, she branched out on her own in 2015, taking on the title of master distiller at the then-newly opened Castle & Key. “I have had a few ‘A-ha!’ moments in my career as a distiller, and...

Over the past decade or so, single malt whisky has expanded beyond Scotland, led by American single malt but also by world whisky producers, most notably India. The top Indian single malts have long proven they can excel on the world stage, the starring roles played by Rampur, Amrut, Paul John, and a more recent arrival, Indri. With few exceptions, their releases have all scored well into the 90-point range with our tasting panel, and  Rampur and Indri both have made our Top 20 rankings over the years. Rampur focuses on wine cask-finished single malts, and it has now added two such expressions to its list—one finished in tokaji casks, and the other in madeira casks. Elsewhere in the whisky world, Crown Royal has a 12 year old expression, which falls into line behind the 18 year old as this Canadian whisky maker continues to bolster its aged-stated portfolio, while Seattle's 2Bar Spirits has a new single barrel bourbon. Finally, there is Catador...

Former football player Eric LeGrand is not like most whiskey makers. LeGrand was a successful defensive tackle at Rutgers University when, during a game in his junior year in 2010, he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. LeGrand had aspired to be in the NFL and eventually become a sports broadcaster, and the injury changed the trajectory of his life. But his resilience is astounding, and in the years since the injury, he’s become an inspirational public speaker. He’s also a bourbon maker, with an eye toward increasing awareness and acceptance of people living with paralysis disabilities.
LeGrand launched his first whiskey, Eric LeGrand Kentucky straight bourbon, in 2023 with Brian Axelrod and Green River Distillery, which is now owned by Bardstown Bourbon Co. Axelrod has a traditional spirits background, having previously helped launch Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey with MMA fighter and boxer Conor McGregor, and he has also...

Following last weekend’s WhiskyFest in Hollywood, Florida, WhiskyFest Chicago is the next stop on the fall schedule, taking place at Chicago’s Hyatt Regency hotel November 15th. Attendees will be treated to a host  of top-tier tipples from around the globe, among them aged scotch single malts including Laphroaig 36 year old, Craigellachie 13 year old, Oban 18 year old, The Singleton of Glendullan 19 year old, and Glen Moray 21 year old; a variety of Scottish blends. There will be a chance to sip hard-to-find Japanese whiskies from Yamazaki, Fuji, Hibiki, and Hakushu; and an Irish contingent consisting of the Spots, Redbreast, Killowen, Method and Madness, and more. Of course, a wide range of American whiskeys will also be flowing, from Heaven Hill, Jefferson’s, Knob Creek, Little Book, Westland, Rabbit Hole, Charles Goodnight, Bulleit, Middle West, just to name a few.
Over the course of the night, guests will be treated to five Master Classes, presented by...

The art of cask finishing has been elevated significantly over recent years. In wine cask finishing, we’ve seen whisky makers explore a variety of different regions in search of new flavor nuances, while an ever-increasing number of American whiskeys are taking the cask-finished route.
Ireland has long been a leader in the finishing game, and three Irish whiskeys in this selection offer some interesting options. The Spot whiskeys have chosen Italy for this year’s Gold Spot Generations Edition, a limited release that’s finished in casks that held sweet Italian wine Recioto di Valpolicella from northeast Italy's Valpolicella region. Fellow Irish whiskey Keeper’s Heart has a 10 year old expression that's finished in barrels from the Malaga wine region in Andalucia, southern Spain. And while marsala wine casks from Sicily have been used by Glenmorangie and Bushmills in the past, here Irish whiskey The Quiet Man ventures forth, putting them...

Every fall, whiskey devotees anticipate the release of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC)—a series of rare and coveted whiskeys made by Kentucky-based Buffalo Trace Distillery. The 2024 collection has just been announced, and it’s starting to make its way into stores, bars, and restaurants around the country.
The very first BTAC hit the scene over two decades ago, and back then it only included three expressions: Eagle Rare 17 year old bourbon, Weller 19 year old wheated bourbon, and Sazerac 18 year old rye, all bottled at 45%. Over the years George T. Stagg bourbon and Thomas H. Handy rye would join the party, while Weller 19 would be subbed out in favor of the younger William Larue Weller.
The BTAC lineup hasn’t changed all that much in recent years, typically featuring the same five labels with the main differences being proofs and age statements. Generally speaking, the 2024 collection turns up slightly younger than last year’s group...

The first WhiskyFest of the fall took place over the weekend in Hollywood, Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The evening’s festivities kicked off at 5:30 p.m. with a VIP hour, during which VIP ticket holders were treated to a variety of rarefied drams. Among the exclusive whiskies being poured were such international labels as Lagavulin Distillers Edition, Loch Lomond 24 year old Royal Troon Edition, Johnnie Walker Blue, Redbreast 18 year old, Crown Royal 18 year old, and Fuji 50th Anniversary Edition Single Malt, as well as a selection of American whiskeys, including Jefferson’s Reserve bourbon, Sagamore Spirit 9 year old rye, and Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 18 year old bourbon.
Manning the booth at Heaven Hill was its artisanal distiller Jodie Filiatreau, who said the Heritage Collection was wildly popular. “The 18 was a big hit,” he said. Of course, there was plenty more to enjoy from Heaven Hill, for both VIP guests and general...

The latest round of rollouts in scotch whisky features some seriously old liquid, led by Dewar's, which goes up the aging ladder as part of its Double Double aged whisky series. Highlands single malt maker Deanston Distillery, which has one of the scotch world's more interesting pedigrees in sustainability, has just introduced a 2002 vintage cask-strength organic expression. It's also offering a non-organic 18 year old whisky that will become part of Deanston's core range. Until now, that range has included only its 12 year old and Virgin Oak expressions. Finally, Torbermory Distillery is a split-personality scotch maker with both a non-peated and a peated whisky brand—its Torbermory label is non-peated, while the Ledaig expression is peated. Now it's out with a Tobermory 21 year old and a Ledaig 18 year old, both of which also will become permanent expressions in their respective...

Barrell is back with two releases in its ultra-aged Grey Label series, a bourbon and a rye, the latter being a blend of two whiskies with 100% rye mashbills from an undisclosed Canadian distiller (most likely Alberta Distillers, which is known for its high rye mashbills.) That Canadian entry is the only non-U.S. whiskey on today’s list, which also includes a new 7 year old, high-rye expression from Baker’s—a welcome new addition for Baker's fans, who always want more from this somewhat sparsely available label. Louisville distiller Rabbit Hole, meanwhile, has a limited edition 8 year old rye from its Boxergrail label.
Elsewhere, Blue Note is offering a new honey barrel expression, while Log Still Distillery has a new rye, and Lost Lantern is out with a new collection of 10 year old single cask whiskeys.  Although Halloween and Thanksgiving still await, some whiskey makers are already unveiling their holiday whiskeys. Old Potrero...

Sazerac, owner of Buffalo Trace, Barton 1792, The Last Drop, and A. Smith Bowman, has placed some of its most prized whiskeys on the auction block to aid the victims of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. In a partnership with Blockbar, the company is offering a rare chance to score bottles and collections of Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, W.L. Weller, E.H. Taylor, 1792, A. Smith Bowman, and The Last Drop—all for a worthy cause.
The auction started this morning and continues through 10 a.m. on November 1st. Unlike other charity efforts where only a portion of the funding goes to the intended recipient, Sazerac is donating 100% of the proceeds—all going to the American Red Cross to aid in its hurricane recovery efforts.
The auction is being held on  Blockbar.com. This is a “no reserve” auction, meaning there’s no minimum price for a bottle or collection, although, bidding starts at $100, and no buyer premiums are...

Texas does a lot of things bigger; this sheet cake is no exception. Classically, a one-bowl cake baked in a sheet tray, this mellow but morish cake comes together easily. This sweet corn-based sponge has a texture akin to a moist chocolate cake with a hint of fudginess that’s reminiscent of a blondie. It’s underscored with caramelized vanilla flavors thanks to a technique of slow-roasting white chocolate—a pastry chef’s trick, that lends a luxuriant note reminiscent of dulce de leche, perfect for pairing with a honey and whiskey glaze.
Any quality bourbon on the sweeter side will work well with this recipe, like Knob Creek 9 year old, but in keeping with the Lone Star State theme, a Texas whiskey is fitting. Go one step further and highlight the cake’s corn base with a bourbon that showcases some out-of-the-ordinary corn strains.
Still Austin’s Blue Corn bourbon is a stellar option. It’s made from Texas-grown blue and white corn and...

While nearly all the innovation at the Irish Distillers campus in Midleton, Ireland, has been coming from its Micro Distillery—the facility dedicated to experimentation—some of that work is being carried over to the core whiskeys. In one major example, flagship Jameson is preparing to release its first-ever whiskey partly matured in chestnut casks. Elsewhere, Woodford Reserve celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Master’s Collection with a new bourbon finished in madeira casks, while WhistlePig is out with the 11th edition of its annual Boss Hog release—this one a single barrel finished in thandai barrels. Westland is offering the 9th release of its Garryana expression, and Impex is now on the 4th edition of The Impex Collection, its curated assemblage of single cask whiskies from Scotland and around the world.
 
Woodford Reserve 2024 Master’s Collection: Madeira Cask Finish
ABV: 45.2%
SRP: $180/700...

Suddenly it's quite a time for aged whiskies, at least compared to the past 10 or 15 years. The days of drastic shortages and non-age statement releases have faded as whisky inventories swing back into full supply—and possible oversupply going forward. But putting industry prognostications aside, what we know for sure is that it's all good news for people who appreciate fine whisky, because there are more aged whiskeys that weren't available only a short time ago. Knob Creek is back once again with its 18 year old, while Sagamore has a 7 year old Bottled in Bond, as does Brother's Bond. The most sought-after labels are still offering their best aged expressions in fairly limited fashion, but it's still a noticeable change from previous years, and a great opportunity to try some new—or should we say old—whiskies.
Orphan Barrel Woven Honor 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch 
ABV: 46.3%
SRP: $185

Update (October 18, 2024): The highest hammer price in the sale was $8,000 for a bottle of Black Bowmore 1964 Final Edition bottled in 1995. The Gordon & MacPhail Generations 80 year old distilled at Glenlivet was withdrawn from the auction before it began. The highest hammer price for American whiskey was $3,800 for a bottle of Colonel E.H. Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving.
Collectors trawling through the listings of the latest Bonhams Skinner sale in search of rare whiskies cannot fail to find something to add to their collection. The online auction runs until October 16th and contains over 355 lots of bourbon, scotch, Irish, Japanese, and Canadian whisky as well as a selection of cognac, brandy, and chartreuse. The sale also includes 50 bottles of whiskey sold posthumously as part of the estate of wine critic Josh Raynolds. 
American whiskey makes up over 60% of the lots, with estimates ranging from $100 – $8,000. The leading American whiskey...

A solera is a system for aging wine used for the gradual blending of younger wines into older ones. Rows of barrels are stacked atop each other, sometimes in a pyramid shape, with the youngest wines at the top and the oldest at the bottom. The younger wines are added to the older barrels in a perpetual aging cycle. The solera system is a distinguishing feature of sherry production in Spain and is also used for port and madeira. But the system has also been borrowed by other vintners, as well as brewers and distillers, including some whisky makers.
One such whiskey distiller is Portland, Oregon-based Westward Whiskey. Back in 2021, Westward built a solera system at the distillery. Its pyramid is comprised of 21 wine barrels from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and elsewhere in the global vineyard. The Westward solera system was used to create Milestone, a limited annual release that was to be Westward’s top-of-the-line whiskey expression using its oldest liquid.
The...

In 2018, Kentucky’s Barrell Craft Spirits (BCS) released its very first Grey Label bourbon—kicking off a series of whiskeys that aimed to showcase the blending house’s oldest and rarest stocks. It hit the scene as a 15 year old blend of bourbons from Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky bottled at cask strength. The release was well-received and notched a 90-point rating with our tasting panel. Now, nearly six years later, BCS has brought that same liquid back, with an extra 5 years of aging.
While crafting the original Grey Label bourbon, BCS decided to hold back an undisclosed amount rather than bottling it. Chief of distillery operations Tripp Stimson says that the team wanted to explore what flavor and aromatic contributions could be imparted to the whiskey by finishing it in toasted barrels. So BCS procured nine custom barrels, which were toasted for a long time at low temperatures but not charred, and filled them with the liquid. Now, after 5 years, the...

Wild Turkey has once again delved into whiskey terroir with the third release in its Single Rickhouse Series, Camp Nelson B. The whiskey is named for the Camp Nelson Grounds, the site of an old Civil War battleground about 20 miles south of Lexington where Wild Turkey has warehouses. Camp Nelson’s elevated status as a place for aging whiskeys has become almost mythic among Wild Turkey fans; the single Rickhouse Collection debuted in 2022 with Camp Nelson C, followed last year by Camp Nelson F. These whiskeys quickly assumed collectible status, and Warehouse B is likely to follow suit.
Warehouse B was built in 1946, and it benefits from higher elevation and more sun exposure than other warehouses on the grounds, which sit closer to the Kentucky River and a shady tree line. For this one, master distiller Eddie Russell selected barrels from Warehouse B’s sixth floor, where hot air regularly permeated the wood. “The higher we went, the hotter it got, and the more oak...

As we close in on the holiday season, you can bet on seeing some seriously stellar whiskies. Diageo is helping lead the charge by revealing details of its newest Special Releases collection, Spirited Xchange Second Edition.
This year’s crop of Special Releases is comprised of eight rare, highly collectible single malts, all selected by master blender Dr. Stuart Morrison. Highlights include a softer, sweeter iteration of Lagavulin; the second-ever whisky from Speyside distillery Roseisle; and the oldest single malt in the bunch, a 21 year old from Benrinnes. Prices for the 2024 collection are about in line with previous years—it opens at just $105 for a uniquely finished 8 year old Talisker, and tops off at $480 for the ultra-aged Benrinnes.
As always, these whiskies are true one-and-done, according to Diageo. If you’re interested, bottles are available now (in limited quantities, naturally) on malts.com and at specialty scotch whisky retailers.
Diageo...

Who doesn’t like apples? The ripe, luscious peach is now a distant memory of summer, and so it’s apple season—meaning fresh apples, apple pie, and perhaps even a warm spicy rye finished in apple brandy casks. Hudson Rye Calvados Cask Finish is 7 year old whiskey first aged in new oak before a long, secondary maturation in calvados casks from Normandy, France. 
Meanwhile, we're pleased to see that Castle & Key is out with another branded expression, this one a wheated bourbon. We all were very excited when restoration began on this historic distillery back in 2014, forgetting that the process would take a while. In the ensuing years, Castle & Key was relying exclusively on contract distilling, but its first whiskey under the Castle & Key name finally appeared in 2022. Slowly but surely, Castle & Key is starting to develop a true portfolio of expressions.
Uncle Nearest, having already built a successful...

Single malt scotch maker Balvenie is bringing back its Single Barrel 12 year old, matured fully in bourbon barrels. This reprises a 2013 release of Single Barrel, which ended in 2022 due to stock constraints. Now it has returned, with each barrel yielding only 300 bottles, all individually numbered. Bottled at 47.8% ABV, Balvenie Single Barrel 12 year old is retail priced at $80.
Balvenie has had other single barrels in its repertoire, most recently a 15 year old single barrel sherry cask expression, of which only 650 bottles were available. While single barrel whiskeys are plentiful among U.S. whiskeys, they’re a relative rarity in Scotland. There are two reasons for this: one is that most major scotch whisky makers can’t spare the time to make the barrel selections, as they’re too busy meeting release schedules. The other reason is that most single malt scotches are made of multiple barrels blended together, and master blenders prefer to use all available...

After working with renowned blending expert Nancy Fraley as its master blender since 2014, Wyoming Whiskey has promoted Brendan Cook to that role. Cook, who joined Wyoming late last year, previously was with Driftwood Distillery in Victoria, Canada, as head of spirits creation. Prior to that, he was with Brown-Forman, where he served as assistant blender for scotch whiskies Glendronach, BenRiach, and Glenglassaugh. He started as a brewer, working at Driftwood Brewery, a sister operation to Driftwood Spirits.
Thus far at Wyoming Whiskey, Cook has released two whiskeys—Independence Rock bourbon, an annual Wyoming release that celebrates the West’s pioneers and National Parks No. 4, released on September 9th. With Cook at the helm, Wyoming is doubling down on its commitment to the state’s terroir. The corn, winter wheat, winter rye, and barley used to make Wyoming’s expressions are grown in the Bighorn Basin, and distilled and matured on-site at the...

Bib & Tucker has launched The Golden Spike, a 15 year old bourbon that’s hitting shelves now. This is the oldest whiskey yet released by Bib & Tucker. Previously, its most aged expression was a 12 year old Single Barrel Small Batch (No. 102258), launched in 2022.
The whiskeys of Bib & Tucker have scored well in Whisky Advocate tastings, with five releases over the past three years rated 91 points or higher. Its 6 year old Small Batch (No. 24) finished at No. 14 on our Top 20 list back in 2021. Bib & Tucker’s sister brand, Redemption, still leads the portfolio in terms of age, with the 2017 release of its Redemption 36 year old bourbon. Only 18 of those bottles were made available, and last year one of them sold at a Sotheby's auction for $36,000. That 36 year old was part of an ongoing collection of rare, super-aged releases from Redemption called The Ancients, which has also included an 18 year old rye, of which 300 bottles were produced. Future...

Among the week's new bourbon and American whiskeys, Elijah Craig completes its 2024 releases of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof with Batch C9245, which is at the usual hefty ABV and has an age of 11 years. This year's Batch A was at 10 years and 9 months, while Batch B  was at 11 years and 2 months, all of which had caused some grumbling among the faithful, who had grown to love the 12 year old age statement the brand had sported until last year. Elsewhere, the ever creative Penelope continues to be adventurous, exemplified by its latest release, a wheat whiskey expression. Two other new Penelope expressions are also in the mix, and all three are well aged, with the wheated whiskey at 11 years and the other two, both bourbons, at 10 years old. Finally, J. Mattingly has a new bourbon blend, using light whiskey and its "double staving" process. 
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon (Batch C924)
ABV: 64.5%
SRP: $75

Great news for bourbon, rye, and American single malt fans, as new whiskeys from U.S. distillers are in full swing. Creative finishes, high age statements, and interesting blends are leading the way, offering excellent opportunities for exploration. In even better news, Wes Henderson—the Angel's Envy co-founder and one of the pioneers of finished bourbons—has now officially unretired. His return to whiskey includes a new brand set to launch next month, as well as plans for a new distillery in Versailles, Kentucky, not far down the road from Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, and Four Roses.
Scotch lovers, on the other hand, aren't getting quite the love compared to the current tidal wave of new American whiskey releases. This situation comes amid the sobering news that scotch exports to the States (and elsewhere) showed a decline in the first half of the year. But superstar single malts and blends are still at the fore, led by the...

When Angel’s Envy co-creator Wes Henderson left Angel’s Envy in 2022, his departure ended a 12-year stewardship, but the brand had been sold to Bacardi and it was time to move on. Back then, he called it retirement and was ready to kick his feet up and do nothing. But soon enough, he began to wonder if his working days were really behind him. “I wasn’t very good at sitting around and not doing anything,” he says with a laugh. “I felt there was more I wanted to do in this business, and I wanted to create a legacy project for my six sons.” And so, he’s triumphantly ditching retirement to launch True Story, his next chapter in whiskey making.
While Henderson wasn’t completely quiet in retirement—he worked on a one-off port-finished Kentucky bourbon with Blackened—the new True Story venture marks the first time he’s been at the helm since co-founding Angel’s Envy in 2010.  Fans of Henderson’s work...

Glen Scotia is out with the second release in its Icons of Campbeltown series, but the rest of the scotch whisky world is somewhat quiet, although Glenmorangie will soon hit our shores with another installment in its “Tale” series—this one called A Tale of Ice Cream, matured in bourbon barrels as well as “high vanillin” casks that received a special heat treatment to bring our as much vanillin as possible in the wood. We’ll have more next week, but pricing is at around $100 and it’s expected to hit the market on October 1.
On the bourbon front, we have news that Basil Hayden is offering its 10 year old as a permanent member of the lineup—graduating from its previous role as a limited annual release. We’ve been seeing many more aged whiskies lately, a far cry from a decade ago, when the good stuff was in very short supply—indeed, greater age seems to be the message far more than it used to be. Pinhook has a...

Indiana-based Hard Truth Distilling Co. is best known for its sweet mash whiskeys made from local grains. Its newest release is no exception, but it has a pretty interesting maturation story that sets it apart from the rest. Named “Grounded in Truth Rye," it is pulled from a single barrel matured on the distillery’s pond.
The whiskey was distilled from Hard Truth’s RW-1 mashbill, 94% rye and 6% malted barley. That same recipe is used to make Hard Truth’s flagship rye, along with several of its cask-finished expressions. The newcomer was aged for 5 years and 8 months, spending the first year and a half in Hard Truth’s Rackhouse No.1. After that, the barrel was transferred to a small wooden shed attached to pontoons—with just enough room for one barrel—that floated on a pond at the distillery. The rye spent the remainder of its aging period there and was emptied on July 16, 2024.
Master distiller Bryan Smith says the pond idea was part...

One is the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery, with over 400 years of history. The other is a pioneering American distillery barely two decades old. Yet, both Bushmills Irish Whiskey and Stranahan’s American Single Malt are redefining the single malt landscape. And neither are from Scotland.
First distilling whiskey as far back as 1608, today Bushmills owns the largest reserves of aged Irish single malt whiskey in the entire world. That’s one reason they continue to be the only Irish whiskey producer able to continually release novel, aged whiskeys on an annual basis. But the distillery is not resting on its laurels.
Bushmills is the #1 most-awarded Irish single malt and continues to honor its steadfast commitment to making some of the world’s greatest single malt whiskey for over 400 years. Over the past few years, Bushmills has released the Rare Cask Series, the limited edition Private Reserve Collection, and multiple permanent...

Angel’s Envy is creating excitement with today’s official unveiling of a new addition to the range, its first in many years. Elsewhere in the bourbon world, Jim Rutledge, formerly of Four Roses fame, continues his revival of Cream of Kentucky, the legacy brand acquired in 2019, with two new releases. Rutledge's whiskeys are still sourced for now as he moves toward opening his own distillery. Meanwhile, Lux Row has a new sherry cask-finished bourbon, and WhistlePig revs it up with another Formula 1-themed release.
There’s much more on offer, including new bourbons from Hidden Barn, Wyoming Whiskey, and O.H. Ingram, as well as a new cask finished scotch from Speyside single malt maker Speyburn. On the collectibles side, scotch distiller Benromach has a 50 year old single malt, made before Benromach was acquired by its current owner, Scottish independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail, in 1993. Alas, the price for this precious liquid falls into the...

Back in 2020, Seattle-based American single malt producer Westland Distillery stunned the whiskey world with an announcement  that it would drop its core range of three labels—American Oak, Sherry Wood, and Peated—the whiskeys that had built its reputation since its founding in 2010. That trio would be gone, along with Westland’s popular Peat Week annual release. The distillery then set about drilling down on expressing its Pacific Northwest terroir. Sherry casks from Spain and peated malt from Scotland would leave the limelight, replaced by local barley and peat, as well other surrounding elements of Westland’s Washington habitat.
Westland had already started blazing this trail with Garryana, its whiskey finished in native Garryana oak that debuted in 2016. To that was added Colere, with its mashbill of Washington barley, and Solum, made with Washington-harvested peat. All three expressions have won plaudits, but without the Westland...

Amid the whiskey world’s current fascination with high proof, many producers have sought to ride the wave by bottling higher-ABV whiskeys. But they often aren't that good, showing little flavor or structure behind the heat. Such whiskeys rely too much on their proof, without delivering the intrinsic quality. Very few whiskey makers are masters of the high-proof game, but Jack Daniel, with its Coy Hill single barrel series, is one of the best.
Coy Hill Tennessee whiskey is named for the highest point on the Jack Daniel Distillery’s campus, where barrel houses 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13 are located. (There is no barrrel house 12, as it was damaged and torn down years ago.) Those are the barrel houses where master distiller Chris Fletcher seeks out the casks to be used for Coy Hill. The mashbill for Coy Hill is the same as that for Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7—80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye—but the maturation period is...

Irish single pot still label Redbreast has added its first-ever 18 year old expression to the core range. The new bottling is the first permanent addition to the lineup since the 93-point Redbreast 27 year old was launched in 2020. Created by master blender David McCabe and master blender emeritus Billy Leighton, Redbreast 18 year old uses a cask recipe that delivers its own distinctive flavor, separate from the profiles of its other age-stated expressions. The secret to accomplishing that is the use of cream sherry casks.
Cream sherry is a sweet wine made from blending dry, nutty oloroso sherry with the rich, sweeter Pedro Ximénez style. Cream sherry was a household staple in the UK and Ireland in the 20th century, but it fell out of favor as sherry drinking became less popular, and cream sherry in particular developed an unfashionable reputation. The cream sherry name is a rare sight on whisky labels, because distillers prefer to talk about casks seasoned with a blend of...

Before Bruce Russell took on the mantle of blender at Wild Turkey, his father, Eddie, sat him down for a talk. “One of the first things my dad told me, just as I was starting out at the distillery, was ‘I want you to think really hard about this, not because the job isn’t good or I don’t think you’ll be good at it, but because for the rest of your life you’ll have to give a part of yourself to everybody else,’” he recalls. “And my dad learned that from Jimmy [Russell], who’s given more of himself to the distillery and its fans than anyone else. When I did start hitting the road for the distillery, I realized there were people—a lot of them—who knew Jimmy more than me, and they had these awesome stories about him and the things he’s done over the years.” And a great many years it’s been for Jimmy, who is celebrating his 70th year at Wild Turkey this month.
It’s a remarkable milestone for...

A 1966 Very Old Fitzgerald, distilled under Pappy Van Winkle’s watch. A 1941 bottling of Golden Wedding. A 1947 Old Forester. A 14 year old Dowling Deluxe from the 1960s. These incredible bottles are among the vintage whiskeys that will be sold during the seventh annual Art of Bourbon auction, which begins Thursday, September 12, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. EST. The best part? You can bid remotely.
Art of Bourbon’s annual gala and live auction benefits the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, and those who attend this lavish fête describe it as one of the premiere bourbon bashes of the year. Proceeds fund outreach and community programs for the museum, including summer camps for local youth and teens, and seasonal family days. This year, 35 auction lots include unicorn bottles, drool-worthy dusties, and several barrel selection experiences. Marc Abrams, a renowned bourbon collector and expert, and the event’s chairman, breaks down some of the more impressive auction...

Ardbeg made a splash this week with news of the return of its much-coveted 17 year old, which will be available only to members of the Ardbeg Committee fan club later this month. Noteworthy among nationally available releases is Clonakilty's Irish single pot still expression, the western Ireland producer that started laying down whiskey in 2019 with single pot still as its primary focus. Bardstown Bourbon Co. has new releases for both its Collaborative Series and its Discovery Series, while Kentucky blender Dixon Dedman’s 2XO has a new edition in its Icon Series. Filmland Spirits, the company that combines a passion for both whiskey and cinema, is out with its latest movie-inspired blockbuster, this one a blend of four bourbons. And there's more, as the autumn whisky release season begins kicking into high gear. 
Ardbeg 17 year old The Legend Returns 
ABV: 40%
Price: $190
Availability: ardbeg.com, at the Distillery Visitor...

Bushmills The Rare Casks is a four-part series of ultra-aged triple-distilled single malt Irish whiskeys available exclusively in the U.S. The collectible series from Northern Ireland debuted in 2020, and the age statement was nudged up each year until concluding in 2024 with the oldest and most expensive release in the series. Each bottle carries the signature of Colum Egan, Bushmills master distiller. In late 2021 year, owner Proximo Spirits, decided to upgrade the brand’s packaging changing the look of Rare Casks from the second release onwards, and they had to complete the project under the direction of a new master blender following the departure of Helen Mulholland in 2021.
With Bushmills having access to the largest stocks of single malt of any Irish distillery, the compelling aspect of these whiskeys’ rarity isn’t just their age statements, it’s also the result of the lengthy secondary maturation which was actually longer than the initial...

After more than 20 successful years in the country music industry, singer-songwriter Dierks Bentley is trying his hand at a new venture: bourbon. A longtime whiskey drinker, Bentley launches his Row 94 whiskey label today. It’s been a passion project for Bentley, and one he’s spent a couple of years working on through a partnership with Green River Distilling in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Row 94 debuts with this straight bourbon, which features a high-rye mashbill (70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley) and is bottled at 47% ABV (94 proof, a tie-in to the brand name). It’s aged for 4 years in new white oak barrels with a No. 4 char. Row 94 ($40) initially launches in Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, and row94whiskey.com, with additional states expected in 2025.
For Bentley, the parallels between country music and whiskey made the transition to bourbon-making feel natural. In an exclusive interview with Whisky Advocate, Bentley noted that whiskey...

Napa isn’t typically known for its spirits, but Jean-Charles Boisset  French vintner and proprietor of the Boisset Collection, which operates 28 wineries in France, California, and Canada, wants to change that. While his resume is most prominently in wine, Boisset has had his hand in spirits since 2018 when he introduced JCB Spirits—featuring gin, and caviar-infused and truffle-infused vodkas. His latest venture, the Calistoga Depot, focuses on small-batch spirits.
“Often we think Napa Valley is just wine, and even just cabernet, whereas it’s a large group of different grape varieties,” says Boisset. “And it’s not just wine, it’s spirits.”
The Calistoga Depot is located in the city of Calistoga in Napa Valley, founded and built in 1868 by Sam Brannan, a prominent businessman. It’s the second oldest train depot in California, and still displays its cars from bygone years. Alas, the trains no longer...

This year's release of Parker's Heritage is out, and as we've seen so often with this series, it's yet another interesting one—a 14 year old malt whiskey. A Parker's malt whiskey expression hasn't been seen in nearly a decade, as the last such release was in 2015. In general, malt whiskey expressions are unusual in Kentucky, although Woodford Reserve has a well-known malt expression. Elsewhere, Kentucky Peerless continues its finishing work with a new cognac barrel-finished bourbon—this one a limited, Kentucky-only release. New Riff returns with this year's edition of its Sour Mash single malt, which offers some new twists, while Pursuit United has a new Double Oaked Rye to join its Double-Oaked Bourbon expression.
 
 
Parker’s Heritage Collection 14 year old Malt Whiskey (2024 Release)
ABV: 53.5%
SRP: $170
Availability: Limited
The 18th release of Heaven Hill’s Parker’s Heritage Collection...

James B. Beam Distilling’s Little Book label, which spotlights master distiller Freddie Noe’s blending techniques, is taking a different direction with a new release. Yesterday it unveiled the inaugural expression in a new spin-off series called The Infinite, which is separate from the chapters series of Little Book. The Infinite will focus on making blends from whiskeys made by different Beam master distillers. This first expression called The Infinite: Edition 1, is currently available across the U.S. in limited quantities, at a suggested retail price of $200.
Blended by Freddie Noe, The Infinite: Edition 1 is composed of four straight bourbons laid down by different members of the Noe family. The oldest component is a 20 year old which was made by Freddie’s grandfather, the legendary Booker Noe, who passed away in 2004. The next oldest is a 14 year old, and it comes from Freddie’s father Fred, master distiller at Beam. Freddie’s contribution is the...

Irish whiskey comes in many forms. There is pot still—malted and unmalted barley a truly unique whiskey native to Ireland, rich and complex with a hint of spice. There is malt whiskey—made exclusively from malted barley to be fruit forward and flavorful. And there is single grain whiskey—composed of both malted barley and unmalted grains like wheat for a milder, more approachable profile. The Busker is the only brand offering the unique experience of producing these three classic styles of Irish whiskey all under one roof. 
When produced by a single distillery like The Busker’s Royal Oak Distillery in County Carlow, Ireland, the “Single” designation can be legally added to each style as well. The Busker Single Pot Still is triple distilled and aged in ex-bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, creating rich and robust notes of spice, vanilla, and toffee fudge. Busker Single Malt is 100% Irish malted barley likewise matured in ex-bourbon...

There’s an old joke about real estate that the best time to buy a house is 20 years ago. That crack is probably even more relevant to today’s whisky market. Most of us have heard the war stories—about bottles of Old Rip Van Winkle, Port Ellen, and other now-precious whiskies that once sat on store shelves ignored for months and even years because no one was interested. But as for selection, there’s no time like the present. Over the past two decades, the whisky world has changed beyond all recognition, and that’s true of every style across the board.
In rye, the market is now comprised of countless labels, whereas 20 years ago there were only three distilleries making the stuff—Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, and Beam. While bourbon has always been prominent, the proportion of change has been the same. Craft whiskeys barely existed two decades ago, and now there are 2,753 craft distilleries across the nation accounting for nearly 8% of total spirits...

Bourbon leads this week with a swarm of “B's”, as Bernheim, Baker’s, and Bardstown all weigh in with new releases. Bernheim Barrel Proof, appropriately enough for this list, is offering Batch B, the second and final installment of 2024 for this expression. We’ve yet to taste Batch B, but Batch A has been one of our favorite whiskeys so far this year. There’s also a welcome return for Baker’s, the single barrel gem whose appearances are all too infrequent. Based on previous tastings, we’d recommend that you snag a bottle. Elsewhere, Bardstown’s new super-wheater is serious business—check out that 39% wheat share in the mashbill. In comparison to other wheaters, Larceny’s is a mere 20%, as is Old Fitzgerald, while Maker’s hovers at around 15%.
Cask-finished whiskeys also feature prominently this week, as Old Elk continues its finishing work with a cognac barrel-finished wheater. Virginia Distillery Co. has a new...

Other distillers have done it, but Knob Creek never blended its bourbon and rye whiskeys for any of its expressions—until this summer’s launch of Bourbon X Rye, a blend of 9 year old bourbon and 7 year old rye. The final product was formulated by James B. Beam father/son master distillers Fred and Freddie Noe (Knob Creek is part of Beam) with the goal of finding the perfect bourbon-rye balance. But it isn’t a straightforward 1:1 mix of the two whiskeys, instead it plays far more heavily into its rye component, which accounts for 70% of the blend.
A precursor for Bourbon x Rye can be found in another Beam-owned whiskey, Basil Hayden’s Two by Two Rye, a bourbon/rye blend released in July 2018. But the new Knob Creek blend has two whiskeys, whereas Basil Hayden’s was a blend of four.  There’s also a tighter age range for Bourbon x Rye: It’s 7–9 years old compared to Basil Hayden’s 5–13 years. In terms of similarities...

Compass Box, whose blended scotch creations have won enormous critical acclaim over the past two decades, has undergone some big changes this year. In February, its founder and driving force, John Glaser, stepped down after 23 years at the helm. That news came atop an announcement that Hedonism, the grain whisky that vaulted Compass Box into the spotlight in 2000, would be removed from the core range to become a limited annual release. This month the winds of change blew once more,  as Compass Box discontinued its Spice Tree and Story of the Spaniard labels, replacing them with two completely new whiskies.
Spice Tree was first released in 2005, and Story of the Spaniard has been around since 2018. Both expressions aimed to spotlight cask/wood influence. Spice Tree explores the influence of French oak with a blend of malts including Glen Moray, Balmenach, and a proprietary Highland malt divided into three separate parcels, each aged in French oak barrels at different...

This year’s annual Birthday Bourbon release from Old Forester is a 12 year old whiskey at a robust 53.5% ABV, which will please fans hungry for more proof, as the last two years have seen it at a mere 48%. The 12 year old age statement will also be reassuring, as some recent releases have seen it slip to 11 years. This year’s expression again will be sold via national lottery—the ritual of lining up the distillery ended after 2021, as the crowds were becoming too big to handle. (Old Forester owner Brown-Forman also saw the lottery as a better way to keep tabs on the secondary market.) This year’s lottery will be held on September 2: register by August 21, and you’re in with a chance.
In scotch whisky, Talisker is out with the annual release of its 30 year old, while Royal Salute has expanded its  62 Gun Salute with the addition of two more expressions, making it a three-part collection. Back in America, Remus Repeal Reserve is...

Many auction houses are taking a summer break, which means there are few high-value scotches around. Our month-end list of the 20-highest single bottle sales for August thus will likely include more American whiskeys and more sales under $20,000 than usual. Unicorn Auctions, with no letup in its auction schedule, has seen more American whiskeys sell for $15,000-plus than anywhere else. Its Curated Auction contained a treasure trove of dusty bourbons and ryes produced during the second half of the 20th century, along with older Pre-Prohibition bourbons such as a rare quart bottle of Four Roses by Paul Jones & Co. that sold for $10,000.
The month so far has seen a fair amount of bulk selling: Unicorn Auctions sold the Springbank Millenium Collection for $27,500 and a 6-bottle set of Weller for $1,680, Scotch Whisky Auctions sold a 6-bottle set of Yamazaki 18 year old for $3,189 and a set of Macallan Edition No.1–6 for $2,934, while Grand Whisky Auction sold an 11-bottle...

Charlie Wagner of Napa Valley’s Wagner Family of Wines has acquired a majority stake in Spokane, Washington-based craft distiller Dry Fly Distilling. The deal comes after more than a decade of friendly collaboration between Wagner and Dry Fly’s owner and founder Don Poffenroth.
Dry Fly was founded in 2007 by Poffenroth and friend Kent Fleischmann, who were both working as marketing executives at the time. The Dry Fly name was inspired by both founders’ passion for fly fishing. It became an early mover in Washington craft whiskey, and today is a fixture on the scene. Dry Fly’s spacious new distillery in downtown Spokane, which opened in 2021, is a local destination, featuring a modern distilling space, tasting room, bar, and restaurant.
The distillery has an annual capacity of 75,000 liters of pure alcohol, with room for further expansion. The Dry Fly whiskeys are made with 100% locally grown grains (grown within 30 miles of the distillery), and the...

A 73 year old Speyside single malt is the latest addition in The Red Collection, Macallan’s line of highly collectible releases inspired by the distillery’s history, tradition, and craftsmanship. Priced at $82,500, the newest member of The Red Collection was distilled in November 1950, bottled at 44.9%, and is the fifth release in the 8 bottle series aged for more than seven decades. Expressions from Macallan The Red Collection regularly feature in our auction coverage and monthly list of the 20-highest hammer prices. At the time of writing, auction results for expressions from The Red Collection aged for 60, 71, 74, 77, and 78 years are all in the running to land in our 20-highest hammer prices of 2024. Macallan has sufficient stock levels to maintain annual releases of The Red Collection 40, 50, and 60 year olds going forward, while the even older expressions are bottled only periodically.
A Brief Guide to Ultra-Aged Macallan
The Macallan Distillery...

Irish Distillers released Redbreast Dream Cask 38 year old Zenith Edition earlier this year, the seventh and final edition in its series of exceptional and rare cask selections and finished single pot still whiskeys. The series originated after a Facebook Live tasting hosted by master blender Billy Leighton in 2017 to coincide with World Whisky Day, during which Leighton showcased a 31 year old single pot still whiskey distilled at Midleton Distillery. The following year, the Dream Cask series began in earnest with the debut of that whiskey, bottled at 32 years old. Each annual release came in 500 ml bottles and was sold by ballot through The Birdhouse, Redbreast’s online members’ club. The releases sold out quickly every year. Leighton made the cask selections, working with blender Dave McCabe as the series progressed. By the time of the final release in 2024, McCabe had been named the new master blender and Billy Leighton had retired, becoming master blender...

To honor the 90th anniversary of bourbon making at its distillery in Clermont, Kentucky this month, The James B. Beam Distilling Co. has created several new tasting experiences for visitors and added events to its bourbon-themed calendar. Guests at the Clermont campus now have access to the Fred B. Noe Distillery—where several of the company’s small batch labels are produced—and can also sample a variety of whiskeys in new tasting lineups.
The Fred B. Noe Distillery, named for Beam’s seventh-generation master distiller, opened in 2021 as a hub for the Beam family’s super-premium whiskeys, including Booker’s, Baker’s, Legent, and the Little Book series, which was created by Fred’s son and eighth-generation distiller Freddie Noe. The facility opened to the public for the first time this past March and began hosting a series of “Behind The Beam” events in the spring, including new tours and tasting options for...

August is when we start seeing the first of the fall releases, and Four Roses is right on time with this year's Limited Edition Small Batch expression, always among the most highly anticipated of the season. It's first available at the distillery and the nearby  Four Roses warehouse (details below) and then rolls into retail in mid-September. Tennessee's Chattanooga Whiskey has a new experimental expression called the Harvest Batch, this one is a seven-grain bourbon aged in six different barrels. And finally, from Washington State, Woodinville Whiskey has released its most remarkable whiskey to date—an 8 year old bourbon that's the culmination of a decade of experimentation to find what Woodinville calls  "the best barrel in the world" for maturing its bourbon. In concert with Independent Stave Co., the distillery filled eight different barrel types with new make and aged them for 4 1/2 years before deciding which barrel...

For well over 200 years, the Pepper House has perched on a hill overlooking a distillery. Originally built in 1812 by distiller Elijah Pepper, the Versailles, Kentucky homestead sat on the site of a small distillery on the banks of Glenn’s Creek. The house would go on to serve as home to generations of Peppers and has the distinction of being the oldest continuously inhabited log cabin in the history of Kentucky. But it has sat vacant for decades—that is, until now. It’s being put to use as the new home of Woodford Reserve’s Personal Selection private barrel program. 
The Brief History of the Pepper House
After Elijah Pepper's death in 1831, his son, Oscar, transformed the distillery from a small, farm-distilling operation into a commercial entity, bringing on Scottish immigrant Dr. James Crow—colloquially known as Jim Crow—in the 1830s. It was here at the newly christened Oscar Pepper Distillery and under Crow’s tutelage that the...

Known as the City of Gold, Johannesburg is the main aviation hub and commercial heart for all of Southern Africa. Whether you’re there for business or pleasure, if you love whisky, WhiskyBrother Bar is a must-visit.
The city is home to some of the region’s wealthiest residents and most desirable neighborhoods, and in recent years the taste for finer things, from luxury cars and watches to international fashion to top-shelf whiskies has taken off in a big way. Whisky has become part of the society scene here, and there’s no better place for a big night out than WhiskyBrother Bar in Sandton, Johannesburg’s poshest neighborhood (the nearby Saxon Hotel is where Nelson Mandela stayed when he wrote his memoir, and it’s the choice of the Clintons, Oprah Winfrey, and just about every visiting entertainer).
Like Los Angeles, Johannesburg is a very large city devoted to driving with very little that’s pedestrian friendly. Oddly, almost all the best...

No dog days of summer this week, as whisky lovers are being treated to lots of exciting news. In American whiskey, Seattle's Westland Distillery,  whose co-founder Matt Hofmann moved on last year, continues its reset with the release of  two new expressions—one finished in beer casks and the other in wine casks. Knob Creek, always among the most traditional of whiskey makers, gets creative with a new blend of bourbon and rye, while Woodford Reserve has blended two malt whiskeys for the latest edition in its Distillery Series. Dixon Dedman, who made his name with the Kentucky Owl whiskeys back in 2014, continues to see his star rise with 2XO, whose latest release is a bourbon finished in French oak casks.
Not to be outdone, the scotch side has some very interesting news. Compass Box, whose celebrated founder John Glaser departed the company earlier this year, is ready for its next act with two entirely new labels...

On a dreary, rain-slicked day, the grounds of Tenmile Distillery feel more like Scotland than Wassaic, New York, a hamlet of only 210 people that’s tucked away on the eastern edge of the Hudson Valley, just two hours north of New York City. The distillery, which filled its first barrels in January 2020, sits on 70 acres of lush green farmland, surrounded by temperate forests and rolling hills. In a previous life, it was the site of a dairy farm; the single-story white brick stillhouse and barrel warehouse are well-preserved remnants of the farm, with four stills—two pot stills, a column still, and a custom gin still—now located within the century-old dairy barn, and the barrel house (set up in dunnage style) was once used as a cow barn and mill. Altogether, the picturesque setting calls to mind a Highlands distillery, but the Scottish influence doesn’t stop at the exterior—the mash tun and stills were custom-built by Scotland-based still maker...

Shelbyville, Tennessee-based Uncle Nearest whiskey launched the first release in its new Lost Chapter series this month, debuting Lost Chapter 1-777. The 7 year old blended whiskey, bottled at barrel strength (between 110-120 proof), is inspired by the book “Love & Whiskey,” written by Uncle Nearest founder and CEO Fawn Weaver, which was published in June.
The limited edition Lost Chapter 1-777 ($139) was released with an allocation of just 7,000 bottles and, along with commemorating Weaver’s book, it celebrates the seventh anniversary of the Uncle Nearest brand’s debut in July 2017. The new label is available at the Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tennessee, as well as select retail stores in 35 states. Lost Chapter 1-777 was also available on reservebar.com, but sold out quickly. Whiskey drinkers who purchase Lost Chapter 1-777 gain access to an unpublished chapter of “Love & Whiskey,” which they can download...

“Every day, I’m paranoid someone will open a bottle of something I’ve picked and call me a hack,” says co-founder and co-owner of Rare Character Whiskey Company Pablo Moix. The 49 year old entrepreneur still struggles to wrap his head around the exploding success of Rare Character bottles; all of which are personally selected by him. “Selling bottles at $99, knowing they’ll hit resale markets for $400 or more, and having it not drink like a $400 and the buyer is upset—that pressure is intense,” Moix says, adding, “I have no fallback plan; this has to work.”
But work it has. Rare Character Whiskey Company has become the next “it” brand in American whiskey.
What started as a pandemic business in 2021 has blown up into six sub-brands, each with rabid followings, many of which are already selling at ten times the suggested retail price at Sotheby's and Unicorn Auctions. Rare Character (RC) fan groups on...

Among this week’s items, Compass Box, always of interest, has a Travel Retail exclusive that blends peated single malt and grain whiskies. Garrison Brothers has unveiled this year’s Laguna Madre release, while rising player 15 Stars keeps them coming with two new aged bourbons. Considering the high scores achieved by 15 Stars since we started reviewing their whiskeys last year, we very much look forward to tasting these latest ones. Elsewhere, World Whiskey Society, fresh off its Japanese collaboration with whisky maker Chip Tate, continues its globe-trotting with two American single malts named for Wild West folk hero Wyatt Earp, while Buzzard’s Roost, ensconced in its new home on Louisville’s Whiskey Row since last year, is out it with its first Bottled in Bond (BIB) expression. And then we have the curious case of Natterjack whiskey, the Irish American collaboration, and its latest effort, Natterjack The Mistake. This one is the result of a...

Booker's is out with its second release of the year, while Elijah Craiig makes a splash during this quiet summer season with its new toasted barrel rye. Jack Daniel's is now on the 13th iteration in its Distillery Series, the experimental annual releases that give the distilling team a chance to tinker with new ideas. This one has Jack Daniel's rye getting a secondary maturation in a new oak barrel. As with the other whiskeys in the Distillery Series, it's being sold only at the Jack Daniel's Distillery gift shop and at selected Tennessee retailers, so enjoy it if you get the chance. From Scotland, single malt whisky Aultmore, which is one of the malts in Dewar's blended scotch stable, gets to shine on its own with the release of 4 cask finished expressions. Elsewhere, Three Chord's Backstage Series, which partners with rock brands, is now live with an Allman Brothers whiskey, while Seattle-based Copperworks has three new American single...

Just in time for this year’s Summer Olympic Games in Paris, Buffalo Trace Distillery is unveiling a pop-up retail shop in the City of Light, complete with an on-site lounge for whiskey tastings. The upscale store, which opens on Friday, July 19 for a five-week stint that coincides with the 2024 Olympics, offers a variety of Buffalo Trace whiskeys and custom merchandise.
The shop is located at 36 Rue Etienne Marcel in Paris’ Les Halles District. Its whiskey selection includes Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, and W.L. Weller 12 year old bourbons, as well as Sazerac rye (prices range from €36-€49/$39-$53 a bottle). These are the only labels that can be purchased in Paris because they’re currently the only Buffalo Trace products available in France.
Behind the retail store in the same space, the bespoke lounge 12 Gold boasts a Weller-focused menu, allowing guests to sample a variety of the brand’s whiskeys. The tasting selection includes pours of...

Yamazaki 55 year old set a new highest auction price of the year this month, with Sotheby’s Hong Kong achieving a hammer price of $256,162; nearly $46,000 more than Unicorn Auctions’ June sale in Chicago. Meanwhile, Whisky Auctioneer set a new highest price of the year for Macallan The Reach 81 year old, nudging the 2024 record for this expression higher by $775 over the price set by Sotheby’s in April. To date, these Yamazaki and Macallan bottlings, both the oldest expressions ever released by the respective distilleries, make up 6 of the 7 highest auction prices of the year with a combined value of $1.2 million (a bottle of Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old just squeaked into sixth place). 
New 2024 releases have been making their way to auction this month, with bottlings of Weller Millennium wheat whiskey, released with a suggested retail price of $7,500, making $9,000, and bottles of Double Eagle Rare 20 year old, released at $3,000, fetching...

American whiskey historically was a bit like the Wild West, guided not by rules and regulations but by a lawlessness that encouraged questionable practices that occasionally resulted in deadly consequences. These included adding color, flavor, and chemicals—ranging from tobacco and turpentine to iodine and kerosene— all the while calling the product “whiskey,” though you’d be hard-pressed to recognize it as such today.
At the same time, distribution was far different than today— though distillers sold barreled whiskey directly to retailers, they also sold to rectifiers, who were both blenders and distributors. While there were a handful of good rectifiers, among them William Weller and Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, both of whom believed in the art of blending, many unscrupulous operators ultimately gave the word “rectifier” a bad name. They were responsible for the above-mentioned atrocious additives, doing it to boost yields and thus...

In scotch whisky, Ardbeg has a new release in its Anthology Collection and Jura offers a rye cask finished single malt—an expression that's been available overseas for the last two years and now arrives on U.S. shores. Among American whiskeys, we welcome a new release in Old Forester's 117 series, this one finished in rum casks. The 117 Series has done particularly well with our tasting panel, the last  one scoring 94 points. Elsewhere, Iowa whiskey maker Cedar Ridge aims for a cigar pairing with its latest American single malt, while Chattanooga offers a new bottled in bond expression. Penelope, meanwhile, is back with its popular Toasted Rye, and Delaware brewer/distiller Dogfish Head becomes the latest American whiskey maker to try its hand at amburana finishing. 
 
Ardbeg Anthology: The Unicorn’s Tale 14 year old Scotch Single Malt
ABV: 46%
SRP: $160
Availability: Limited; ardbeg.com, the...

Last month, James B. Beam Distilling Co. unveiled a new version of its core-range Jim Beam Black bourbon. Unlike the original, this one carries a 7 year old age statement—making it six months older—and it’s also gotten a higher ABV, boosted from 43% to 45%. The bourbon is currently available for purchase nationwide at the suggested price of $25.
Jim Beam Black has always been the older sibling of the classic Beam White Label, and historically that status was backed by an age statement. As early as the 70s, Beam Black was stated as being 101 months old (just under 8 and a half years) and was bottled at 45% ABV. Over the ensuing decades, the bourbon would undergo some changes: First the age statement was lowered to 8 years old, then later the strength would similarly drop to 43%. In 2014, the blend comprised 6.5 year old liquid on average, and the age statement was dropped completely from the label. That decision was due to the shortage of aged liquid that became...

Whisky distilling is set to return to Dallas Dhu, a closed scotch distillery that last operated in March 1983. Aceo Distillers Co. plans to restart production in the next 12–18 months on the site, located 40 minutes east of Inverness. Parent company Aceo Limited is a UK firm of scotch whisky brokers formed 25 years ago, that took over independent bottler Murray McDavid in 2013. This will be the first time the company has operated a distillery.
The resurrection of long-closed distilleries, such as Brora, Port Ellen, and Rosebank which have reopened this decade, usually requires years of extensive construction to erect suitable buildings and equip the site with functioning equipment. Dallas Dhu is quite different as it was kept intact. Situated near Benromach on the outskirts of Forres, the distillery has been operating as a heritage museum since 1988. When it closed, then-owners United Distillers Ltd., a forerunner of Diageo, handed custody over to the government, where it...

Rum, with its base of fermented sugarcane—in the form of molasses, sugarcane juice, or cane syrup, depending on the style—and roots in the Caribbean, is often associated with sweet tropical drinks enjoyed on vacation. And for good reason: Mai Tais are delicious! But there’s a wide world of barrel-aged rums out there that have quite a bit more in common with whisky; they are meant to be sipped and savored just as you would a coveted bourbon or scotch.
“Much like scotch, rum is aged in second-fill bourbon and American whiskey barrels—approximately 99% of rums have been aged that way since the 1940s, after it became a requirement for bourbon to be aged in new charred [oak] barrels,” notes Alexandre Gabriel, owner of and master blender for Maison Ferrand and the Barbados-based West Indies Rum Distillery, which produces the Planteray (formerly Plantation) line of rums.
Gabriel adds that double aging is also very common in rum production...

Scotch whisky makers might once have had a reputation for being staid, tweedy, and hidebound, but in the modern era they're anything but. Last week we reported on the releases of Arbeg Y2K and Glenmorangie The Cadboll Estate, and now we have a new Laphroaig experimental expression in Elements 2.0, as well as two new releases in Balvenie's Collection of Curious Casks—the latter quite limited, as seems to be the case all too often these days. For the high rollers, there's also a new 40 year old expression of Brora, a distillery exclusive of only 150 bottles, each priced at a cool $1,650. This release comes just past the third anniversary of Brora's reopening in the Northern Highlands. Scotch whisky lovers, perk up your ears: the distillate made at the new Brora right after it opened is now 3 years old, officially making it whisky. Diageo will keep it in the cellar for a long time to come. But if you travel to Scotland and visit the...

While Kentucky dominates American whiskey today, there was once another bastion of whiskey production in the U.S.: Pennsylvania. Hundreds of distilleries were scattered across the state in the 19th century and there was a healthy mix of producers large and small, with many farmers-turned-distillers as well. Rye was the state’s reigning style, especially in the southwestern Monongahela River valley region. To honor this rich history, Suntory Global Spirits has opened the James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center in partnership with the nonprofit historic site West Overton Village & Museum in Scottdale, Pennsylvania. 
Suntory’s involvement in the project hails from Beam’s connection to Pennsylvania rye through Old Overholt, a brand it acquired in 1987 that’s one of the oldest whiskey brands in the U.S. It was founded back in 1810 by Abraham Overholt, whose family settled in West Overton in 1800 and began farming 263 acres of land there...

When you fire up the grill to celebrate the Fourth, break out the whiskey. We have a list of whiskeys that capture the American spirit, but if it's a cocktail you're yearning for, we have you covered too. The smoky notes found in many whiskies are a perfect match for charred or smoked chicken, sausage, steaks, hot dogs, you name it. Plus, rich, full-bodied whisky can stand up against heavier options such as ribs and burgers.
Since it's July, keep things from getting too heavy by shaking up The Happy Herbie. Created by John Maraffi, a bartender at The Hideaway in Beverly Hills, this Whiskey Sour spin is bold yet balanced. Tart lemon juice and delicate jasmine ensure the bourbon doesn't overpower, while apple pie bitters highlight the spirit's baking spices.
Even better, “The cherry notes of the high-rye bourbon pair excellently with burgers,” Maraffi says. “But The Happy Herbie also has bright acidity from the citrus notes and apple pie bitters, bringing this...

As we roll toward the July 4th weekend, there's plenty of Americana among this current crop of new releases. Separately, we've also put together a list of whiskeys that capture the spirit of July 4th, many through their part in the American story. As for this group, we have new expressions of the long-standing Michter's Legacy Series, a toasted barrel whiskey from Old Potrero and a toasted barrel bourbon from Peerless, a barrel proof rye from E.H. Taylor, and a new Babe Ruth commemorative edition from George Remus. From Scotland, we have another wine cask finished item from Glenmorangie, this one aged 23  years.
Not listed here is the partnership between Oregon-based Pendleton Whisky and the Bob Woodruff Foundation, a collaboration that began in 2021 and has just released a new Military Edition label to honor and support our veterans. A portion of every bottle sold (up to $100,000) will go to support veterans programs around the nation. The Bob...

Independence Day is upon us—time for fireworks, parades, backyard barbecues, beach days, and perhaps a dram or two when the sun goes down. Here are some selections, listed in alphabetical order, that will add more fun to your Glorious Fourth. Some of these whiskeys have carved their place in the American experience, while others simply evoke a uniquely American spirit.  
15 Stars First West Blend of Straight Ryes (Batch 2-SSDD), 52.50% ABV, $89
Whiskey maker 15 Stars is named as a toast to Kentucky’s joining the Union as the 15th state in 1792. The U.S. flag with 15 stars and stripes, which was approved by President George Washington, is proudly featured on its labels. 15 Stars was founded in 2019 by father and son blenders Rick and Ricky Johnson, and it debuted its first whiskey in 2022. We’ve scored six of them so far, and all have rated above 90 points. 
Col. E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bourbon, 50% ABV...

Historic Kentucky bourbon brand Chicken Cock dates back more than 160 years and was resurrected in 2012. Now it’s set to put down roots in the heart of Bourbon Country with this week’s opening of its new home in Bardstown. Chicken Cock has unveiled an immersive experience called Circa 1856 at the historic Harrison-Smith House in downtown Bardstown that will serve as its public face. Circa 1856 is named for the year Chicken Cock’s original distillery was built in Paris, Kentucky, and it's officially open starting June 27, housing a bar, retail shop, barrel pick experience, and a microdistillery.
Circa 1856 exudes the home-like feel of its space. The house features a lounge area in front with merchandise and whiskey for sale and a bar toward the back. The bar serves the Chicken Cock whiskey lineup, of course, but also a variety of specialty and classic cocktails and whiskey flights. Circa 1856’s bar menu spans from an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan to...

Among the latest new releases, Ardbeg takes us back to the the turn of the new millennium with some of its first whisky made in 2000, while Glenmorangie is out with the fourth edition of its Cadboll Estate label, made from barley harvested on its estate in the Highlands. From the U.S., Iowa whiskey maker Cedar Ridge has released its first sherry finished bourbon, while Ireland's Boann Distillery makes its global debut with a trio of Irish single pot still whiskeys—two of them finished in sherry casks and the other in madeira casks. Up until now, Boann has been best known for its branded whiskey The Whistler, and also for its work with old Irish mashbill recipes, specifically its Vintage Mashbill Project, done in collaboration with Irish whiskey historian Fionan O'Connor.
 
 
Ardbeg Vintage Y2K Single Malt Scotch
ABV: 46%
SRP: $800
Availability: Ardbeg.com, the distillery visitor center, Reservebar.com, and...

Home to grand Gilded Age mansions and a historic yachting culture, Newport is the epitome of a centuries-old New England resort town. Beyond the opulent estates and shipyards lies a city begging to be explored for its arts, history, and culinary and drinks scene. Rhode Island’s first distillery since the 19th century, Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co., is based here, and the city has evolved from old-world tradition to a wide range of new dining, drinking, shopping, and entertainment options.
One of the benefits of vacationing in a state this small is that so many of its attractions are within walking distance or a short drive away. And at just three hours from New York City and about an hour south of Boston, Newport is a destination that everyone who loves to eat and drink should put on their must-visit list.
Day One

Newport offers many lodging options, from quaint bed & breakfasts to luxury resorts and everything in between. If you’re...

Weller 12 year old surged in popularity after Pappy Van Winkle took off in the mid-aughts, thanks its use of the same wheated mashbill, but being more affordable than its cousin, Van Winkle 12 year old. (And, at the time, somewhat easier to obtain at retail pricing.) Age statements for bourbon were rarer when Weller 12 was first released in 2001, though the market’s now flooded with similarly aged offerings, but being one of the originators, Weller 12 still stands out among the crowd. Here’s our report on Weller 12 year old bourbon 2023 release.            
Weller 12 Year Old Bourbon At a Glance:
Distillery Name: Buffalo Trace
Age: 12 year old
Mashbill: 51% corn, undisclosed wheat, undisclosed barley
Proof: 90/45% ABV
Cask: New, charred American oak barrels
SRP: $70
Quick Tasting Notes: Vanilla and caramel abound, as do candied orange zest and dark chocolate.
Overall Thoughts: A sublime daily...

Interest in single barrel whiskeys has surged in recent years, and it's become popular for whisky lovers to travel to a favorite distillery and make their own single barrel selections. For the most part, however, that job is left to the pros. Here are some new single barrel offerings for you to consider, including two bourbons, an American single malt, and a madeira cask single malt from India's Paul John.
Hirsch The Single Barrel White Bourbon
ABV: 51.44%
SRP: $50
Availability: Limited
Hirsch’s latest single barrel whiskey is made from a mashbill of 74% corn, 18% rye, and 8% malted barley. The bourbon spent 4 years and 8 months aging in new oak before being bottled at cask strength. As with almost all Hirsch releases, this one was distilled and aged in Bardstown, Kentucky, by Bardstown Bourbon Co.
Hirsch is owned by San Francisco-based distiller and importer Hotaling & Co. The brand redesigned and relaunched...

Auctions have been buzzing this month, with a frenzy of summer whisky sales delivering impressive results. Yamazaki 55 year old set a new highest auction price of the year this week, with another bottle of The Macallan The Reach 81 year old recently fetching a six-figure sum (see below for further details). Not to be outdone, this weekend’s Whisky Hammer sale includes the chance to bid on both of these collectibles again. We are predicting that June’s 20-highest hammer prices will break $1 million, and it’s looking like it will be the first month of 2024 to outperform the year-earlier period, reversing a downward trend of recent months.
We reported that American whiskey is performing particularly well at auction recently, making notable gains while some scotch and Japanese whisky values have been on the slide. Competition for rare bourbon and rye has pushed prices to new heights and made American whiskeys a regular fixture in our monthly list of the 20-highest...

Washington State’s Copperworks Distilling has been putting a unique spin on whiskey production since 2013, using a malted beer base to produce a full range of American single malts, as well as gin and vodka. Now, the company has announced plans to acquire a 30-barrel brewhouse from Pike Brewing, complete with brewing equipment, which means Copperworks will own a brewing facility for the first time. The move is a full-circle moment for Copperworks co-founder and president Jason Parker, who got his start in the beverage industry as a craft brewer for Pike Brewing in 1989.
Pike Brewing relocated its production last October, which created the opening for Copperworks to purchase the brewer’s former space on Post Alley next to Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market. The space spans 12,000 square feet and, along with serving as Copperworks' primary brewing center, will also become its new whiskey barrel storage warehouse. It complements the company’s existing...

Kentucky distiller Heaven Hill has launched Grain to Glass, a collection of three Kentucky whiskeys highlighting the farm-to-table aspect of whiskey making. In what will be an ongoing series, this first installment features a bourbon, a wheated bourbon, and a rye, priced at $100 each and available nationally with limited allocation.
Planning for this new collection began eight years ago when Heaven Hill formed a partnership with Indiana-based seed company Beck’s Hybrids, the largest family-owned retail seed company in the U.S. and third largest overall. Heaven Hill's distilling team worked with Beck’s on selecting hybrid corn seed varietals best suited for central Kentucky. To raise the crop, Heaven Hill chose Loretto, Kentucky-based Peterson Farms, a family-owned farming company with two locations in Nelson County—one of them directly across the street from Heaven Hill’s Bardstown headquarters. The other is just down the road from Maker’s...

This summer, for the 10th time in its history, Royal Troon golf club on Scotland’s windswept west coast will host the British Open, formally known as the Open Championship. The surrounding area is one that can be described as a golfer’s dream: Prestwick Golf Club, where the Open Championship was first contested in 1860, is just five miles up the road, and a half-dozen other prominent courses lie within a 45-minute radius. Less well-known is the fact that this region is also a great corner of Scotland for whisky lovers to explore.

There are so many fun whisky experiences nearby this part of Scotland’s western shore that you could construct a multi-day whisky itinerary from Troon. Your main base of operations should be the Marine Troon Hotel, where Curtis McConnell, manager of the hotel’s The Seal Bar, likes to mix and shake with scotch. McConnell and his team will often research the origins of a scotch whisky, delving into the distillery’s...

It’s Father’s Day weekend, and earlier in the week we posted a piece that covered a wide range of Father's Day gift choices to suit nearly every dad. We follow here with an array of new whiskeys, many of which could also be in the running—notably a just-released Father’s Day Bourbon Collection from Woodford Reserve. Among other noteworthy new items, Old Forester is offering a new batch of its President’s Choice single barrel bourbon, while Blue Run is back with Flight Series II, featuring six micro-batch whiskeys. Texas whiskey maker Still Austin has a summer release of its Bottled in Bond red corn, and the Penelope Cooper Series has a new release of its bourbon finished in grenache rosé wine casks from the Southern Rhône.
For scotch lovers, the U.S. Open golf championship is in full swing this weekend, and Dewar’s is out with this year’s release of its 19 year old Champion’s Edition...

Sorry, Russell’s Reserve 13 fans; there won’t be a release of that acclaimed expression this year. That’s because master distiller Eddie Russell and the Wild Turkey crew are instead giving you Russell’s Reserve 15 year old. (Spoiler: we got a taste and it’s quite good.)
For the uninitiated, Russell had been blending some 13 year old Russell’s Reserve into its 10 year old expression. “We figured we could keep that [the 13 year old] out and release it on its own,” says Russell. And in 2021, that’s just what Wild Turkey did: launched Russell’s Reserve 13. Initially, it was a one-time release, honoring Eddie Russell, but it was so popular that the company promoted it to an annual limited release starting in 2022. For this year, though, Russell decided to go with a 15 year old, and this will be a one-time-only offering, for reasons we’ll make clear in a second.
How is Russell’s Reserve 15 Year Old Bourbon...

Angel's Envy is the the distllery that launched the finished bourbon phenomenon back in 2011, and now it's gone a different route with its first-ever release of a non-finished bourbon.  And speaking of different routes, Isle of Arran-based Lagg DIstillery launched in 2019 as the peated sibling of the more famous Isle of Arran distillery, Lochranza; now its whiskies are finally reaching U.S. shores, with two expressions hitting the market. Elsewhere, Widow Jane has a new release that features its heirloom corn Baby Jane, while Laws has launched a new collection called the Headwaters Series, and Lost Lantern is back with the second edition of its Summer of Bourbon Series.
Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon 
ABV: 50%
SRP: $55/375 ml
Availability: Distillery exclusive; 12,000 bottles 
From the jump, Angel’s Envy has emphasized cask finishes, with its core bourbon finished in port casks for up to 6...

For American whiskey lovers, there’s no place quite like Louisville, Kentucky. A true whiskey playground, it offers distilleries and tasting rooms galore along Whiskey Row, a historic 12-block stretch in the heart of the city that has been revived over recent years and has come to symbolize Louisville’s whiskey-led renaissance.
The area’s past is rooted in the 1840s, when distilleries, warehouses, distributors, and sales agents all operated right on Main Street until Prohibition fractured the area’s economy. By the mid-20th century all the distillers were gone, and the area was just a shell of its former self. In 2013, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience opened its doors and sparked the revival of Whiskey Row. Today the area has exploded with whiskey makers, and is back bigger than it ever was in terms of brand representation. At last count, some 11 whiskey makers are in residence on Whiskey Row.
Modern-day Whiskey Row is more vibrant than ever, and it...

Knob Creek age statements are returning with a vengeance, as many of us can remember the days of 2009 when Knob Creek ran out of aged juice altogether. Of course, Knob Creek was hardly the only one caught off guard by the whisky boom—the years between 2010 and 2020 were filled with non-age statement releases and other measures as distillers scrambled to meet demand. Now, thankfully, the age-statement whiskey scene appears to be back in full bloom.
Elsewhere Crown Royal is getting into the single malt act, which adds another big distiller to a space, once the province of craft distillers. The space now also includes Jack Daniel’s, and Jim Beam. Can Heaven Hill be far behind?
Lots more is doing, including a high-proof bottling from the rapidly rising Green River Distillery, whose Owensboro, Kentucky distillery received 10,000 visitors last year. Quietly inserted in the most recent new product information from Kentucky’s Frank August was news that Potter Jane...

Back in 19th-century Scotland and Ireland, whisky merchants also sold wine, bringing in popular fortified wines like port and sherry. Casks filled with wine were shipped across the sea from Spain and Portugal, and once they were emptied, the merchants would often refill them with whisky from a nearby distillery rather than discard them and pay for new casks. Eventually, people came to see that a whisky’s maturation in wine casks contributed some very nice flavors. Ireland’s whiskey merchants, famously Dublin’s J.A. Mitchell & Son with its Spot whiskeys, were particularly renowned.
But those days were more about cost expedience, and generally involved full maturation rather than finishing per se. It was in Scotland during the early 1980s that cask finishing as a modern art form was born. In 1982, David Stewart, former malt master at Speyside distillery Balvenie, decided to see what would happen when a whisky aged in American oak casks was transferred to a...

Scotland and Ireland have been heard from this week after a recent stream of new American whiskeys. In the west of Scotland, May is festival time for Campbeltown and Islay, which brings forth a slew of special releases, including Laphroaig Càirdeas, which we cover here.  Also from Scotland comes the very limited  Daftmill, the Lowlands farm distillery whose highly sought-after whiskies are notoriously difficult to find. From Ireland, Teeling is out with the third edition in its Wonders of Wood series—this one aged in Swedish oak—while Bushmills offers a 31 year old as the fourth edition in its Rare Cask series and The Whistler unveils a 21 year old madeira-finished single malt.
From the U.S., Barrell has a new batch, while Colorado distiller Laws has a trio of bottled in bond expressions. NBA superstar Steph Curry, who came out with his first whiskey, Gentleman's Cut, last year, last week...

Across the American whiskey landscape, distilleries are usually headed up by a single person—the master distiller. In Scotland and Japan, there’s a heightened emphasis on blending, begetting more master blenders who either run the show entirely or work in tandem with the master distiller. Either way, there’s usually one person at the top—which makes Michter’s something of an anomaly. The Kentucky distillery harnesses the power of two—master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson, who’ve crafted the distillery’s whiskeys side-by-side for nearly a decade now. 
So how exactly does this partnership work—how does daily decision-making take shape? It all starts with McKee, who handles the first phase of production; he makes the calls on grains and yeast (at least, when it comes to releases outside the core lineup), and shepherds the whiskey through fermentation and distillation. Once...

One of two rare releases this year from the Speyside distllery that’s mainly a suppllier for blends. This one is a reward for patience: After 22 years in oak, it takes its time rising from the glass, with a nose that’s reticent at first. The wait is worth it and, after a moment or two it unfolds with candied hazelnuts and chocolate-covered almonds supported by pear tart, limoncello, and a chorus of orchard fruit. The palate is fruity and bright, with the fruit flavors resting atop oak and the proof providing excellent...

Barrel staves toasted in a smokeless fire pit? That’s a new one for us. In an unusual partnership, Vermont WhistlePig has teamed up with Solo Stove, a maker of portable stainless steel fireplaces for the backyard and beach, to toast its barrel staves. Elsewhere around the whiskey world, Elijah Craig is out with this year’s Batch B, and it’s a bit older than Batch A—closer to the 12 year old level that was the norm before Elijah Craig owner Heaven Hill removed the age statement last year.  Westland Colere has a new edition, and there's a new whiskey in the Woodford Reserve Distillers Series.
 
 
Elijah Craig 11 Year and 2 Month Old Barrel Proof Bourbon (Batch B524)
ABV: 65.3%
SRP: $75
Availability: Nationwide
The newest batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B524, was aged for 11 years and 2 months—featuring slightly older liquid than the previous batch released in January.
Only three batches of...

We recently published our Editor's Choice selections for scotch whisky from the Summer issue's Buying Guide, and here we present the Editor's Choices for rye—along with a few others that scored 90 points and higher. Some are new and others are not, but even the returnees are worth another visit.  Whether sipping neat alongside s'mores, mixing them with a cocktail by the lake, or with a cold rock after a day at the beach, there's plenty to love about rye whiskey. Most ryes are spicy, but there's a lot more variance than some people may think. Those with 95% rye in the mashbill are lip-smacking, spicy favorites, but the ones with more corn or malt in the mix can be sweeter. Across the spectrum, you'll find flavors ranging from fruity, earthy, bakery-like, creamy caramel, and even coffee-laden. Sample some of these high-scoring ryes to find your sweet and spicy spot.
93 Hard Truth Master Distiller’s Reserve Chocolate Malt...

At your local diner, the toast choices at breakfast are usually white, wheat, or rye. But when it comes to barrels, whiskey makers have hundreds of toast options to choose from. “Toasted is a buzzword now,” says COO and co-founder of Penelope Bourbon Daniel Polise. “But people don’t always know how a barrel is toasted or charred—and that they are two very different things.”

Charring—when a new oak barrel is exposed to an open flame—is the process of burning the wood, while toasting lends a lighter touch. Charring is like putting a marshmallow straight into the flame, while toasting is holding it further away for a longer period of time. Variables like temperature, duration, the cooper who made the barrel, and the toasting’s intensity level create a much broader spectrum than charring, which typically has four levels ranging from 15 to 55 seconds of exposure to the flame.

But the two aren’t mutually...

Heaven Hill is out with Batch B of Larceny Barrel Proof, the second of what will be three releases in 2024 for this former Whisky of the Year (2020), while Kentucky Peerless has a new rum cask finished offering. It’s the first venture into rum for the highly acclaimed Peerless, which opened its doors in downtown Louisville back in 2015. The Peerless barrel finishing resumé thus far includes double-oaked and absinthe-finished ryes, as well as a double-oaked bourbon, and now this rum cask expression. Elsewhere, we have a new whiskey from the Georgia-based 13th Colony, and Spanish winemaker Bodegas Jaime, which produces the vermouth brand Turmeon, now has a vermouth-finished whiskey that should be shipping out to the U.S. market in the coming months.
Larceny Barrel Proof Bourbon (Batch B524)
ABV: 62.7%
SRP: $65
Availability: Nationwide
Kentucky distiller Heaven Hill has released the latest batch of its Larceny...

Amrut is one of India’s most acclaimed whisky makers, earning high marks for many of its single malts. Since making its export debut in the UK in 2004, the distillery has released numerous whiskies, awakening the world to India’s whisky potential. The vast majority of India’s whiskies traditionally focused on high volume, affordably priced brands for its local market, but its export releases have scored well above 90 points. 
Now Amrut has teamed up with Bardstown Bourbon Co. on Bardstown’s latest Collaborative Series whiskey, which is a blend of American rye whiskeys finished in Amrut Indian single malt barrels and straight bourbons. It’s the first time Bardstown has partnered with a world whisky in its Collaborative Series.
The new whiskey has five different components in its blend. The biggest share at 43% of the total blend is 9 year old Indiana straight rye with a high corn component (45%) in the mashbill. A 20% share is MGP’s...

Father’s Day is on the near horizon (June 16th), and that means the new whisky releases are coming fast and furious. Rye and bourbon dominate the scene, including Wild Turkey's latest Master's Keep edition and the latest ultra-aged, and ultra-expensive expression from  W.L. Weller, Weller Miillenium. But we were particularly interested to see some big news from Sagamore Spirit. When its waterfront distillery in Baltimore, Maryland opened its doors in 2017, Sagamore was redoubling its mission to restore Maryland’s once-great reputation for rye whiskey. Focused entirely on rye, Sagamore initially used sourced liquid while its whiskey matured, gradually blending in its own make. But now comes the moment we’ve been waiting for: the release of its first 100% own-make, permanent rye edition. Things are actually ahead of schedule, as Sagamore originally projected that its first own-make rye wouldn’t be ready until 2025. Our...

With many of May’s auctions scheduled toward the end of the month, the first half saw a greater number of Japanese whiskies from Karuizawa and Hanyu break $20,000 than scotch, though scotch took the highest bids. Leading the pack was WVA Whisky Auctions with their sale of a bottle of Macallan The Red Collection 50 year old for $39,167 while Scotch Whisky Auctions sold a bottle of Macallan 1950 Exceptional Cask #13 2018 Release for $37,566. With Dalmore eyeing a place at the top of this month’s highest sales for The Dalmore The Luminary No. 2 49 year old at Sotheby’s on May 31st, it will be interesting to see the month’s final tally. Whisky Auctioneer had an impressive line-up in April (see below), but a bottle of Yamazaki 55 year old and a bottle of Macallan 1950 Tales of the Macallan Volume I failed to make their reserves—both have regularly featured in our monthly list of highest hammer prices. Even in the upcoming Sotheby’s auction, Dalmore will...

Wild Turkey has unveiled the latest expression in its Master’s Keep series. Master’s Keep Triumph is a 10 year old rye, making it the oldest age-stated rye the distillery has ever released. This one is priced at $275, the same as last year’s Master’s Keep Voyage expression. As usual, it’s a limited release: it will be available in select markets across the U.S. at retail, and via online presale in early June.
Triumph is the 10th Master’s Keep release since the series began in 2015, and only the second rye. The other Master’s Keep rye expression was Cornerstone, which was released in 2019 and comprised 9 and 11 year old ryes, but was not age-stated. Most Wild Turkey rye is normally aged about 4-6 years.
Since its first year in 2015, Master’s Keep has continued to showcase its luxury side. Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell has never been a fan of ultra-aged whiskeys, preferring the top age to be 8-10 years—older than...

Just six months ago, Buffalo Trace Distillery released a 25 year old bourbon in the Eagle Rare lineup. Now the distillery is introducing another luxurious mark to its ranks with Weller Millennium, an ultra-aged blend of straight wheated bourbon and straight wheat whiskeys.
In the year 2000, right at the start of now-master distiller Harlen Wheatley’s tenure as distillery manager, Buffalo Trace began laying down barrels of wheated bourbon and straight wheat whiskey to give a portion of those barrels a long runway for maturation. It was a move that looked to the past and paid homage to Buffalo Trace’s heritage and W. L. Weller himself.
Weller Millennium is the fruit of those efforts—the 49.5% ABV whiskey includes barrels from four different years, one of which was distilled in 2000, and the other three distilled in 2003, 2005, and 2006, making the youngest whiskey in the blend 18 years old. (The exact breakdown of vintages in the blend is as follows...

The origin of the names of most whiskies is pretty easy to fathom—usually founders’ names like Jim Beam, Jack Daniel, and George Dickel—or recognizable locations like Bardstown or Breckenridge. But sometimes you come across names and have no clue about their provenance. Frankly, if we love the whisky, most of us don’t spend much time thinking about the meaning behind its name. Just for the fun of it, we’ve taken a look at some of whisky’s more unusual names, and precisely what they mean.
Buffalo Trace
The earliest American pioneers forged through the wilderness on paths first trod by buffalo herds—called buffalo traces—and Buffalo Trace Distillery is built on an ancient buffalo crossing along the Kentucky River. The distillery has had a number of name changes in its history. Once owned by E.H. Taylor, it was named O.F.C. in 1870, and then was renamed George T. Stagg Distillery in 1904. It was purchased by Sazerac in 1992 and...

In each issue of Whisky Advocate, the editors select whiskies they consider to be the most impressive, based on score, price, and availability. For the Summer 2024 issue, our Editors’ Choices include representative bottlings from all styles of whisky, and here we present a sneak preview of our scotch selections. Fans of Islay, Speyside, Highland, Island, and blended scotch will find some real delights in these high-scoring drams.
93 points - Bruichladdich 8 year old Islay Barley (2014 Vintage), 50%, $85
This unpeated single malt is elegant, refined, and, often, quite pretty, with a nose full of lemon and lime zest, floral potpourri, slate, and well-worn oak. Peaches and pears, dying wood embers, and a salty ocean breeze bring depth to the palate. Sweetness comes in vanilla beans and lemon pound cake, with a soft and woody finish offering a gentle wave goodbye.
93 points - Glenglassaugh 12 year old, 45%, $60
An age-stated bottling from the maker of last...

In the 1960s and ‘70s, with vodka ascendant and whisky sales tumbling, many brands started trying to make their whiskies more vodka-like, raising the proof off the still and lowering the proof in the bottle to make it lighter, less flavorful and “easier” or “smoother.” Today, with whisky riding a long growth curve, the situation is reversed: spirits that are typically unaged are being barrel-aged. Gins, mezcals, sojus—and yes, even vodkas—are acquiring a brown hue from time spent in a barrel, with an emphasis on new American oak and whisky barrels that impart flavors familiar to whisky drinkers.
Barrel-aged spirits of all sorts are, of course, nothing new. In the 18th and 19th centuries, any spirits that had to be transported were carried in wooden barrels, so some degree of barrel aging was virtually universal even if inadvertent. In the 20th century, Seagram’s Extra Dry gin was “rested” for a month in whiskey barrels as...

Amid the usual fanfare of new product announcements, this week brought word of the retirement of John MacDonald, longtime manager at Balblair Distillery in the Northern Highlands. One of the great citizens of the scotch whisky world, Macdonald has overseen all aspects of whisky making at Balblair, including its recent transition from vintage-dated releases to age statement whiskies. Situated on a hillside overlooking the Dornoch Firth, Balblair is arguably Scotland’s most picturesque distillery and certainly one of its more underrated ones. It’s just up the road from its famous neighbor Glenmorangie, and while it has never achieved the fame of Glenmorangie or its other Northern Highlands neighbor, Dalmore, its whiskies are certainly on equal footing.
As for the new whisky introductions, it’s been a busy week. Things got started with the rollout of the latest Lagavulin Offerman Edition, followed by the inaugural release from Islay distillery Ardnahoe, whose...

The names of whiskey’s founding fathers could double as a dedicated drinker’s favorite bar order: George T. Stagg, Jim Beam, Jack Daniel,—and even ol’ Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle himself can be found on the shelves of the world’s best watering holes. But the women who shaped the history of bourbon, scotch, Irish, and Japanese whisky remain largely unknown to even the most sophisticated collectors.
And yet, without Nettie Harbinson, The Macallan would not be celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. Without Margaret Samuels, Maker’s Mark bottles would not have been hand-dipped in its now-iconic red wax had she not experimented with it at her kitchen table. And where would the entire Japanese whisky industry be without Rita Taketsuru (née Jessie Roberta Cowan), the Scottish-born woman who helped her husband finance his dream to build Nikka Distillery in Hokkaido?
Whisky lovers would do well to consider the...

A quarter of British people don’t do anything spontaneously, and 40 percent of Brits won’t pick up unexpected calls from unknown numbers. Buffalo Trace Distillery wants to see if this data (pulled from a survey it commissioned) is accurate, so it installed a rebranded British phone booth in the Covent Garden neighborhood of London, steps from its Buffalo Trace Distillery London, a new brand center and "immersive experience" where visitors can, taste, buy, and learn all about Buffalo Trace's whiskeys. This weekend only, May 4th and May 5th, passersby who hear the phone ring and pick up the call will be rewarded with a very rare and VIP tasting flight, which will include some of the most coveted Buffalo Trace products. 
Buffalo Trace Distillery London officially opens Monday, May 6th, 2024, but anyone who picks up the call (and a friend) will immediately be whisked inside the place, ahead of the public opening. There, these lucky...

This week came word of a new Dickel Bottled in Bond (BIB) release, a welcome return after its last sighting in September of 2022. These Dickel BIB releases, which first appeared in 2019,  are of a quality that vaulted the once-maligned Dickel back into the American whiskey game. Its price has crept up to $45 from the 2019 level of $35, but folks, this is still an unbelievable deal for a beautifully aged American whiskey. Elsewhere around the  American whiskey scene, Basil Hayden is back with a second release of its Subtle Smoke expression, which uses hickory smoke infused barrels. Barrell has a new mizunara finished bourbon, and  Seattle's Copperworks Distilling Co. is out with three new single malts, albeit in very limited quantities. And from Scotlland, single malt maker Aberfeldy has ventured into Bordeaux for the latest effort in its wine cask-finishing work. Read on.
Aberfeldy Limited Edition 15 Year Old Cadillac White Wine...

When Eagle Rare debuted back in 1975, it was billed as a luxury bourbon. While the whiskey was initially made for Seagram by no other than Charles L. Beam (the longtime Four Roses master distiller), it ended up in the hands of Sazerac by the late '80s. These days, the Buffalo Trace-made Eagle Rare is an entirely affordable item, given that its age remains even as its price tag hovers around $40. Consequently, this has made it more scarce on shelves—its sterling reputation as a reliable older bourbon at a relatively low price has led to a demand that outstrips the distillery’s supply. We explore what makes Eagle Rare 10 year old an enduring fan favorite, and whether you’ll have an easier time finding it in the future.
How is Eagle Rare 10 Year Made? 
The modern day Eagle Rare 10 takes Buffalo Trace’s mashbill #1, which, while kept under lock and key by the distillery, is known to be a low-rye mashbill with 10% or less rye grain...

An all-time record in weekend bets north of $400 million is expected at Churchill Downs for the much-anticipated 150th running of the Kentucky Derby taking place the first weekend in May. But for visiting guests enjoying the “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports,” the number that really matters is the $200 million-plus in trackside improvements for the historic 2024 races.
The main event was a total reworking of the multi-level Paddock building. The new version is more than twice as big, and it’s the epicenter of the racetrack’s action. It combines the pre-race stables where the jockeys and horses suit up with food and drink outlets and several VIP lounges, such as the all-new Woodford Reserve Paddock Club. Considered an ultra-premium lounge, it lets fans get closer to the action than ever before, with tables that look directly at the horse stalls. The Woodford Club now accesses a formerly private rose-covered tunnel connected directly to the Paddock lawn...

Bourbons head up this latest crop of new releases, with Lux Row dropping its annual edition of Blood Oath, marking 10 years for the series. Shelbyville, Kentucky-based farm distiller Jeptha Creed, owned and operated by the dynamic mother-and-daughter team of Joyce and  Autumn Nethery, has a new wheated bourbon in its repertoire, with a mashbill based on Jeptha’s signature Bloody Butcher corn.
Smaller releases follow, including two new bourbons from Bardstown, Kentucky-based independent bottler Vincero Spirits, available in Kentucky only. Portland, Oregon-based Westward Distillery has a new club release, and ultra-aged whisky purveyor The Last Drop has two scotches, ages 40 and 55, released in tiny quantities and at four-figure prices.
Blood Oath Pact 10 Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 49.3%
SRP: $130
Availability: 51,000 bottles; available nationwide in late April
Bardstown, Kentucky-based Lux Row Distillers has released the...

Surrounded by the ghosts of whisky smugglers and illicit distillers, former Glenlivet master distiller Alan Winchester will make single malt whisky at a new distillery when it opens this August. Tucked away in a hidden corner of Speyside, farm buildings dating from 1849 are being transformed into The Cabrach Distillery, a new community-owned distillery, café, and heritage center at Inverharroch Farm. Scotland’s world-famous coppersmith, Forsyth’s Ltd, has made the new copper pot stills, ready for Winchester, The Cabrach’s master of malt, to begin creating new spirit. In anticipation of the opening, The Cabrach is launching The Feering, a series of three Speyside blended malts. A “feering” is a farming term for the first furrow plowed that acts as a guide for those that follow.
In a global limited release of 6,000 bottles, Winchester has blended stock from four nearby distilleries for the first expression, named The Feering Early Harvest, which...

Today's new releases are a limited bunch, kicking off with Bulleit 12 year old rye—a re-release of a 2019 whiskey that sees Bulleit pulling from older MGP barrels. The American contingent is also present with the next installment in Four Gate's Kelvin Collaboration series, a rye mash expression from Old Potrero, as well as a new collaborative whiskey from Quest's End. Over in Scotland, Ardbeg is gearing up for the annual Ardbeg Day with a special finished blend.
Bulleit 12 year old Rye
ABV: 46%
SRP: $55
Availability: Limited 
Bulleit 12 year old Rye isn’t brand new—the whiskey was first introduced in 2019, and discontinued shortly thereafter due to supply. This reprise features the same 95% rye, 5% malted barley mashbill (which is also the mashbill of Bulleit’s flagship rye), and like its predecessor, it too was distilled at MGP Distillery in Indiana. 
The whiskey is a minimum of 12 years old, but some of the...

 
Chattanooga Founder’s 12th Anniversary Blend of Straight Whiskeys
ABV: 50%
MSRP: $60
Availability: Available at the Experimental Distillery starting April 26th, with a retail and online rollout to follow next month
Chattanooga Whiskey was a key player in the revitalization of Tennessee’s whiskey scene. When the distillery was founded in 2011, distillation was not permitted in Chattanooga—the result of a 1909 law that gutted most of Tennessee’s whiskey production. Founders Tim Piersant and Joe Ledbetter sourced liquid while they worked with lawmakers to lift the ban. Their campaign lasted two years but succeeded in the end, and the two began distilling their own bourbon in March 2015; each year, Chattanooga commemorates its history with a blended whiskey called Founder’s Blend. The newest iteration, 12th Anniversary, has just been announced.
The Founder’s series is somewhat unusual because each year the blend is...

Every April 22nd, millions around the world recognize Earth Day, a celebration first held in 1970 to raise awareness and support for the planet’s precious natural resources. In the world of whisky, there are some distillers who have to keep a closer eye on the earth around them than others—and that’s because they’re entirely grain to glass.
What exactly does grain-to-glass distilling entail? For the most part, it’s exactly as it sounds—the distillery handles every part of production, starting with the very grains the whisky is made from. While a few go as far as to grow the grains themselves, more grain-to-glass distillers purchase some or all of their grain from farms in spitting distance of their stills. Then, those grains are distilled, and the whiskey is matured and bottled on-site. Voila! Grain-to-glass. 
In celebration of Earth Day, we’ve rounded up a number of true grain-to-glass distilleries that take care of their locales...

Established in 2017, Japan’s Kaikyō Distillery is still waiting for the whisky for its Hatozaki brand to mature. In the meantime, Kaikyō has relied on sourced whisky—from Japan but also from other countries—to craft its expressions, blending and finishing them in Japanese native woods.
The initial Hatozaki releases were Finest Blended and a blended malt whisky called Small Batch Pure Malt. The newest limited release, Hatozaki Omakase Third Edition, is a rye sourced from the United States.  Kaikyō purchased aged barrels of American rye whiskeys from distilleries in two states. After being blended together, the liquid was re-barreled in new mizunara casks for an undisclosed period of time and then bottled at 42% ABV. 
The new Hatozaki expression is noteworthy because it uses rye as a base. Few Japanese producers have worked with rye in the past—of note, Hakushu released a 100% rye single grain whisky under the Essence of Suntory banner in...

It's not quite ready to roll, but, there's an upcoming new release of an annual expression that's always an occasion for its distillery and its fans. Lady Bird, made by Texas distiller Garrison Brothers, is a honey-infused, cognac-finished bourbon made from a mashbill of 75% corn, 15% soft winter red wheat, and 10% barley. It’s released once a year at the distillery in the town of Hye, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, west of Austin, and this year’s release date has just been revealed as May 11. Some 7,002 bottles of Lady Bird’s 2024 edition are being made available: the first 1,000 bottles will be sold on May 11 at the distillery, and the remainder will be released at retail nationwide. Lady Bird is bottled at 57% ABV and carries a retail price of $180. The waiting line at the distillery on selling day starts at around 5 a.m. and usually stretches for a couple of miles. In the meantime, there are plenty of new releases here to...

Many drinkers are quick to dismiss celebrity-backed whiskies, but one label that has escaped the stigma is heavy metal band Metallica’s Blackened Whiskey. The first Blackened release, a blend of straight whiskeys finished in “black brandy” casks, came in September 2018. It was the last major undertaking of renowned master distiller Dave Pickerell, who would pass away mere months after its debut. After his passing, the mantle of master distiller was passed down to Rob Dietrich, who previously worked on both Tincup and Stranahan’s. 
While the label’s more recent releases have scored above 91, the crown jewel of the Blackened portfolio is Rye the Lightning. Its name was a cheeky riff on “Ride the Lightning,” one of Metallica’s most popular albums. Dietrich, leaning on the cask finishing experience he picked up during his days at Stranahan’s, composed a blend of 5–8 year old rye whiskey that was finished in both rum...

Bourye, High West’s blend of bourbon and rye whiskeys, was once a national release, but that ended in 2019 as the distillery ran low on its aged sourced stock. (It also had a three-year hiatus from 2012 to 2015 after its original 2009 launch, as the distillery tinkered with the blend.) Since then, Bourye—when available—has been limited to Utah, and with the latest release, it narrows that field even further, becoming a distillery exclusive. 
This year’s Bourye is a blend of straight rye and straight bourbon whiskeys aged for a minimum of 10 years. Two ryes are in the blend; one is sourced from MGP and uses a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley, and the other is own-make from High West’s Wanship distillery that’s made from 80% rye and 20% malted rye. As for the bourbons in the blend, one comes from MGP and uses a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, and the second is sourced from Kentucky and made from a mashbill of...

When Pinhook released a 4 year old bourbon as the first iteration of the Vertical Series in 2019, it was something of an anomaly—tracking the same sourced whiskey at different ages, with only the ABV varying (though it always hovers at high proof, given that it's bottled at cask strength). Such an experiment into maturation hadn’t been carried out so intentionally before the inception of the Vertical Series. The first rye in the Vertical Series debuted in 2020 and was a 4 year old bottled at 46.5% ABV; now in the series’ fourth annual release, the 8 year old rye is out.
Made from 95% rye and 5% malted barley, Pinhook’s 8 year old, MGP-sourced rye, “Tiz Rye Time,” builds on the proof of its 2023 predecessor (which came in at 52.56% ABV), clocking in at a cask strength of 54.2% ABV. While the Pinhook production team has generally found that the proof will increase as age does, this hasn’t always been the case with the Rye Vertical...

Cigar and whisky lovers descended upon the Sunshine State over the weekend for the fourth annual Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest, held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa. This marked the first time the event took place in Tampa (also known as Cigar City), where the historic Ybor City neighborhood—once hailed as the “Cigar Capital of the World”—is a hub for hand-rolled cigars, making it a fitting locale.
The evening’s grand tasting commenced at 5:30 p.m. with a packed VIP hour, where throngs of ticket holders were treated to an exclusive array of whiskies and cigars. VIP drams included limited American whiskeys, among them Bardstown Bourbon Co. Collaborative Series with Foursquare Rum, Green River Distilling Co. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Single Barrel, George Dickel x Leopold Brothers Collaboration Rye, and a selection of bourbons and ryes from Middle West Spirits, as well as import offerings such as Fuji Whisky 50th Anniversary...

With its lush fruit and layered spices, no other spirit elevates the moment quite like a bottle of whiskey. Whether entertaining guests, savoring a private sip, or searching for that perfect collectable bottle, these expressions from around the world are sure to please even the most discerning aficionados. Our Top Shelf spirits offer an expression for every mood and moment, from a blended Scotch, to a cask-strength single malt, to an ocean-aged bourbon. You’ll find quality in every bottle. 
Jefferson’s Ocean Aged At Sea
Taking inspiration from the past, barrels of straight bourbon travel round the world on an ocean voyage. Heat, humidity and the gentle rocking of the sea hyper-age the whiskey, imparting a rich, dark hue and lush notes of caramelized sugar, honeyed fruit and a subtle brininess. 
Longmorn 22 Year Old, 2023 Annual Release
This single malt Speyside Scotch expands on the complexity of the region’s signature floral-citrus style...

We’ve recently received several announcements from smaller players whose latest expressions are set to hit shelves in the coming weeks. 15 Stars has a new First West bottling, but this one isn’t a rye; Hard Truth is releasing a collaborative blended whiskey which uses its new bourbon as a component; and Jos. A Magnus has debuted the fourth iteration of its exclusive Murray Hill Special Release Blend. 
15 Stars First West Bourbon 
The father-son-operated 15 Stars was born and bred in 2019 to pay homage to Kentucky’s history as a mecca for whiskey production. The blending house, which makes its blends with help from Bardstown Bourbon Co., launched a sherry cask-finished bourbon in September that earned a score of 91 points. A few weeks ago, 15 Stars released new batches of First West rye and Private Stock bourbon. Now, it’s bringing another new First West whiskey to market—but this time, it’s a bourbon. 
First West...

Booker’s has released its first batch of 2024. Called Springfield Batch, it’s named for a small town in central Kentucky where Booker Noe was born and raised. The whiskey’s age is 7 years, 7 months, and 8 days, and it was matured entirely in new oak barrels and bottled at 62% ABV.
Booker’s Springfield Batch carries a suggested retail price of $90, the same price as last year’s releases. While pricing on Booker’s has crept up a bit from the $70-$75 mark back in 2018, for example, it has done a decent job of holding the line on price, and it remains one of American whiskey’s best price/value propositions.
Springfield Batch is composed of whiskeys with five different production dates, whose barrels were all aged at Beam’s Clermont campus, in four different warehouses. The barrels were pulled from the following Clermont locations:

7% from the 4th floor of 9-story warehouse H
17% from 5th floor of 9-story warehouse...

Michter’s has a handful of readily available releases—its non-age statement US*1 straight bourbon and rye, American, and sour mash whiskeys are staples on shelves, regularly ripe for the taking. However, that’s decidedly not the case with its aged whiskeys—currently encompassing 10, 20, and 25 year old bourbon and rye, as well as the Celebration blend—which are infrequently released and, when they do come out, they are highly limited. The 10 year old rye made its reappearance earlier this year and now, Michter’s 10 year old bourbon has followed suit.
The latest edition of Michter’s 10 year old bourbon is bottled at 47.2% ABV, and listed at $185 a bottle. As with previous releases, this one was strictly vetted by master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson; in years where there was no 10 year old bourbon, McKee and Wilson had deemed the chosen barrels not yet ready for release. The new whiskey is rolling out now...

It started as a warehouse joke. “Everyone does a cigar batch or a cigar blend,” says Macaulay Minton, president and chief alchemist at Dark Arts Whiskey House in Lexington, Kentucky. “I’m a cannabis consumer, so I said, ‘Let’s make a blunt blend.’” Minton’s crew chuckled, then got serious, yanking some barrels for a blend of straight rye whiskeys that would be ideal to pair with marijuana.
Dark Arts Blunt Blend is the first time anyone’s created a whiskey made to pair with marijuana. “There’s a lot of beer-centric cannabis accompaniments or cigar and whiskey pairings, but no whiskey made with cannabis in mind,” says Minton. (To be clear: there’s no marijuana in this whiskey.)
“I wanted this to be perfect whiskey to complement weed smoking,” says Minton, “We tried some blends, but we were most drawn to the rye because of the herbaceousness and spice quality,” he says...

Meikle Tòir (pronounced mee-kuhl tor) is a new range of 5 year old peated Speyside single malts produced at Glenallachie Distillery by master distiller Billy Walker. Walker began producing peated spirit at Glenallachie in 2018, the first time this had been attempted since the distillery was founded in 1967. Meikle Tòir means “the big pursuit,” and in his quest of peated perfection, Walker uses mainland peat, a lengthy fermentation of 160 hours, and a meticulous selection of high-quality casks to create this sweet, smoky style. The malt in each small batch expression was peated to 35 phenol parts per million (ppm), except The Turbo 2023 Edition, which is the spirit from the “heart of the heart” of the distillate, and was made using malt peated to 71 ppm.
93 points - Meikle Tòir The Sherry One 5 year old, 48%, $75
Chocolate brownie, smoked orange disc, ground cumin, mild smoked paprika, gentle peat smoke, and a dusting of cocoa on...

Ian Urquhart, 76, a member of the third generation of the Urquhart family to run the Scottish independent bottler and whisky distiller Gordon & MacPhail, passed away peacefully in Elgin on March 15th 2024.
Ian followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps into the family business, which began as a grocer’s shop in Elgin in 1895. He started by helping out in the shop at 12 years old during school vacation, and later gained experience in the wine and spirits trade at Harrods, working in London and France, before joining Gordon & MacPhail in 1967. He was the eldest son of Mr. George Urquhart who passed away in 2001 and is remembered as a pioneer of single malt scotch whisky—even in the 1960s he would impart his vision for aging scotch whiskies longer than anyone else. Ian’s younger siblings, Rosemary Rankin (née Urquhart), the late David Urquhart, and Michael Urquhart would also take up positions with the business. Ian was the...

All aspects of distillation and maturation dictate a whiskey's flavor. The most talked about flavor contributors are mashbills, barrel toast and char, and length of maturation. An often overlooked aspect of a whiskey's flavor is its barrel entry proof. Michter's new make enters the barrel at a lower proof than most other distillers employ; this can yield richer, smoother whiskeys with softer, sweeter, yet also more robust flavors.
 
 

Distillers at A. Smith Bowman, a Sazerac-owned facility in Virginia, are experimenting with a limited release series of oak-matured whiskeys. The great news: its first offering, Abraham Bowman French Oak, is positively delicious. The less great news: it’s only available by entering a lottery and winners have to pick up the bottle in person at the Virginia distillery. Those winners willing to make the journey won’t mind the effort. They’ll be too busy enjoying dram after dram of this rare treat. Here’s what to know about this new release.
What’s Abraham Bowman Oak Series? 
It’s a new program from the A. Smith Bowman distillery, one that aims at moving the boundaries on American whiskey maturation and methodologies, while staying true to the original distillation principles of founder Abraham Bowman, the great-grandfather of the distillery’s founder, Abram Smith Bowman. 
The Oak Series nests under the umbrella of...

If you’re catching a flight from Dublin or Cork, there’s a new Travel Retail-exclusive single pot still Irish whiskey to pick up in Duty Free. Redbreast Cuatro Barriles Edition (Spanish for four barrels) is the latest in the Redbreast Iberian Series.  Launched in 2021, the Iberian Series highlights the connection between Redbreast Irish whiskey and the coopers and winemakers of the Iberian Peninsula. The new expression made at Midleton Distillery is bottled at 46% ABV and is priced at €108 (approximately $117). It will be a permanent bottling in the line-up.
Dave McCabe, recently appointed as master blender at Irish Distillers, married stocks of single pot still Irish whiskey matured in Spanish oloroso sherry butts, virgin European oak casks, American oak bourbon barrels, and Portuguese tawny port hogsheads. That’s a lot to unpack for travelers dashing to the gate to catch a flight, so to save you the trouble, we’ve checked the new whiskey’s...

In 2016 MGP pivoted toward the creation and acquisition of its own whiskey labels. The move was slow at first, but MGP struck gold in early 2021 with the $475 million acquisition of Luxco. Last year, it made another key acquisition with the purchase of Penelope Bourbon. Both moves added to a healthy and growing list of brands that accounted for nearly $254 million in sales last year. This week MGP announced two new releases: a second batch of Penelope Rio and a new 6 year old wheated bourbon from Rebel on the way.  
Penelope Rio Bourbon 2024
The first batch of Rio holds a somewhat interesting place in Penelope Bourbon’s history. Unlike many of MGP’s other high-profile brands, the ever-popular Penelope wasn’t brought over as part of the 2021 Luxco sale. It’s one of the newer faces in the MGP lineup, only having been a part of the group for under a year. Rio was the first Penelope bourbon to be released after its acquisition, with its...

With the departure of founder John Glaser, it’s the dawn of a new era at Compass Box. Celestial, the first new Compass Box release since the Glaser news, is the final installment in the Extinct Blends Quartet, a four-part series of modern recreations of classic scotch blends. The new expression is bottled at 50% ABV in a limited edition global release of 5,532 bottles, which will go on sale on April 4th for $375.
While not going as far as naming the brand that inspired the blend, Compass Box has dropped a series of enigmatic clues and hints with a knowing wink, such as the equine theme of this release, strong links to a Whisky Baron and distilleries on Islay and Speyside, and label artwork depicting the celestial body of Pegasus. To create Celestial, Compass Box opened an original bottling of the blend from the 1960s, discovering a peaty whisky with a profile of floral, sweet, and gingerbread notes behind the chalky-colored stallion on the label. James Saxon devised the...

Spring officially arrived this week—and what better way to ring in the season than a whisky that’s accented with tropical flavors? Rum cask-finished whiskies aren’t new, but recently they’ve been taking their share of the cask-finishing spotlight, and now, Limestone Branch Distillery has joined the conversation with a rum cask finish for its Yellowstone bourbon. 
Part of Yellowstone’s Special Finishes Collection, this new release is made with the label’s standard bourbon mashbill—75% white heirloom corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley—and aged 4 years in new charred oak before being moved to rum barrels. Those barrels are sourced from an undisclosed distillery in Cuba, which distills its rum from molasses. After nine weeks in rum barrels, the bourbon takes on new flavors: there’s plenty of tropicality, poached pear, gingerbread, tobacco, toasted marshmallow, and brown sugar sweetness, making for a...

Fall is in full swing, and so are distilleries, with all manner of releases coming out practically by the minute. In a burst of good news for Pappy fans, the 2022 Van Winkle lineup has been announced, and along with it the revelation that more bottles than usual are available this year. Does that mean it'll be easier to get your hands on one ahead of the holiday season, be it for yourself or a loved one? Not necessarily, but here's to staying optimistic.As mentioned, the Van Winkle whiskeys are hardly the only specialty releases to debut this week. There are two new whiskies from Hibiki—a cherrywood-finished blend and a 30 year old whisky—both of which are very limited in nature. Knob Creek, meanwhile, has introduced a rarity of its own, an 18 year old bourbon that marks its oldest release to date. From Scotland, Glendronach has debuted Grandeur Batch 11—aged for 28 years—and there are three new ultra-limited, ultra-aged bottlings from the Gordon &...

While most of the new whisky releases have been dominated by bourbon and scotch, fans of Irish whiskey will be happy to hear that Ireland is also in the mix. Recent releases include two new bottlings from Ireland, both featuring an Italian wine cask finish. The legendary Spot whiskey label has introduced a new 13 year old single pot still into its Gold Spot lineup. The Quiet Man has a new aged single malt, which was finished using Sicilian marsala casks. 

Gold Spot The Generations Edition
At the peak of the Victorian whiskey boom, Dublin bonded whiskey seller Mitchell & Son originated a system of labeling casks with a daub of paint, each painted “spot” identifying the whiskey’s age. The system evolved into a brand name—the Spot whiskeys— that’s famous in Irish whiskey today. While the entire Spot family has always scored well, its wine cask-finished expressions—like Quails’ Gate and Chateau...

This St. Patrick's Day celebrate with a pour of Irish whiskey or maybe a flight, perhaps a pint of Guinness, or might we suggest elevating your festivities with an Irish whiskey cocktail?
“Lighter, blended, and younger-aged whiskeys, with their smooth and approachable profiles, effortlessly blend with fruity and herbal notes,” says Aaron Wells, bar director at Chicago's Celeste. Try them in brighter cocktails, he suggests, where you'll appreciate the whiskey's nuanced flavors.
The Apple Drop is a tribute to the Irish countryside, where the fruit is grown. Smooth Irish whiskey meets the refreshing embrace of Granny Smith apples, while lemon adds a zing of citrus. Topping with foam bitters leads to a velvety mouthfeel. Sláinte!
Apple Drop

1 1/2 oz. Bushmills Original (or other blended Irish)
2 oz. Granny Smith apple juice
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup
3 dashes Fee Brothers foam bitters
Fresh apple slices for...

March is shaping up to be a buoyant month in the secondary market, with Scotch Whisky Auctions, Whisky Auctioneer, and Sotheby’s, Hong Kong already posting strong results. Today sees the action switch back to New York, where Sotheby’s is holding its Whisky & Whiskey sale that includes bottles from the Richard Gooding collection. If that name rings a bell, it will be for The Perfect Collection. Whisky Auctioneer handled the 3,900 bottle Richard Gooding Collection split across two sales in 2020, which raised a combined hammer price of $9.1 million. Notably, the sale also generated Whisky Auctioneer’s first million-dollar Macallan bottle. There’s no million-dollar bottle on the block at Sotheby’s Whisky & Whisky sale, but we do expect bottles such as Macallan in Lalique 50 year old, other scotch rarities, and American whiskeys to generate a number of the month’s highest hammer prices.
Whisky Auctioneer February 2024 Auction
Auction...

Joseph Magliocco’s earliest link to Michter’s came in the late 1970s, when he took his very first sales job at his family’s wine and spirits business. Michter’s, then a Pennsylvania brand with roots stretching back to 1753, had released mini gold-plated King Tut decanters of its pot still sour mash whiskey—at the time, much of the country was captivated by the “Treasures of Tutankhamen” traveling exhibit, which drew huge crowds. The decanters didn’t have the same sort of pull; in fact, they were such flops that Magliocco was tasked with getting them out of the company’s warehouses by any means necessary. As he worked to clear out the Michter’s decanters, however, he also developed an affinity for and deep understanding of the brand.
Fast forward to 1995, when Magliocco was at the helm of a new family business, Chatham Imports, and was looking for a brand to jumpstart the budding company’s revenue stream...

Toasted barrel whiskeys have been around in some shape or form since 2014 when Michter’s pioneered the style with its US*1 bourbon. While incidental toasting occurs during the charring process, toasting barrels more deeply before charring is less common, as it’s an extra step that adds cost and time. In recent years, however, more distilleries have experimented with toast levels, and Kentucky Peerless is the latest to join the ranks with its new Toasted Bourbon.
Peerless Toasted Bourbon is aged in two separate oak barrels, spending the first phase of maturation in the distillery’s standard, char level 3 barrel before being finished in a medium-toast barrel (a barrel that's toasted for about an hour, at a lower level heat than a charred counterpart). While the first barrel adds flavors of caramel, brown sugar, and toffee, the toasted barrel imparts honey, vanilla, toasted spice, and chocolate notes. According to head taster John Waddell...

The 15 Stars whiskey label was founded in the summer of 2019 by father and son entrepreneurs Rick and Ricky Johnson, who blended sourced whiskey in their own kitchen. The first expression wouldn’t be released until several years later, making its debut in April 2022. The Johnsons still follow that framework today, creating 15 Stars’s New Private Stock bourbon and First West rye batches from barrel samples in their kitchen, but these days they have extra help from Bardstown Bourbon Co. which physically blends the requested barrels and bottles each expression. 
The label was founded to pay tribute to Kentucky’s distilling history, with the name referencing Kentucky being the 15th state admitted into the Union. Its offerings have won several awards and scored well with our tasting panel, with Triple Cask taking home an impressive 93-point rating. 15 Stars is kicking off the year by introducing new batches of two fan-favorite expressions: Private Stock...

The Old Fashioned is one of America's oldest cocktails, and Ireland has never really entered into its origin story. But there is actually an Irish connection of sorts, starting with James E. Pepper, the distinguished 19th-century bourbon figure whose eponymous distillery has been restored in the modern era. Pepper is often credited with introducing the Old Fashioned to New York City at the Waldorf Hotel bar in the late 19th century. As It happens, Pepper was of Irish origin—his maternal grandmother was an O'Bannon, whose family was originally from Tipperary. Though some dispute Pepper’s role in the rise of the Old Fashioned, we share it in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, along with a recipe to make an Old Fashioned with an Irish twist.
It starts with an aged Irish whiskey. “Aged and cask-aged Irish whiskeys offer a robust backbone that withstands the intensity of bitters and other sharper ingredients, creating an exciting and...

With roughly 4,000 Irish pubs to be found across the country, there are plenty of options for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day—and even at a regular old pub, you’re likely to be able to get a shot of Jameson and a pint of Guinness. But for something a little more special, there’s a handful of Irish bars with expansive Irish whiskey selections sure to please even the most particular of connoisseurs. Here are five spots worth a visit, especially if you’re looking to honor St. Patrick this month.
An Sibin, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The newest bar on the list, An Sibin opened in September 2022 and is a cross between an Irish pub and an American speakeasy, with modern and classic cocktails offered alongside an impressive selection of 130-145 whiskies, depending on availability, 30-40 of which are Irish, and one of the best pours of Guinness in the Boston area. Irish whiskey selections range from big names like Bushmills ($10/2 oz.) and Tullamore D.E.W...

Whether you’re a fan of neat bourbon or scotch on the rocks, there’s a great whiskey (or whisky) cocktail you’ll love. We’ve got variations on classics including the Old Fashioned, Sazarac, Manhattan, Irish Coffee, this spin on the Rob Roy, and more, plus newer cocktails, like this Paper Plane makeover. 
Whether your whiskey preference is bourbon, rye, Irish, scotch, Japanese, or a world whisky, there’s something on our list for every palate. There are plenty of options for refreshing summer whisky drinks as well as fireside sippers and cocktails that are perfect for the holidays or winter months when you want to warm up with whiskey. Looking for special occasion whiskies? We have you covered with suggestions for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and beyond. Or check out these entertaining with whisky ideas.
Our list spans the flavor gamut, too, with options for those who like cocktails sweet or floral to spicy and complex...

We firmly subscribe to the notion that Irish whiskey should be consumed all year round and not just one day a year, so with St. Patrick's Day in the rearview mirror, we figured your home Irish whiskey selection might need a bit of restocking. So here’s our whiskey version of Johnny Cash’s “Forty Shades of Green”—in the shape of 40 wallet-friendly Irish whiskeys.
The 40 Best Irish Whiskeys Under $50
94 Limavady Single Barrel, 46%. $50
This butterscotch and candied peel-tasting single malt made our Top 20.
93 Kilbeggan Single Pot Still, 43%, $45
Inspired by an old Locke family recipe, this has citrus, stone fruit, and fizzing pot still spices.
92 Knappogue Castle 12 year old, 40%, $42
This easy sipping single malt has notes of green apple, lemon meringue pie, and vanilla custard.
92 The Legendary Dark Silkie, $46, $44
Peppery barbecued meat, brown sugar, and orchard fruits on this peated blend.
92 The...

The Speyside community of Dufftown has about 1,600 inhabitants, and boasts a total of six active distilleries within its confines—Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Mortlach, Kininvie, Glendullan, and Dufftown.  It’s somewhat humorously known for having the highest per capita GDP in the UK, thanks to its small population base and the millions of liters its distilleries produce every year.
Mortlach is the elder statesman among those distilleries, having been founded in 1823. Known as the Beast of Dufftown, its whisky is favored for its bold, meaty flavors that aren’t typical of the generally mild Speyside malts. Its production process is a complicated one—all six of its stills are a different size, and some of the whisky is distilled three times and some of it is double distilled, resulting in the unusual average of being distilled 2.81 times. For all its idiosyncracies, Mortlach is among the least widely known of the Dufftown single malts, largely...

Kentucky distiller Heaven Hill is no stranger to weaving wheat into its mashbills, with its wheated bourbons Old Fitzgerald and Larceny garnering large and loyal followings. Both whiskeys have a long history of impressive scores and have appeared on our Top 20 list, with Larceny Barrel Proof B520 winning Whisky of the Year honor in 2020. Heaven Hill also makes wheat whiskeys—which by rule must have at least 51% wheat in the mashbill, as opposed to wheated bourbons where wheat is simply a high component. Parker’s Heritage, the annual release in honor of late distiller Parker Beam that began in 2007, counts two wheat whiskeys in the series. But Heaven Hill’s signature wheat whiskey is Bernheim Original—a quiet one in a star-studded portfolio, but a whiskey you should get to know.
Introduced in 2005, Bernheim Original became the first widely available wheat whiskey since pre-Prohibition days.  An early version of a Bernheim Barrel Proof was offered as...

No matter the style of gin (and there are a few), you can always count on a bounty of botanicals, as the spirit harnesses some of the most potent and arresting flavors nature has to offer. Generally speaking, gin can be distilled from any raw material; from rye, wheat, barley, or corn, to potatoes or grapes. Genever, the oldest style of gin, is an exception to this rule, as it must be made from grain. The majority of gins are dry and juniper-forward—think London Dry as the pinnacle of this style—and they’re augmented by the likes of citrus peel, coriander, and countless other botanicals in bespoke blends. Old Tom gins are outliers in this respect, as unlike their dry and herbaceous counterparts, they’re notably sweet, be it from the addition of sweeteners or barrel aging. Of note: Old Tom is the only style that can be called “barrel-aged” according to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). All other gin exists only as an unaged...

When New Riff Distilling opened its doors in 2014, it set out with a commitment to release only Bottled-in-Bond whiskey, patiently waiting for its liquid to age in the warehouse for the requisite 4 years and never sourcing any liquid in the interim. That strategic decision has paid off handsomely, as this mid-sized northern Kentucky distiller has rung up a slew of 90+ ratings in the years since its first release in 2018. 
Now New Riff has taken things up a notch with its first 8 year old expression. It’s the flagship sour mash high-rye bourbon (65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley), bottled at 50% ABV and non-chill filtered like all New Riff expressions. This one isn’t a bottled in bond, however, because it uses a blend of bourbons made in two distilling seasons. (To be designated bottled in bond, a whiskey must be produced in one distilling season, among other requirements as outlined here.)
From the start, New Riff has set aside 20%-30% of its...

Being a Michter’s fan is certainly rewarding, as its consistently high ratings have shown over the years. But fandom is not without its frustrations, because so many Michter’s whiskeys are limited expressions that get snapped up quickly and can be off the shelves for years at a time. For the very popular Michter’s US*1 Barrel Strength Rye, the last release was in early 2022, and now it returns after a two-year hiatus.
Priced at $110, this is a single barrel product, an area where Michter’s has excelled. The nature of single barrel expressions means that the ABV varies by barrel,  but here it generally hovers at around 55.1%, slightly lower than the 55.8% in the 2022 release. Like other Michter’s whiskeys, the distillate entered the barrel at 103 proof, far lower than the permissible 125 proof. Michter’s has long been a proponent of lower entry proof, with founder Joseph Magliocco arguing that it creates a smoother, more complex...

Macallan’s second Home Collection single malt, River Spey, was inspired by the namesake river that flows through the heart of the distillery’s Easter Elchies estate in Speyside. The River Spey has always had importance to Macallan; distillery founder Alexander Reid established the distillery on a 1.5-mile stretch of the River Spey in 1824.
The new whisky is aged in a combination of sherry casks made from both European and American oak, as well as re-fill bourbon casks. Bottled at 44.8% ABV, the single malt is available now for pre-sale ($487), exclusively at The Macallan e-boutique; it’s expected to ship on March 14th. While the whisky itself is new to Macallan, another major draw of this release is the set of limited-edition giclée art prints by artist Michelle Lucking that accompany it. Lucking used watercolors to create a suite of six original paintings of the River Spey in total, though only three are included in the art folio that comes with the...

With St. Patrick’s Day nearly upon us, Irish whiskey will be front and center. It’s a most versatile and exciting spirit, but if your experience with Irish whiskey is limited to downing shots once a year dressed in a green velvet leprechaun’s hat, then we’ve got three routes to help you engage with Irish whiskey on a more rewarding level. First, our neat pour list contains six whiskeys that are worth getting to know better as they represent some of the most flavorsome whiskeys from Ireland right now. Second, for the make-at-home cocktail enthusiast, we pick six bottles to play with at home, each with a different style of Irish whiskey. With dozens of cocktail recipes online for inspiration, we want to be less prescriptive and encourage you to make a cocktail you love using an Irish whiskey and then make it again with a different pick to show you how whisky flavor influences the finished cocktail. Finally, Irish whiskey and food is a match made in heaven, so we...

In recent years, there’s been a flood of celebrity-backed spirits brands. Actor Matthew Lillard—best known for his roles as Stu Macher in “Scream” and Shaggy in “Scooby-Doo”—and screenwriter Justin Ware joined that party later in the year, jumping in with Quest’s End, a whiskey label that takes many cues from the fantasy genre and tabletop roleplaying games. The pair had help from Blue Run Spirits co-founder Tim Sparapani, who serves in an advisory role, and TX Whiskey alum Alé Ochoa, who was picked as master blender. 
The initial release, Paladin, was a 50% ABV blend of sourced bourbons that was released online in early October. The debut came with the promise of more expressions, and Quest’s End is making good on that pledge with its second release: Rogue. 
Quest’s End doesn’t disclose information about its whiskeys, but at a glance, Rogue is nearly identical to its predecessor Paladin. Both...

No matter how well-acquainted you are with our beloved spirit, odds are that you’ve noticed a slight difference in how your favorite brands style their labels. Some distillers call their creations “whiskey,” while others eschew the “e” in favor of “whisky.” This slight difference in spelling has created one of those historical oddities that makes the water of life such a colorful and fascinating subject. As always seems to be the case with whisky, various events throughout generations have created the divide. 
To help shed some light on the whisky-versus-whiskey question, we’ve unpacked the story in its various parts. Much of it comes down to where the liquid was made, but again, despite all the great efforts to codify and regulate this great drink, we often find some exceptions to the rules.
Countries That Use Whisky

Canada
Japan
Scotland
World

Countries That Use...

Ask Chris Stapleton about his palate and the country icon laughs. “I’m not one of those folks who can pick out distinct flavors,” he says. “I’ve got a “Gladiator” approach: thumbs up or down. I don’t consider myself a whiskey expert—other than in consumption.”
The “Tennessee Whiskey” singer always issues a thumbs up to Buffalo Trace Distillery products, particularly E.H. Taylor. “Someone brought a bottle into the studio in 2013 and I loved it,” Stapleton tells us during a video chat from a Florida vacation. “I find something I like and stick to it. [E.H. Taylor] is where I’ve lived for a long time.” Present for every recording session of any record he’s made, E.H. Taylor may well be a de facto member of Stapleton’s band.
Now E.H. Taylor must battle for studio space. Stapleton’s Traveller Whiskey is here.
What is Traveller Whiskey and How is it...

February’s auction stars were contemporary scotch whisky releases, with some rare collectible vintage bottlings from Samaroli, Hanyu, and Van Winkle. While Macallan took 6 of the top 10 slots, there were notable entries from Speyside distilleries Glenfarclas and Glenfiddich, which don’t often make our monthly list. Glenfiddich earned a place on February’s list with its 50 year old, and this fares well among the prices paid for Glenfiddich 50 year old editions from earlier vintages, though almost half the suggested retail price of $50,000. The Glenfarclas Pagoda bottles were originally released in 2020, and these 1.5-liter decanters represented the oldest-ever bottlings from the distillery at the time. Only 62 decanters of Glenfarclas Ruby Reserve 1954 62 year old were released, while only 45 decanters of Sapphire Reserve 1953 63 year old. Look closely at the age statements of these precious gems, as Glenfarclas decorated the numbers with real rubies and...

Spring is nearly upon us and that means one of the biggest bourbon country events of the year is also not far off: the Kentucky Derby. There are a number of whiskey brands with Kentucky Derby-related releases and sponsorships (generally from Brown-Forman), but Heaven Hill is first out of the gate this year with a limited-edition Evan Williams bourbon.
Evan Williams has served as an official sponsor of the Kentucky Derby Festival for eight straight years. Not to be confused with the Derby itself, the festival is a celebratory string of events held in the month leading up to the big race on May 4, all taking place in Louisville. This new bourbon is the latest release of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, Heaven Hill’s only vintage-dated single barrel in its roster of whiskeys. It was distilled in 2016 and bottled at 60.5% ABV. 
Unique to the Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage is the fact that it’s hand-bottled and wax-sealed; this Kentucky Derby...

When Woodford Reserve Double Oaked splashed onto the scene in 2012, it was somewhat of an anomaly: Not only was cask finishing not yet in its frenetic heyday, but doubling down and finishing bourbon in secondary new oak was practically unheard of, with but one exception—Tennessee’s Prichard’s Distillery released a Double Barreled bourbon in 2002, but that was a small, limited expression. 
Double Oaked is an amber-hued whiskey that has no age statement, which is typical for Woodford—none of its whiskeys have age statements, as they’re batched together from barrels of different ages, warehouses, warehouse locations, and flavor profiles, and the distillery chooses to forgo stating even the youngest age on the bottle. That said, we know it’s at least 4 years old, given the basic requirements for bourbon maturation, and that the average age is probably closer to 5, given that the whiskey spends just under a year in its secondary barrel. While...

Some whiskey makers bill themselves as grain-to-glass distillers, but Frey Ranch Distillery in northwestern Nevada talks the talk and walks the walk. It harvests all its grains at the family ranch in Fallon, Nevada, and makes the whiskey at a distillery located smack in the middle of the property. Now Frey Ranch is marking its 10th year in the distilling business by announcing that its whiskeys are becoming available in a wider number of states.
Five new states have been added to Frey’s distribution list, including Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Ohio, and Georgia. That’s in addition to its existing presence in California and its home state of Nevada, bringing Frey Ranch’s availability to seven markets. The whiskeys have also gained listings at 117 Albertson’s supermarket locations in Arizona and Nevada. Beyond that, Frey Ranch does online sales to 33 markets through its e-commerce site. Frey Ranch plans on selling a total of around 312,000 bottles of whisky...

Still Austin Whiskey Co. opened  its doors in 2017, billed as the city of Austin’s first distillery since Prohibition. It’s located in the St. Elmo District just south of the city center, a former industrial neighborhood that’s now a destination for dining, shopping, and entertainment that also features a brewery, urban winery, coffee roaster, and other businesses. 
The distillery started as a collaborative project between retired business executive Cleveland Seals and his son Chris, along with several other locals. Early on, it recruited renowned master blender Nancy Fraley to help create whiskeys with a grain-to-glass approach, but it set itself apart with its maturation process. The regimen, which was devised by Fraley, sees small amounts of water added to barrels as they age to stave off the impact of the harsh Texas climate. 
The distillery has come a long way in a relatively short time. Still Austin has recently been scoring some high...

The past week saw three interesting new releases from smaller players around the country, including a couple of bourbons and a cask-finished American single malt. Manhattan's Great Jones Distillery has a release finished in casks from Long Island winery Wölffer Estate, though Great Jones currently uses sourced juice as its distillery has been open only since 2021. From Maryland's Old Line Spirits comes a sherry cask-finished American single malt, in keeping with Old Line's dedication to the style. And Casey Jones Distillery, named for the famed Kentucky moonshiner who made what was said be be Al Capone's favorite whiskey, has a new straight bourbon. 
Great Jones x Wölffer Estate Cask Finish
Great Jones Distilling Co., the first whiskey distillery to open in Manhattan since Prohibition, is a relative newcomer to cask finishing. The distillery first forayed into the style with a pineau de charentes finished bourbon released in honor of the...

Amid increased competition in its core contract distilling business, MGP Ingredients still saw its total sales increase 7% to $837 million during its fiscal 2023, with adjusted EBITDA rising 20% to $305 million. The company’s branded side and its contract production business both showed strong advances.
Starting in 2016, MGP began a strategic rethink that included a customized approach to its contract distilling business, and, importantly, the establishment of a division to build, acquire, and create its own branded products. Those have included George Remus bourbon, Eight & Sand blended bourbon, and Rossville Union rye. Last year MGP added to that group with the acquisition of Penelope Bourbon.
But the branded portfolio also includes the brands acquired when MGP bought Luxco back in 2021, adding such as Ezra Brooks, Rebel, Blood Oath, David Nicholson, Daviess County, and Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, as well as El Mayor, Exotico, Dos Primos...

The name might sound off-putting, but the worm tub is a traditional part of the whisky making process. In earlier times, this old-school condensing method was used by distillers far and wide, but advances in technology have made it far less prevalent than it once was. And yet, surprisingly, a number of distillers remain loyal to the worm tub.
What Is a Worm Tub?
Worm tubs are an old type of condenser. They consist of long and winding copper piping—called “worms” because of their snakelike appearance—housed inside a giant wooden tub filled with cold water. As the wash comes to a boil in the distilling process, its vaporized liquid rises up the neck of the still and into the lyne arm, the long pipe at the top of the still. From there the vapor runs through winding pipes submerged in a cold water tub, a process that cools it into liquid before it goes into the spirit safe. Regular condensers turn that process inside out: the vapor instead travels from the...

Sure, you might love Bob Dylan for his music, but have you tried his whiskey? The musician is the co-owner and face of Heaven's Door, a whiskey brand that’s steadily built up its presence since launching in 2018. The core collection shows off a diverse repertoire—there are Tennessee and Kentucky straight bourbons, a double-barreled blended American whiskey, and a finished rye—and now comes The Exploration Series.
The first whiskey in the range is Calvados Finish, a Tennessee straight bourbon finished in, you guessed it, calvados casks. Native to Normandy, France, calvados is a brandy made from apples (and occasionally pears); it’s a delicate spirit, with sweet, subtle notes of stone fruit and baking spice. The new expression is placed into calvados casks for up to 6 months, though the average finishing time is 4 months. At the tail end of maturation, heavily toasted, broken French oak staves are added to the barrels, introducing yet another layer of flavor...

Chattanooga Whiskey was founded in 2011, at a time when distilling in the city and its Hamilton County base wasn’t even legal. The start-up worked around that by using sourced whiskey while founders Tim Piersant and Joe Ledbetter lobbied with the Tennessee legislature to legalize distilling. On May 16, 2013 their efforts paid off, and Chattanooga has been a big part of Tennessee’s distilling revival ever since.
Chattanooga’s house style tends to favor high-malt bourbons, a relatively uncommon choice compared to the high-rye and wheated versions. The distillery’s latest expression aims to innovate with a not-too-commonly seen finish—the white port cask. Chattanooga White Port Cask Finished is a blend of three bourbons. While the exact grain ratios are undisclosed, each component follows a mashbill featured in a previous Chattanooga release: 

B005: Corn, dark malted wheat, caramel malted wheat, and oak-smoked malted wheat. It was...

The month of February is off to a solid start, with some notable older whiskies going under the hammer. Unicorn Auctions held two sales this month already, with the pick of the bottles reaching five-figure sums. Van Winkle rarities such as Van Winkle Special Reserve 20 year old for Cork ‘n Bottle ($22,500) and Old Rip Van Winkle Family Reserve Delilah’s 10th Anniversary Private Barrel ($19,800) topped the February No Reserves auction, and would make proud additions to any collector’s trophy cabinet. Speyside Whisky Auctions scored big this month too, setting a substantial new house record when it sold a bottle of Macallan 1950 Tales of The Macallan Volume I for $62,940. The second release in this Macallan series, aged for 73 years, was recently released and priced at $89,000.
Unicorn Auctions January 2024 Auction Parts I–III 
Auctions ended February 4th


American: Willett Family Estate 22 year old Doug’s Black Ink Private Barrel...

When entrepreneur Ray Franklin unveiled news of his brand-new distillery, Garrard County Distilling Co., in once-dry Garrard County, Kentucky, back in January, he wasn’t yet ready to reveal the name of the master distiller behind the whiskey. Instead, he teased that it would be “big news, and very unexpected.” That name has finally come to light, with Lisa Wicker being announced as Garrard County Distilling Co.’s master distiller.
In her new role, Wicker’s first priority will be the distillery’s existing All Nations brand; as the distillery’s own whiskey matures, Wicker has over 17,000 barrels of sourced whiskey at her fingertips. But her experience makes her particularly well-suited to the blending tasks at Garrard County, given that she previously worked with deep wells of aged stock, in addition to own-make whiskey. Garrard County has yet to announce any new brands, but Franklin says a handful are set to come on stream later this year...

Penelope Bourbon was founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Danny Polise and Mike Paladini, who created the brand with sourced whiskey from MGP and then began by selling it to retailers door-to-door in their home state of New Jersey until they could find a distributor. Last year it all paid off, as MGP swooped in to acquire Penelope for $105 million.
Penelope’s secret to success is its cask finishing, primarily with its Cooper Series, a high-scoring line of cask-finished whiskeys. Now, Penelope is aiming to capture some of that magic by releasing a new version of a fan-favorite rye. Penelope Bourbon Tokaji Cask Finish is a rye with a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley, distilled at MGP’s Ross & Squibb Distillery. After aging at least 8 years, the distillate was re-casked in tokaji wine barrels—sourced from an undisclosed winery in Hungary—for 8 1/2 weeks and bottled at 53% ABV. 
Some things have changed from Penelope’s first tokaji...

Each spring, Heaven Hill unveils a new Heritage Collection whiskey that highlights some of the distillery’s oldest aging stocks. One of six traditional Heaven Hill mashbills are featured; in this case, the 2024 Heritage Collection is an 18 year old straight bourbon comprised of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye, bottled at 60% ABV. 
The whiskey is a blend of 133 barrels distilled in December 2005 then aged entirely on the third floor of Rickhouse 1I, which is located at Heaven Hill’s Bernheim Distillery in Louisville. These details, and more, are all featured on the bottle. Once the whiskey hits shelves in March it’ll be available for $300.
This is the third release in Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection, following a 20 year old corn whiskey last year and a 17 year old barrel proof bourbon that blended 17, 19, and 20 year whiskeys in 2022. In 2018 and 2020, Heaven Hill dipped into its aged stocks for two whiskeys—the first a 27...

Maverick Distilling Double Barrel Bourbon Rodeo Edition
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, taking place February 8-25, 2024, Maverick Distilling has a new release, Rodeo Edition. This bottling pays homage to 6,000-plus volunteers who donate hours of their time to this event, which includes bull riding, concerts, a variety of other events, and food options, to welcome its roughly 1.5 million visitors each year.
Located a short walk from the Alamo, Maverick Distilling opened its doors in 2019 and produces whiskey, gin, and agave spirits. Its Rodeo Edition is made from Texas-sourced distillate with a mashbill of 72% Texas-grown corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley. Maverick aged the liquid in charred new white oak barrels at its distillery for 2 to 3 years before selecting and blending the choice barrels. 
The blend was then finished in a Samuel Maverick Private Reserve straight bourbon barrel for 18 months. The final whiskey...

Sonoma County, California whiskey maker Redwood Empire was founded in 2015 by Derek Benham, owner of wine and spirits company Purple Brands, and master distiller Jeff Duckhorn. From the start, the mission has been to create grain-to-glass whiskey that explores the terroir of the Golden State, and now Redwood Empire is diving deeper into grains with three new whiskeys. 
• Foggy Burl is Redwood Empire’s first attempt at an American single malt. Its production totaled 27 barrels, made using 7 different malt varieties. Redwood Empire uses a combination of both light and dark malts, from three malt houses. The bulk of the barley comes from Admiral Maltings, a malthouse based in Alameda, California. It was aged for at least 4 years in toasted, char No.-3 barrels, and is bottled at 47% ABV. 7,200 bottles were produced, priced at $100. 
• Devils Tower, a high-rye four-grain bourbon blended from 25 barrels of Redwood Empire’s own make...

Dusty bourbon is having a moment. The hunt for vintage whiskeys and the cocktails created with them is on the rise, and more bars are offering well-preserved, authenticated older bottles, affectionately known as “dusties” to their fans. Iconic venues like New York City’s Brandy Library and Flatiron Room, Delilah’s in Chicago, and Washington D.C.’s Jack Rose have long offered coveted pours from these bottles from yesteryear.
In recent times, new laws have loosened the restrictions on buying and selling vintage bottles outside of traditional auctions. The new rules have also eased as to how those dusty bourbon and whiskey bottles may be resold at retail, and the floodgates have opened. Here, then, are seven of the best places across North America to deliciously drink your way through the past.

Canon, Seattle
If you want to go all-out with vintage cocktails, Canon will happily indulge you with an array of mind-boggling libations. Try a...

Bulleit is best known for its flagship bourbon and rye, which are perennial favorites behind the bar. While the distillery has invested in innovation with some limited releases such as Blenders’ Select and Barrel Strength, the spotlight has never strayed far from its core whiskeys. But more recently the distilling team has been working on a new whiskey, one that neither Bulleit nor owner Diageo have ever explored before: an American single malt.
The new Bulleit single malt is of course made with 100% barley, with most of it coming from the Pacific Northwest. Even as American single malt guidelines allow for any type of barrel to be used for maturation, Bulleit’s single malt is aged entirely in new American oak. “It was important for us to make this American single malt distinctly Bulleit, which is why we use the same casks that we age our Bulleit bourbon and rye in,” says Jesse Damashek, senior vice president of whiskies and liqueurs at...

On June 24, 1889, on Main Street in Telluride, Colorado, Butch Cassidy robbed his very first bank. Skiing had not come to town yet, but whiskey certainly had, and the famed outlaw was known to partake. The story goes that he holed up in the tiny nearby mining hamlet of Dunton Hot Springs, where he carved his name into the bar of the town’s saloon. Dunton became a ghost town, but was purchased in 1994 and the entire town and its Old West buildings were transformed into one of the nation’s most luxurious all-inclusive boutique resorts. Today the saloon is the resort’s main bar, and Dunton Hot Springs has a nice selection of scotch and bourbon, and guests can sit at the bar etched with Cassidy’s signature for a dram. The house label is George Dickel, an old case of which was discovered beneath the floor during renovation. The owner took this as a sign and now leaves a bottle out in the library for guests to enjoy at their leisure. That’s taking après...

Jack Daniel’s has announced the release of  Batch 2 of its 12 year old and Batch 3 of its 10 year old Tennessee whiskeys. This year’s 10 year old is at 48.5% ABV, while the 12 year old comes in higher at 53.5%. As before, both share a mashbill identical to the core Jack Daniel’s recipe, which is 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye.
Pricing for the 10 and the 12 has risen by $15 each since last year, with the 10 year old now at $85 compared to $70 previously, and the 12 year old now at $95 compared to $80 in 2023. They’re both in 700 ml bottles and available in limited quantities across the U.S.
The 10 year old debuted in August of 2021, heralded as the first Jack Daniel’s whiskey to bear an age statement in more than a century. That release was made from just over 200 barrels, making it quite limited in availability. Not surprisingly it sold out quickly, vanishing from the shelves in a matter of days. It went on to finish at No. 4 on...

Longmorn, the Speyside single malt that garnered much praise during the years when its bottlings were available, is back on the market. Last week, owner Pernod Ricard announced the release of an 18 year old (57.6%) priced at $280, (57.6%) and a 22 year old (54.5%), priced at $440. Both are bottled at cask strength, aged predominantly in bourbon barrels, and will be available nationwide. This marks the reappearance of a treasured label that has been absent from the U.S. market for many years.
Longmorn is mostly unknown to the world at large, but it’s revered among single malt aficionados. Its whisky has mainly served as a malt component for the big blended scotches of its owners—Seagram for much of the 20th century and Pernod Ricard since 2001—supplying such global scotch stars as Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and others. It wasn’t until 1993, its 99th year of operation, that Longmorn released its first single malt bottling.
That release was Longmorn...

Tullamore D.E.W. has announced the release of its honey liqueur in the U.S. The Irish whiskey’s Original label—a blend of pot distilled, malt, and grain whiskeys—is infused with honey from the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. According to the International Centre for Young Beekeepers the Czech Republic has 55,000 beekeepers, of which 33,000 are hobbyists, caring for 600,000 hives. The small, independent apiarists with their focus on quality are the source of the honey for this liqueur.
The expression is not new; it launched in four countries, including the Czech Republic, in 2021. But it’s now available nationwide, with a suggested retail price of $24. Irish whiskey fans might enjoy this sweet twist for a Highball, mixed with lemonade or ginger beer, or perhaps a Hot Toddy.
Among Irish whiskeys, the most famous honey-based liqueur is Irish Mist, which interestingly enough, comes from the town of Tullamore. Irish Mist was once owned by the Williams...

Irish Distillers has released the next innovation in its Method and Madness series with an expression finished in virgin Garryana oak barrels. Quercus garryana or Garry oak grows in the Pacific Northwest in a narrow band stretching from British Columbia to California. Whiskey lovers will be most familiar with this uncommon species of oak thanks to Westland Distillery in Seattle, who first released Westland Garryana American single malt in 2016 as an expression of Pacific Northwest terroir: their 8th edition was the No. 3 whisky of 2023 in the Whisky Advocate Top 20. Beyond Westland, few other companies have released Garryana oak-finished whiskeys until now.
Due to its high tannin levels, Garryana oak timber requires longer seasoning than Quercus alba, the main species of American white oak the whiskey industry uses for barrels. While Method and Madness Garryana Oak was finished exclusively in virgin Garryana oak barrels, Westland finishes its Garryana expression in virgin...

American peat bogs exist, but few American distillers tap them for their peated whiskeys. Instead, most import peat or peated barley from Scotland. That’s why it was so notable when Westland announced the arrival of Solum, a peated American single malt made with peat extracted from a bog located just two hours south of Seattle, in March of last year. 
Pacific Northwest peat is nothing like its Scottish counterpart. It’s more herbal and earthy, with a distinctive Labrador Tea note that lends a completely different flavor profile. Solum is currently a gentler expression of peat as well, though that’s not exactly by design. “One of our challenges is that peating [malt] has not been here traditionally, and our malt house partner [Skagit Valley Malting] hadn’t smoked [malt] before,” explains distillery manager Tyler Pedersen. That meant the years leading up to the first release of Solum involved a lot of trial and error;...

Whiskeys meet tequilas in the Expresiones del Corazón Collection. Barrels that previously aged Buffalo Trace whiskeys are filled with Corazón tequila, made at Casa San Matias Distillery in Jalisco, Mexico. Sazerac, owner of Buffalo Trace and Corazón’s importer, launched this collaboration 10 years ago, and each year’s collection is unique—from the barrels used for aging, the number of expressions released, to the length of time the tequilas are aged. At first, the collection included Buffalo Trace bourbon-aged reposados and Van Winkle-aged añejos. More recently, a reposado that spent 12 months in Elmer T. Lee barrels was included in a release. While we may not see Van Winkle and Elmer T. Lee expressions in the current lineup, two Buffalo Trace Distillery barrels are making their debut: Weller 12 year old and Old Charter Oak.
Corazón French Oak – Old Charter Oak French oak barrels matured this añejo for at...

Alexander Reid was a Speyside barley farmer and school teacher. In 1820, he began renting the Easter Elchies House on the eastern banks of the River Spey. He planted barley there and in 1824 opened a licensed distillery that came to be called Macallan—thought to be named after an ancient church nearby. Macallan is now toasting its 200th anniversary with a very Macallan-esque tour de force—an ultra-limited, ultra-aged release that channels those roots.
Tales of The Macallan Volume II was distilled in 1949 and bottled in 2022, and the unveiling was held to coincide with the anniversary year.  The 73 year old whisky, bottled at 44.8% ABV, is punctuated by lingering smokiness, according to tasting notes from whisky maker Euan Kennedy. That’s designed to evoke the scotches made in Alexander Reid’s day and is a marked departure from today’s Macallan, which contains no peat. The 81 year old Macallan The Reach, which set an auction record back in 2022...

This week welcomes a handful of unique cask finishes that aim to sweeten the deal. In Kentucky, Woodford is releasing the latest edition of Double Double Oaked, a fan-favorite bourbon that’s finished for an additional year in heavily toasted, lightly charred new oak. From Tennessee, the Nelson’s Green Brier Cask Series gets a maple syrup cask-finished bourbon, adding a touch of natural sugary sweetness to its flagship whiskey. And across the pond, there’s a brand new range of peated Speyside single malts from Glenallachie Distillery, each of which is finished in a different combination of casks but with the intent of drawing out a sweet, smoky house style. Elsewhere, there are new ryes from Green River in Kentucky and Texas’ Devil River, as well as blended American whiskey from Buzzard’s Roost. There's also Lodestar, founded by cousins and entertainment industry veterans Anna Axster and Wendelin von Schroderthe. Read on for more details.
Green...

Every January 25th, the Scots (and scotch whisky fans around the world) raise a glass to toast the life of Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland. The first Burns Night was hosted in Burns’s home in Alloway, South Ayrshire on the fifth anniversary of his death in 1801. Burns Suppers today haven’t changed all that much from those early days—haggis, bagpipe music, and rounds of scotch whisky toasts being the key features. We asked some leading lights in the scotch whisky world how they’ll be spending their Burns Night this year and which drams they’ll likely be sipping.
Rachel Barrie 

Rachel Barrie, master blender for BenRiach, GlenDronach, and Glenglassaugh will be spending Burns Night overseas this year, dining in Shanghai on a business trip. But she still plans to toast Robert Burns. Barrie recommends GlenDronach 12 year old as a Burns Night dram, citing its pairability with the night’s classic haggis with neeps and tatties...

American whiskey makers are getting an early jump on the year's releases, as Old Forester kicks things off with a new expression in its Whiskey Row Series. This series was started in 2014, with each release highlighting a significant historical milestone in Old Forester's history. The latest release, 1924, channels the Prohibition era. It has a bit more age than the core whiskey, which is usually matured for around  4 to 6 years. It also has a slightly different mashbill, with the rye component much lower than that of the traditional Old Forester. Commemorating its history is a prominent theme for Old Forester, even more so than most whiskey houses: its 117 Series, which launched in 2021, themes its releases in a similar way, and the company's annual Birthday Bourbon release honors the founder. Elsewhere among new rollouts, Angel's Envy is out with a three-pack of finished bourbons—oloroso sherry cask, tawny port, and madeira...

Chip Tate, who founded Texas whiskey maker Balcones Distilling in 2008 and departed in 2014 after an acrimonious dispute with his investors, has been named master distiller for innovation at Foley Family Wines, the California-based wine company that has recently moved into spirits.
Tate took the craft whiskey world by storm as the creative force behind Waco, Texas-based Balcones, initially with Baby Blue in 2010, which is made from a mashbill of roasted blue corn, and later with Texas single malts, bourbons, ryes, and other styles. Jared Himstedt, a friend from Tate’s brewing days who’s been at Balcones from the beginning, became master distiller after Tate’s departure and still has that role today.
Tate went on to found Tate & Co. Distillery, just down the road from Balcones in Waco, gaining a distillery license in 2017 and opening in 2018. Tate & Co. is both a distillery and a copperworks, with Tate and his team building stills and equipment with...

Solera aging came into being in Spain’s Jerez region back in the 18th century, originating as a way for sherry makers to artfully blend wines of different ages while keeping flavors consistent. Previously, it had been common for sherry producers simply to blend their new vintages with the previous one.
In a traditional solera system, barrels of all ages are stacked atop each other to form a pyramid. The oldest liquid lies at the bottom of the pyramid, while the newest is at the top. As older liquid is pulled from a solera system’s bottom tier, more new liquid is added to the top row. Over time, the various aged components mature in concert. Because it’s topped up year after year, a solera system can go on for quite some time—the oldest existing solera systems in the world have been operating since as far back as the end of the 18th century.
While solera aging started with the Spaniards, it wasn’t long before the system was adopted by vintners...

We’ve entered a new year, and with it, a flurry of hotly anticipated distillery openings. Several distilleries are being built in Scotland, with a host of brand-new names joining the fray, and another re-opening after a decades-long closure. In the States, Kentucky bourbon remains a hotbed of investment opportunity. Beyond the Bluegrass State, a couple of craft brands that have made serious strides as non-distiller producers are taking the next step this year and opening their own distilleries. Read on for all the distilleries set to open, or have a groundbreaking, in 2024.
Scotland 
Openings
Port Ellen
Islay distillery Port Ellen shuttered in 1983 amid one of whisky’s great downturns. The whisky that remained in the warehouses gained a cult following in the decades after its closure and correspondingly high prices for the finite inventory of remaining bottles. Fast-forward to 2017, when Diageo announced an investment of $44 million to revive Port...

Like an artist combining colors on a canvas, whiskey-centric retailers are now becoming skillfully involved in the art of blending and finishing barrels of whiskey. “It goes way beyond just picking a barrel,” says Ryan Maloney, owner of Julio’s Liquors in Westborough, Massachusetts. 
Maloney and beverage consultant Randall Bird traveled to Lexington, Kentucky-based Dark Arts Whiskey House last year to meet with company president and chief alchemist Macaulay Minton, to create a new whiskey expression. Dark Arts is a blending, finishing, and re-barreling house built around the concept of alchemy. “We pay homage to alchemy and its seven stages with our label,” Minton says. “That’s where we see the magic coming in. We take great whiskeys from other distilleries, and we transform them by finishing in wine, armagnac, or maple syrup barrels and using different stage techniques to transform ordinary whiskey into liquid...

Mizunara casks have been a staple of Japanese whisky aging for quite some time, but it wasn’t always this way. The much-revered mizunara oak got its start out of necessity rather than design. In the early days of Japanese whisky making back in the 1920s, first-fill bourbon and sherry casks were the barrels of choice. But that changed during World War II, when it became all but impossible to obtain those barrel types. Left with no other choice, Japan’s whisky distillers looked to native oak for their casks. Now, nearly a century later, it’s the American and European distillers who seek out mizunara oak casks from Japan, enthralled by the notes and characteristics that it can contribute to a whisky. 
It all started nearly a decade ago on the craggy shores of Islay where, in 2015, Bowmore released a limited-edition single malt that utilized Japanese casks. That was followed quickly by Washington-based Bainbridge Organic Distillers’ debut of Yama, a...

In a world where people actively avoid high-fat foods, whisky lovers can make an exception: washing fat through whisky introduces a whole new universe of delicious flavors. So forget diet culture and embrace the fat, at least for your favorite drink. Through fat-washing—a technique that imparts flavors from meat, plant, and oil-based fats into spirits—rich and savory elements can be added to any style of whisky. Complementing the natural flavors gleaned from distillation and barrel aging, whisky can be made even tastier by the likes of bacon fat, butter, or plant-based oils like olive, coconut, or sesame.
There’s science involved in fat-washing, but anyone can do it with the right tools. It’s a process of extracting fat from one source and rinsing it through another, thereby adding the flavors from the fat to the end product without adding the fat solids. There are a lot of steps, but it’s not as difficult as it looks or sounds. And the result, while...

This week sees a handful of new releases that meld two different places within the same bottle. Old Forester has returned with a new 117 Series bourbon, this one finished in scotch whisky casks, marking a first for the distillery. Texas-based Milam & Greene has released its latest Wildlife Collection whiskey; while the series highlights local Texas wildlife, it's also an exploration into how extreme weather in the Texas Hill Country impacts whiskey maturation. This new single barrel bourbon was distilled in Tennessee but spent its final months aging amidst the highs and lows of Texas weather. Across the pond, UK-based Never Say Die has made its U.S. debut with a Kentucky bourbon that aged in the state for five years before being shipped across the ocean, finishing its maturation in England. 
Elsewhere, there are two new cask-strength whiskeys out this week, one a blended bourbon and the other rye. Read on for full details.
 
Old Forester 117 Series: Scotch...

The whisky auction scene shows no signs of relaxing as the end of the year approaches. Sotheby’s conducted a substantial sale of scotch, bourbon, rye, and Japanese whisky in New York this month, with details below on several historic and rare bottlings of Kentucky bourbon and rye that sold for $20,000 and more. Sotheby's reported that this sale received the highest-ever number of bidders in a Sotheby's spirits sale, and set new record prices for Glenturret, LeNell's Red Hook Rye, and Rathskeller Rye from 1983. Scotch Whisky Auctions celebrated their 150th auction this month, with a bottle of Glendronach 1971 50 year old leading the sale with a hammer price of $22,588. With a number of online auctions slated for late December, whisky collectors can keep bidding until the ball drops at midnight and beyond in a bid to bag their first whisky bottles of 2024. 
Whisky Auctioneer
Auction ended December 4th  


Scotch: Samaroli Laphroaig...

When it comes to a whisky for a special occasion, it’s hard to argue against a 25 year old scotch. That age statement is grand enough to thrill your guests after dinner, provide a special gift, or simply be the bottle you reach for to reward yourself after a good day. There are peated malts from Islay, sherried styles from Speyside, and luxuriously complex blends to choose from.
What you pay for a quarter-century-old scotch varies considerably. Astonishingly, for two whiskies made just eight miles apart and of the exact same proof, you can buy 17 bottles of the lowest-priced example for the same money it costs to own one bottle of the most expensive, and still get 30 bucks in change.
Due to supply squeezes of ultra-aged whiskies, distillers are more often releasing annual batch bottlings rather than permanent expressions, so not every bottling will be available all year round. A fair number of 25 year old scotches disappear from the shelves for good every year. All the...

The stream of new imported whisky arrivals has slowed to a trickle as we move to the end of the year, but we have a few items of note. Bushmills, which has been channeling its creative side over the past several years, offers its new Private Reserve Series, a group of four different whiskeys, each finished with different casks—tequila, plum, Burgundy, and Bordeaux. Despite its somewhat daunting name, the Private Reserve Series is meant as a more affordable option than the ultra-aged Bushmills cask-finished releases, with prices for these whiskeys ranging between $60 and $75. Elsewhere, High N’ Wicked, the importer and independent bottler led by former Brown-Forman International executive and Brown family scion W.L. Lyons Brown III and Kevin Sachs, has a new single grain whiskey from Ireland. Read on.
Bushmills Private Reserve Series
Bushmills 10 year old Plum Cask Finish
Style: Single malt
Origin: Ireland
Age: 10 year old
ABV...

The Single Malt Society of Madison knows how to have fun with whisky. The club holds monthly themed tastings under epic titles like Ardbegeddon and Laphroiagasm. They know how to go the extra mile, too: The annual Halloween meeting typically is held in a graveyard, and each January, the members have a Burns Night dinner.
“We have one main rule for people who want to be a member,” says club president Jason Craig. “And that is, no wet blankets. We try to make the club very fun as opposed to stuffy.”
Society members credit Craig for his colorful ideas and advanced planning; for the past two years, he has constructed yearly themes like peat and cask-finishing, with each month’s meeting a sub-genre of that theme, a single-brand vertical or a flight of oloroso sherry-finished whiskies, for example. “The theme-ing of it,” Scott Rogers, a member since 2016, says, “I think it has really helped define things and make it more of an...

The week’s rolling announcement of our Top 20 Whiskies of the Year is completed today, with the unveiling of whiskies 11-20. As always, the drumroll began on Monday with Nos. 10, 9, and 8, followed by 7, 6, and 5 on Tuesday, and 4,3, and 2 on Wednesday. Yesterday came the big day, with the reveal of our Whisky of the Year,  and we finished up today with the rest of the list. With due congratulations and celebration for the winners, we will soon begin the quest for next year’s winners. It all starts here, on the pages of our Whisky Weekend new releases.
In keeping with the ways of the modern whisky world, this year’s Top 20 features a number of international collaborations, notably Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Voyage, whose rum barrel finish is a joint effort with Jamaica’s Appleton Estate. In this week's new rollouts, we have Puncher’s Chance whose latest, The Unified Belt, blends Irish whiskey and bourbon. Meanwhile...

In each issue of Whisky Advocate, our Buying Guide offers whiskies of all types from around the world and at a wide variety of prices. Within that long list lie some excellent bargains—something that can be tough to find in today's whisky world. Here's a sampling of our editors' picks for great value bottles with solid scores, friendly prices, and wide availability—including ryes, Irish whiskeys, scotch whiskies, and an American single malt.
92 Ezra Brooks 99 2 year old Rye, 49.5%, $25
The nose kicks off on a zesty and flavorful note, with loads of black pepper and peppercorn sauce joined by chlorine, an assortment of farmers market leafy greens, and menthol. The palate is more lightly peppered; here it’s also supplemented by a dollop of honey, some celery juice, and raw kale, keeping the greens going. More pepper on the finish, which has a fair amount of milk chocolate and lemon ice too.
91 Bart's Irish Blend, 46%, $50
Lough Ree...

More than any other spirit category, the bourbon industry is carefully regulated and that has been the case since the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 was passed. Bourbon must be produced in America, it must be made of at least 51% corn, and it must mature in new, charred oak. Straight bourbon must be aged for at least two years. Bottled-in-bond bourbon has to be at least four years old (among other things). But “small batch” bourbon? That doesn’t have an official definition—except at Wilderness Trail Distillery.
“At Wilderness Trail, ‘small batch’ means a maximum of twenty barrels per batch,” says Dr. Pat Heist, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Wilderness Trail Distillery, which opened in Danville, Kentucky in 2013. 
While it’s unusual for a distillery to define what their small batch is—and for that small batch to be that small—Wilderness Trail is no stranger to doing things a little differently...

On Monday, December 4, our countdown of the Top 20 Whiskies of 2023 begins! The reveal kicks off with whiskies 10, 9, and 8, followed by whiskies 7, 6, and 5 on Tuesday, December 5; whiskies 4, 3, and 2 on Wednesday, December 6; and the unveiling of our Whisky of the Year on Thursday, December 7. The entire Top 20 list, detailing the most exciting whiskies of the year, will be published on our site next Friday, December 8.
As for this week's new releases, perhaps a future Top 20 candidate is in their midst: Read on for full details of all the week has to offer, including the latest Diageo's Distillers Edition, Fuji Whisky's 30 year old Single Grain, Jack Daniel's Distillery Series Selection #12, and more.
SCOTCH
Diageo Distillers Edition 2023
Each year, Diageo releases its Distillers Edition versions of some of its most popular single malts. Generally speaking, they’re the same whiskies as the core expressions, but they all receive varying amounts of...

What’s a hot trend in scotch whisky? Well, believe it or not, it’s rye. At least 10 scotch whisky distilleries are laying down rye these days, with RyeLaw, the inaugural release from InchDairnie Distillery, becoming the latest addition to Scotland’s rye space. 
InchDairnie opened in 2015 just outside the Lowlands town of Glenrothes in Fife (not to be confused with Glenrothes Distillery on Speyside). InchDairnie partners with farmers within the boundaries of Fife to grow rye and barley, and the distillery is equipped with a hammer mill, mash conversion vessel, and a mash filter to handle rye, oats, and wheat, which are beyond the scope of most single malt scotch distilleries. The distillery’s founder Ian Palmer researched the historical use of rye in scotch and talked with distillers in Kentucky and Canada about their experiences with rye before producing his own. RyeLaw, uses 53% malted rye and 47% malted barley and was double distilled in 2017 using a...

From the carefully chosen mashbill to the patient aging in charred oak, Michter's whiskeys are a testament to craftsmanship. Each bottle tells a story of dedication, with master distillers hand-selecting barrels to ensure a symphony of flavors. Explore the alchemy behind Michter's–where tradition meets innovation, and every pour is a celebration of excellence.

Since 2012, Westland Distillery has plied its trade in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, named for its south of downtown location. It’s a former industrial part of town filled with warehouses and factories that have gradually given way to a new generation of distillers, brewers, restaurants, and retailers. Westland’s trendy urban feel stands in stark contrast to its whiskey creations, which lean toward a far different landscape—north in the Skagit Valley, where damp, spongy peat bogs proliferate and fields of tulips, cabbage, potatoes, and barley grow, then west to Washington’s forests of garryana oak. These are the places where you’ll find Westland’s inspiration for its whiskeys, which are part of a burgeoning style called American single malt.

But Westland’s whiskeys represent just one of many interpretations of the genre, as distillers around the country put their own stamp on this rapidly emerging style. The core unifying...

This week we've seen a fair few imported whisky releases from countries other than Scotland and Ireland. India's Paul John brings us early holiday cheer with its 2023 Christmas Edition, fairly tiny at just 1,500 bottles but available in a wide variety of states. India's whiskies have scored remarkably well in our Buying Guide: of the more than 60 Indian releases we've tasted over the years, 10 have scored 94 points, and the vast majority have received scores of 90 points or more. The strong suit there is single malt, and if the volumes can begin to climb in this market, India has the quality to become a player in the single malt scene. From Japan, we have three expressions from Shizuoka, all made from barley grown in Japan—a rare thing, because Japanese farmers don't produce much of it. The availability is accordingly a bit sparse, but Shizuoka's previous releases have also passed the 90-point mark with our tasters. And from New Zealand comes Pokeno, which is just getting...

Age is the thing in this week’s lineup of American whiskey releases, with Michter’s unveiling the latest release of its 25 year old bourbon—always an occasion to be noted. The 25 year old hasn’t appeared since 2020, and it's a rare pour indeed that can be tough to procure at retail, though it can be found on the best whisky lists in bars and restaurants throughout the land. Either way, it's quite the holiday treat. Then there is Old Forester, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary—not with a 150 year old bourbon, but with a 150-month old bourbon, bottled in throwback holiday decanters, with just 150 bottles available. This is the good stuff that was once bottled only for the owner's family, and this one comes with quite the package of perks, as you'll read below. Elsewhere, Dickel is out with its first 18 year old bourbon, while Barrell gets a jump on things with its Bourbon New Year 2024. There's more to...

The holiday season is swiftly approaching, and with it, a slew of extra-special releases that would make interesting end-of-year gifts. For the car lover in your life, there is Bowmore's latest opus in partnership with luxury British automaker Aston Martin. Also out is a new edition from the Heaven's Door Bootleg series—the crème de la crème of the brand, which was created in partnership with Bob Dylan. Of great interest to us is the new release from Old Overholt, a 10 year old, cask strength rye priced at $100. That seems like quite a departure for this price-friendly label that has long been a favorite of rye lovers, though this release is in fact a throwback to Old Overholt ryes of the previous century. 
Elsewhere in new whisky, High West returns with a fresh edition of The Prisoner's Share, this one using no sourced whiskey, as it's 100% made at High West's Wanship...

While some people may dream of receiving a new cashmere sweater or a desired golf club this holiday season, for a whiskey fan there’s no better gift than a trip to their favorite producer. When it comes to fans of Breckenridge Distillery, however, you can enjoy the experience without ever leaving your home. That’s because the experience is inherently baked into every bottle.
Located 9,600 feet above sea level, Breckenridge Distillery has been the world’s highest distillery since its founding in 2008. Because it has such a unique setting, you can taste that terroir in every glass. The pure water used in the mash, in fact, comes from the Rocky Mountains. 
“We’re getting snowmelt that’s filtered, with perfect minerality for our spirits,” explains Billie Keithley, the distillery’s “liquid chef” who was named bar manager of the year at Icons of Whisky. This minerality doesn’t just allow the flavors of the whisky...

Starting a whiskey distillery takes perseverance, dedication, and courage, at a minimum. There are a host of distillery founders who have these qualities embedded in their blood; they are U.S. military Veterans. They have served our country and are now distilling the spirits of America.
In honor of Veterans Day, Saturday, November 11th, consider filling your glass with whiskey distilled by a Veteran or a distillery that donates a portion of its sales to a Veteran cause. Better yet, for those that offer tours or tasting rooms, pay them a visit and thank them for their service. Here is just a sampling of Veteran-owned whiskeys.
21st Amendment
Vero Beach, Florida
Tours and tasting room
rye, bourbon, rum, gin, vodka, and agave
Black Patch
Madison, Alabama
Tours and tastings
rye, bourbon, flavored whiskey, moonshine, and agave
Eight Oaks
New Tripoli, Pennsylvania
Tours and tasting room
rye, bourbon, gin, rum, vodka...

The new $1,000 Prohibition Collection from Buffalo Trace Distillery wouldn’t have happened were it not for a lucky employee who combed through a dusty box earmarked for the dumpster a few years back. Inside? A mint condition copy of every single label the distillery released during Prohibition.
Those very labels now adorn the walls of the Stagg Lodge, a log cabin that doubles as an invite-only dining and entertainment venue on the Buffalo Trace’s Frankfort, Kentucky, grounds. Here, you can see some of the original art for the likes of Walnut Hill Whiskey—one of the 2023 releases—but plenty of Prohibition brands that didn’t make this round, including Old Barbee, billed as “the nonpareil of American whiskeys,” or V.O.P., Very Oldest Procurable whiskey, touted as being “pure because it’s straight.”

And it’s here, within the Stagg Lodge walls, that we’re issued a flight of the Prohibition...

When you take inspiration from Bob Dylan, you need to deliver every single time.
Heaven’s Door has done just that with the release of Bootleg Vol. V, an 18-year-old straight bourbon finished in Spanish rouge vermouth casks.
This annual series, first debuting in 2019 with a 26-year-old whiskey finished in Japanese Mizunara oak barrels, gets its name from Dylan’s long-running series of rare and unreleased cuts, first compiled in 1991, which many say provide incredible insight into the mind of this legendary artist.  In turn, each bottling in the Bootleg Series has been a rare and unreleased whiskey created through special blending techniques and innovative barrel finishes.
As with previous Bootleg Series releases including a 15-Year-Old straight bourbon whiskey finished in Jamaican pot still rum casks (Vol. II) and a 13-year-old Kentucky bourbon finished in Vino de Naranja casks (Vol. III), 2023’s edition likewise celebrates the intersection of...

In this week’s list of new scotch and world whisky launches, we find distillers delving deep into the warehouse for ultra-aged—and usually ultra-expensive—expressions. With the gift-giving time of year approaching, whisky houses including Talisker, GlenDronach, Aberfeldy, and Crown Royal are releasing some of their oldest whiskies yet. Talisker has a 45 year old, while Crown Royal’s 30 year old release is its oldest ever, and Aberfeldy is out with its first 25 year old in two decades. The new Chivas XV is among the few scotch releases here to be feeling some gravitational pull, priced at $50.
We also have this year's release of Bruichladdich's Bere Barley and Black Art expressions from Islay, which are always a treat if you can find them. While the mysterious Black Art contains some very mature whiskies and is priced accordingly, Bruichladdich Bere Barley is looking positively affordable at $140 if you're gift-giving for a loved one, a friend, or...

It’s suggested that whiskey originated in Ireland before reaching Scotland, a claim backed by earlier Irish records. However,
by the close of the 19th century, Scottish whisky had carved out its own dominant space, both domestically and internationally.
Following the end of American Prohibition, it solidified its status, becoming the most sought-after whisky import in the
United States.
 The Scottish Play
To a certain extent, scotch started with the rain, because Scotland has always had plenty of it—even more so than Ireland. The rain helped grain to grow abundantly and, over time, would waterlog moss and heather so much that they would begin the decomposition process, becoming peat. So the rain gave the land its crops, its fuel source, its prominent flavoring component, and, of course, an abundance of water to mash, ferment, and then distill it all into whisky.

The Ingredients
As single malt whisky can only be made from 100% malted...

In order to give us all a chance to consider this latest round of new releases as closely as possible, we've decided to separate them into two installments. Today we'll cover the landscape of new expressions in American whiskey, and on Monday we'll report on the latest from Scotland, Japan, and elsewhere in the world. For the American side, there's much ado about the barrel, as so many of these releases feature a variety of cask finishings and longer barrel agings, some of them unusual. Also, Widow Jane digs into the cellars for some of its most aged liquid, and we note with interest that Frey Ranch is out with an American single malt. We haven't scored that one yet but can confirm from preliminary tastings that it's a good one, though unfortunately its volumes are tiny, and are sold only at the distillery and on their website.  There's plenty more to take in here, so enjoy.
Widow Jane Decadence
Style: Blend of straight bourbons
Origin: Tennessee...

If you’ve ever thought about starting your own distillery, you might be curious about some of the dollars and cents that go into it. Most start-ups are quiet about the financial side—preferring that you focus on the whisky rather than the balance sheet, and also because virtually all start-ups lose money in their early years.
Ireland’s Sliabh Liag Distillers (pronounced sleeve leeg) was founded with the vision of making peated Irish whiskeys under The Legendary Silkie brand name. Based in Donegal, the idea was to revive the distilling heritage of this far northwest Irish county, where the whiskeys of generations ago were all made using malt peated by Donegal turf. Founder James Doherty was an international drinks executive living in Hong Kong in 2014 when he and his wife Moira got the idea—and left to start the company, with the choice of Donegal inspired by the legacy of his Donegal grandfathers, who enjoyed their tipples peated.
The Legendary Silkie...

Ireland’s Walsh Whiskey looks to be getting a new home, as owner Amber Beverage Group (ABG) has unveiled plans to invest $37 million to build a distillery that’s slated to open by 2026. The facility will be focused on laying down stocks for Walsh brands Writers’ Tears and The Irishman, which are currently sourced from other Irish distilleries.  
The planning application for the project has yet to be submitted, but if approved, ABG will build a single malt and single pot still distillery at Dunleckney, Co. Carlow, about an hour south of Dublin. It will have an annual capacity of 4 million liters of pure alcohol and will be set on a 7-acre site alongside River Barrow, inside a former 18th-century corn mill and malthouse complex.
Interestingly, the new place will be about two miles upstream and on the opposite river bank from Royal Oak Distillery, the former home of Walsh Whiskey, which Walsh left behind in 2109 after a disagreement with...

Whisky fans flooded the San Francisco Marriott Marquis on October 27th, scene of the first WhiskyFest event of the fall. Nearly 300 whiskies were on offer throughout the ballroom, and there were master distillers, blenders, and founders on-hand to share their whiskies.
Ahead of the event’s VIP hour, 10 lucky ticket holders, and their plus-ones, were chosen as Backstage Pass winners, which gave them the opportunity to sample two extraordinary expressions from Fuji Whisky, including its 50th anniversary single malt. Master blender Jota Tanaka was on hand to walk the winners through both whiskies, and talk to them in-depth about the story of Fuji Gotemba Distillery and its whiskies.
The VIP hour then commenced. VIP ticket holders had their pick of a wide variety of rare, ultra-aged pours, among them 45 year old Benromach Heritage Single Cask distilled in 1978, 40 year old Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1 from Glenburgie 1983, Dewar’s 27 year...

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, WhiskyFest is coming to the Big Apple next week! The event, which will be held at the New York Marriott Marquis on November 9th, is the perfect opportunity for whisky fans to discover new pours and new friends, while also meeting the people behind some truly exceptional whiskies. 
Over 280 different whiskies will be available for tasting throughout the evening. The list of pours includes 18 whiskies from our previous Top 20 lists, such as Balblair 15 year old, Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 14 year old, Knob Creek 12 year old, and Nikka From the Barrel, among others. Alongside great bourbons, ryes, and scotches, will be great drams from Ireland, Japan, and elsewhere around the world. The list includes American single malts from Balcones, Beam, Virginia Distillery Co., Westland, and Westward. Other spirits, such as rum and tequila, will also be available. 
In addition to early admission, attendees with VIP passes will also have access to...

Over the centuries, the distilling business has produced famous figures, legends, outright myths, and even ghosts—more than a few of them, in fact. Reports of spectral sightings and other phantom phenomena have occurred so often that they’re almost the rule rather than the exception. Some distilleries have conjured up so much spooky notoriety that paranormal experts have visited, often affirming suspicions that unseen forces are at play. To toast Halloween, we’ve rounded up a handful of distilleries around the world where spirits—the liquid and the otherworldly kind—are both part of the story.
Buffalo Trace Distillery
Over the years, Buffalo Trace has received visits from a number of paranormal investigators, drawn by claims that ghosts roam the distillery’s halls. Chief among them are the spirits of Colonel E.H. Taylor and Colonel Albert B. Blanton—Taylor was the distillery’s founder, and Blanton ran the distillery in...

There’s a new crop of whiskeys out of California’s Napa Valley region to bring some excitement to your American whiskey assortment.
Boisset Collection—owner of the California wineries Buena Vista Winery, DeLoach Vineyards, Elizabeth Spencer, JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset, and Raymond Vineyards, and the U.S.-based outpost of family-owned Boisset, La Famille des Grands Vins—has launched a spirits portfolio under the Calistoga Depot Distillery moniker, with most of the focus on whiskey.
Jean-Charles Boisset, vintner and proprietor of the Boisset Collection, purchased the historic Calistoga Depot in Calistoga, California in 2021. The depot was built by entrepreneur Samuel Brannan in 1868 and is the second-oldest train depot in the state. This newly restored landmark includes a gourmet grocery and, now, a copper-clad distillery tasting room offering ultra-premium, barrel-aged, and wine cask-finished spirits.
Calistoga Depot Distillery tapped local...

While the tried and true whiskies might be a distillery’s bread and butter, experimental and celebratory releases offer a chance at exploration—not just for whisky fans, but for distillers, too. Look to Balcones' new single malt Cataleja, which is a toast to the Texas distiller's 15th anniversary, and testament to its non-stop creativity. It blends three batches of whiskey, which head distiller Jared Himstedt led through three separate maturation journeys. Similarly, over at Ardbeg there's always plenty of experimentation from whisky creator Dr. Bill Lumsden, whose latest Ardbeg Committee release delves deep into the effects of cask charring.
As for other new whiskies, Wild Turkey has debuted Generations, a collaborative effort between three generations of the Russell family: Jimmy, Eddie, and Bruce. In Maryland, Sagamore Spirit has cooked up two ryes, the latest iterations of its Penny's Proof and Bottled in Bond whiskeys. There's...

Amid all the razzmatazz of new releases, we note with some nostalgia that Cutty Sark, that grand old scotch, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and it just rolled out a limited anniversary edition to mark the occasion. Cutty has been dressed up in a festive bottle and gift box that is hitting retail across the U.S., and there will be 100 celebratory events around the country in its honor. Named for the fastest clipper ship in the 19th century, during Prohibition years Cutty became a favorite of rum runners plying the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard. This light-tasting blend was a very popular choice for cocktails, and for years Cutty Sark  was America’s number-one scotch whisky, peaking in 1980 at an astounding 22 million bottles annually, according to our research arm Impact Databank. Today it's far smaller, selling just under a milllion bottles a year.
But on to the business at hand. Halloween is not quite here yet, but we have some...

Driving south into Lexington, Kentucky on Interstate 75, you pass Kentucky Horse Park and International Museum of the Horse right at the city line. Enter from the west on Old Frankfort Pike, and you travel by the famous Secretariat statue. Fly into Blue Grass Airport and you’ll exit on Man O’ War Boulevard and drive past Keeneland racetrack. It’s pretty hard to miss the equine theme, which is why Lexington’s trademarked nickname is Horse Capital of the World. But the city also anchors the eastern end of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and it’s surrounded by distilleries, along with new experiences for whiskey lovers. You no longer need to leave the city to visit distilleries.
Lexington is only about half the size of Louisville, which lies around 80 miles to the west. But this vibrant city has been playing catch-up to its bigger rival in recent years, adding hotels, tours, attractions, and new distilleries. Resurgence is in the air, so...

From Scotland this week, Macallan is out with the third edition in its Harmony Collection, this one created in collaboration with two of Paul McCartney's daughters—fashion designer Stella McCartney and photographer Mary McCartney. Compass Box has a new creation, Art & Decadence, blended from a rich, malty array of cask finishings. On the American whiskey scene, the very prolific Barrell Craft Spirits has a nicely affordable item in Barrell Foundation at $60, its first non-cask strength whiskey.  Pinhook,  meanwhile, has a truly unique concept in its Vertical Series, which follows the progress of 1,350 barrels of high-rye, MGP bourbons as they age over the course of time. First launched in 2019, the project will conclude in 2027, and this week we're greeted with Pinhook Vertical 8. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Verticals seem to be improving with each release, though opinions will vary on that, which is all part of the fun. Plenty of...

John Hargrove, Daniel Linde, and David Mandell were part of the team behind Bardstown Bourbon Company when it was founded in 2014. In addition to the many top-flight whiskeys sold under the Bardstown name, the company has also produced liquid for more than 30 other labels as a custom contract producer, including Belle Meade, High West, Hirsch, James E. Pepper, Jefferson’s, to name a few.
Over the past four years, Hargrove, Linde, and Mandell have all left Bardstown, which last year was acquired by Chicago-based investment firm Pritzker Private Capital. But the three men didn’t leave behind their passion for whiskey: Last year they formed a company called Whiskey House of Kentucky, and earlier today they unveiled details about forward plans.
Whiskey House of Kentucky will be located on a 176-acre site in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, about 30 minutes west of Bardstown, and is slated to come on stream in July 2024. Its campus will include 16 rickhouses that will hold...

The torrent of new whiskies continues, and the many highlights include the return of A Midwinter Night’s Dram, the eleventh release in this annual series from High West Distillery in Utah. The High West annual releases were always among the most anticipated bottlings of the year, and fans were disappointed a few years ago when High West discontinued another cherished annual affair, Yippee Ki Yay. But Midwinter lives on, and we’ll have to see whether this year’s expression can still capture the old magic.
Elsewhere, there’s a new edition of Benriach Malting Season, the third release in the annual series that celebrates Scotland’s long history of floor malting. There’s a touch of romance in seeing a distillery’s floor maltings—alas, only eight whisky makers in Scotland still use this very enchanting (and very expensive) process. Benriach is one of them. Elsewhere from Scotland, young distiller Torabhaig from the Isle of...

There has always been a deep connection between Southern cuisine and whiskey, especially bourbons and ryes traditionally made in the same regions famous for specialties such as barbecue, fried chicken, and grits. Yardbird Southern Table & Bar tapped into this delicious match-up in an elevated, modern way when it opened in Miami in 2011. An overnight success, it was nominated for a James Beard Award and named Best New Restaurant by Bon Appetit magazine. Its popularity led to rapid expansion, and today, in addition to Miami, there are locations in Las Vegas (in the Venetian Casino Resort), Dallas, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and Singapore 
Menus and beverage lists vary slightly due to the regional focus of each, but the signature cocktails and dishes are consistent across the board. For instance, the bestselling cocktail at all locations is the Yardbird Old Fashioned, made with bacon-infused Wild Turkey, maple syrup, water, and angostura and orange...

Whisky can be transportive, evoking memories of places you've been and trips you've taken. Distillers know this well and sometimes use it to great effect. Look to Dr. Bill Lumsden, the director of whisky creation for Glenmorangie and Ardbeg, who has time and again used his own experiences as inspiration for his creations. In the Glenmorangie "A Tale Of" series, he's explored Scottish forests and the delights of enjoying a dram by the fire, and now he's fathoming Tokyo through a glass with Glenmorangie's A Tale of Tokyo release. And while only the most adventurous among us have been to the  Isle of Harris, this tiny island in the Outer Hebrides has a distillery. This week it introduces The Hearach, its very first single malt—a  gently peated Islands expression that arrived on the eighth anniversary of the distillery's opening. That one seems likely to be a transportive experience of its own.
Isle of Harris isn't...

‘Tis almost the season for giving, and Buffalo Trace is getting ahead of the game with a new charitable initiative, “100 Bourbon Sets for 100 Charities.” The philanthropic effort pays homage to Buffalo Trace founding father Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr., who was an instrumental figure in the passage of the Bottled in Bond Act in 1897. Why honor that specific legacy, you may ask? Buffalo Trace says that Taylor’s support of the Bottled in Bond Act was fundamentally about bettering bourbon for everyone, from distillers to consumers to entire communities, by standardizing higher-quality whiskey. Its legacy actually goes far beyond whiskey—the Act is considered one of the laws that led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which itself eventually resulted in the creation of the modern-day Food and Drug Administration. One of the requirements central to Bottled in Bond whiskey is that it be 100 proof; while not all the whiskeys in the bourbon sets will clock...

For decades, Denny Potter and Jane Bowie both enjoyed what they call “the two greatest jobs in the industry.” The pair met at Maker’s Mark in 2006, when Potter was in his third year as distillery manager and Bowie had just been hired as a global brand ambassador. A fast friendship followed. While Potter left Maker’s Mark in 2010 and went on to have stints at Cruzan Rum and Heaven Hill before ultimately landing back at Maker’s in 2018, Bowie stayed on for 16 years; she eventually became the distillery’s head of blending and innovation. Then, last fall, despite having ample security with those “two greatest jobs,” Potter and Bowie left Maker’s (on great terms, they emphasize) to pursue a shared dream of running their own distillery.
“You always imagine going out on your own, and what you would do,” says Bowie. “We used to play distillery fantasy camp; what kind of fermentation cycles would you have, or how...

Last autumn, Jack Daniel’s made its entry into American single malt (ASM) with its Twice Barreled American single malt, a limited expression that was part of its Special Releases series. Now Jack has taken the next step into ASM with today’s release of Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt, which for now will be available in Travel Retail only. It will take some time for this whiskey to become part of the permanent lineup, but that’s the clear direction.
The new Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt is effectively the same liquid that formed the Special Releases series, and it’s quite the sherried affair. The whiskey was made from a mashbill of 100% pale malt, which is different from the distiller’s malt used in all other Jack Daniel’s whiskeys. Though it carries no age statement, the whiskey was distilled and barreled in 2015, entering new charred and toasted barrels. In early 2020 it was filled into sherry butts—the...

A bounty of new whiskies is on offer this week, with American whiskey weighing in heavily as usual. Blackened and Rabbit Hole have teamed up on a collaborative bourbon, while Russell’s Reserve offers its second single rickhouse release. Still Austin has a new bottled in bond high-rye bourbon, and Ross & Squibb is asking a cool $200 for its 15 year old limited edition Remus Gatsby Reserve. In scotch whisky, we all received great news with the return of Glenglassaugh. This distillery was acquired by Jack Daniel's owner Brown-Forman back in 2016, and that purchase also included Benriach and GlenDronach. While we've seen master blender Rachel Barrie turn her formidable talents to Benriach and GlenDronach, it's been a quiet time for Glenglassaugh. But now it's back and with a troika of new releases that should delight single malt scotch drinkers. Also from Scotland, Johnnie Walker Blue has a new collaborative effort...

Update November 20, 2024: During November and December, Buffalo Trace Distillery London is offering blending classes on Wednesdays and Saturdays at its Convent Garden outpost. Each guided 1-hour session accommodates 10 guests. Participants create three blends using Buffalo Trace whiskeys. The cost is $35 per person. Details and online reservations are available here.
 
 


Fans of ‘80s horror flicks will be no stranger to  American werewolves In London, but what about American whiskeys in London? Later this year, Buffalo Trace will put down roots in England’s capital, bringing its whiskeys, wares, and a real taste of bourbon country to the city, in a move that’s the first of its kind for any American distillery.
Buffalo Trace's new, 2,000-square-foot location will be on Long Acre in London’s Covent Garden, the West End neighborhood famous for its shopping, restaurants, and...

Diageo has revealed the details of this year’s Special Releases collection, its annual limited-edition lineup of eight cask-strength collectible scotch whiskies. Released under the name Spirited Xchange,  this year’s Special Release's expressions were curated for the first time by master blender Dr. Stuart Morrison. One key highlight is a 12 year old single malt from Roseisle—it’s the first-ever bottling from this large distillery built along the Moray coastline (Speyside) back in 2010 to supply malt whisky for Diageo’s blends.  There’s also a non-age stated  Mortlach finished in whisky casks from Kanosuke Distillery in Japan. The oldest bottling in this year’s collection is a 27 year old from Lowland distillery Glenkinchie, marking its first Special Releases appearance since 2016. The Singleton of Glendullan is included for the first time since 2021, but all the others in the collection—Mortlach, Clynelish, Talisker...

The drumbeat of craft distillery acquisitions continues, as this week brought news of Maryland rye maker Sagamore Spirit being acquired by Illva Saronno, the Italian drinks company best known for its Disaronno amaretto liqueur brand. Sagamore's story is one that any whisky lover can appreciate: it was founded by the deep-pocketed Kevin Plank, famous for his Under Armour sportswear brand, who spared no expense in launching Sagamore's distillery on Baltimore's waterfront back in 2017. From the start, the company has been serious about its mission to restore Maryland rye's reputation, and its own-make whiskey is just now starting to come of age. In an interesting twist, yesterday Illva Saronno also unveiled a new amaro label called Sagamore Spirit Amaro, which includes Sagamore Spirit rye distillate.
Earlier this week, Diageo announced the fourth release of its coveted Prima & Ultima whiskies. This year's edition marks the first time this collection of...

When Sagamore Spirit opened its modern, expansive distillery on Baltimore’s waterfront back in 2017, it was embarking on a full-tilt mission to revive Maryland’s vanished rye whiskey tradition. Prior to Prohibition, there were as many as 44 rye makers in Maryland,  but that number had dwindled to nothing by the end of the 20th century. By far the biggest rye distiller in the state, Sagamore focuses exclusively on making rye. Initially relying on MGP for its spirit, the company has gradually incorporated its own-make rye into its whiskeys, and results have been positive, with its ratings moving up accordingly in Whisky Advocate’s Buying Guide.
This morning, Sagamore Spirit announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Illva Saronno, the Italian drinks company most famous for its Disaronno amaretto liqueur brand. The agreement was struck with Sagamore Spirit founder Kevin Plank, best known for his sportswear company Under Armour, and it calls for Illva...

Diageo is getting set to release its annual edition of Prima & Ultima, its most collectible whiskies on offer. This year’s edition, which goes on sale next month, contains 8 bottles in all, as with previous releases. Only 413 sets will be available for sale, at a price of £45,580 ($56,865), up 25% from last year. The company has created a web page for collectors to log on and register their interest at theprimaandultimacollection.com, and that site will close on October 11.
Whiskies in the collection are from Brora,  Clynelish, Lagavulin, Pittyvaich, Oban, Port Ellen, The Singleton of Dufftown, and Talisker. Highlights from this year’s releases include a Talisker 46 year old (its oldest bottling ever), the last 1996 Oban casks from 1996,  the last 1977 American oak hogheads from Brora, the last 1978 American oak hogsheads from Port Ellen, and the final 30 year old from Pittyvaich. Read on for more details.

Brora 1977
Style: Single...

Considering Chicago’s historical ties to notorious bootlegging mobsters, perhaps it’s not surprising that today the city has quite a robust—and nowadays legal—distilling scene. There’s plenty to explore throughout the city, especially for whisky lovers.
Koval Distillery was the first to open after Prohibition—in 2008—and offers a line of single barrel whiskeys, including bourbon, rye, four grain (oat, malted barley, rye, and wheat), millet, and oat; Chicago Distilling Co. and Judson and Moore Distillery both offer bourbons, ryes, and American single malts; Maplewood Brewery & Distillery makes single malts and ryes; Wolf Point Distilling makes bourbon and rye; and although CH Distillery specializes in vodka, it’s also home to Jeppson’s bourbon, plus Jeppson’s Malört, a traditional wormwood-based digestif that has achieved cult status with Chicagoans. And just outside the city, there’s FEW Spirits in...

It’s the season of Octomore, the ultra-peated annual whisky from Islay’s Bruichladdich Distillery that is now in its 14th edition. Octomore 14 comes in the usual three separate Octomore offerings, and all three are available in the U.S. That’s a welcome departure from some years ago when only two of the three expressions were shipped stateside. These ultra-peated gems are noteworthy for their young age profile, heavily peated mashbills, and high ABVs, which somehow all combine to produce a remarkably gentle, complex, and tasty whisky. This year’s releases will be reviewed soon, but they were already showing beautifully in our initial tasting.
Elsewhere in the whisky world, Eifel Whisky from Germany is out with three new releases, while Israel’s Milk & Honey has a special edition for the High Holy Day of Rosh Hashana. Scotch whisky maker Wolfburn has released its first-ever 10 year old expression as part of its core lineup...

So many new releases this week! We decided that we can’t possibly fit them all without creating a post that resembles a whisky encyclopedia, so today’s Whisky Weekend will feature only the  latest American whiskey offerings. On Monday, we’ll post a second run of new releases, and those will feature Scotland, Ireland, and other places beyond our shores.
Here at home, multiple bottle releases seem to be the thing these days. We posted Lost Lantern’s Summer of Bourbon range a few weeks back, a lineup of eight whiskeys in all, and this week we feature Tennessee’s Old Dominick Distillery, which offers six new expressions. Elsewhere, there’s a new bonded Jack Daniel’s in town, and this time it’s a rye. Meanwhile, the explosion in cask-finished bourbons continues, with Barrel’s new rum cask and amburana finished whiskeys, as well as a new stout-cask finished expression from...

Our latest crop of new ratings includes two scotch whiskies, two bourbons, and one rye. Among the scotch whiskies is a highly rated 25 year old from the Isle of Skye label, which at $210 represents a relative bargain in the world of ultra-aged spirits. The other scotch is an unusual one—leading with malted rye, accompanied by malted barley to fill out the rest of the mashbill recipe. Elsewhere, we rate Little Book’s Chapter 7 In Retrospect, which combines the subtotal of master distiller Freddie Noe’s body of work on this project, and it’s excellent. Also checking in is Hemingway rye, a relative newcomer with a mission to make top-flight rye whiskeys in Kentucky. Read on for more details.

95 Little Book Chapter 07: In Retrospect, 59.01%, $150
A blend of the six preceding Little Book releases along with a new component. In total, it includes five straight bourbons aged 18, 17 10, 9, and 4 years, a 5 year old straight malt whiskey finished in...

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that’s certainly the case at Haywire, a bar and restaurant in Plano that holds 600 people, with several distinct indoor and outdoor spaces across three levels. On the open-air rooftop alone, there’s a bar with high-back stools, outdoor dining tables, a classic Airstream camper cut open and filled with couches, firepits surrounded by Adirondack chairs, and three six-person climate-controlled canvas A-frame tents, for a Wild West vibe.

The second floor is conventional full-service table seating for the upscale restaurant, which specializes in high-end steaks and refined comfort food with Texas-sourced ingredients including locally farm-raised beef. There’s also a bar where guests look into the open kitchen, and all of the food and drinks are available anywhere within the complex, including the three bars. Plano is an affluent Dallas suburb, and Haywire sits in a pedestrian mixed-used development, across the street...

At the rooftop bar of the Hotel Viking in Newport, Rhode Island, assistant beverage director Christina Mercado notes that the summer cocktails they serve tend to be tall and sparkling or bright and tart, but with her In The Sand drink, she wanted to step out of that box. “I wanted this cocktail to be something to sip by the fire on a warm night,” she says. “A bright stone fruit-focused cocktail that’s elegant, spirit-forward, and served up.”
In The Sand features Clonakilty Bordeaux Cask Irish whiskey, Pimm’s No. 1 liqueur, Cointreau orange liqueur, and Giffard Crème de Pêche peach liqueur. “I chose Clonakilty Bordeaux Cask for this drink because of its profile: It’s a soft whiskey with awesome red berry notes, honey, and spice,” Mercado says. “It’s not heavy on the oak, vanilla, leather, or tannic profiles that you can see in other whiskeys; it has a soft fruitiness that plays...

We're set to kick off the season—no, not football, although there is that too. The season for big-time whisky releases is upon us. From Kentucky, Four Roses just announced its annual Limited Edition Small Batch, this one a celebration of its 135th anniversary, while Michter's is back with US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish rye. Both will drop in September. Meanwhile, Parker's Heritage has unveiled its annual release, and it's a 10 year old cask-strength rye. And Little Book is out with Chapter 7, an intriguing retrospective blending one component each from Chapters 1-6 and then adding a new whiskey for Chapter 7.
From Islay, Ardbeg's Dr. Bill Lumsden is at it again with the new Ardbeg Anthology series, the inaugural release highlighted by Sauternes cask finishing in the mix. The Sauternes cask is not often seen on  Islay, though it has been used by Kilchoman and  Bunnahabhain. From Speyside, Balvenie has another...

Sure, single barrel whiskey may sound simple in theory—it’s drawn from just one barrel. But there’s more to it than that. What’s important isn't just the barrel, but where that barrel spends its years maturing. Not every spot in the warehouse is the same, and whisky makers frequently have their preferences. Whisky Advocate spoke to six master distillers from Kentucky and Tennessee to learn about their favorite locations for hunting up single barrels, and their answers show just how important it is. The differences in warehouse types—some are many stories high, others are just one tall story, some are made of brick, and others are crafted from steel— also become a factor in how temperature changes, sun exposure, and other elements impact the flavor profile of a single barrel whiskey.

BUFFALO TRACE
Frankfort, Kentucky
Warehouse type: Racked warehouses that are constructed...

Nashville’s Rutledge Hill neighborhood is tranquil and charming, yet it’s right downtown and only minutes away from all the city has to offer. Rutledge Hill is also where you’ll find  Husk Nashville, located within a stately Victorian mansion. But inside, there’s nothing quaint about this restaurant’s design, which is ultra-modern and airy, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and a bar off the dining room that crafts contemporary cocktails, highlighting whiskeys from local producers including Nelson’s Green Brier, Willett Distillery, and Bardstown Bourbon Company.
The place has an extensive whiskey list, with over 35 bourbon offerings that feature 2-ounce pours of anything from Four Roses Small Batch Select ($22) to Nelson Bros. Mourvèdre Cask Finish ($36), with rye coming in second, featuring more than a dozen options to choose from, including Elijah Craig ($15) and Whistle Pig 12 year old ($49). A small selection of...

The whisky scene was abuzz this week about the story of Mary Dowling, and the release of two whiskeys bearing her name. Dowling (1859-1930) was a distillery owner, entrepreneur, accused bootlegger, and all-around brilliant businesswoman with one of the most remarkable careers in whisky history (see below). She's perhaps best noted for relocating her entire distilling operation down to Juarez, Mexico during the Prohibition years, outsmarting the law and her competitors. Rabbit Hole founder Kaveh Zamanian of Louisville has created two whiskeys under the Mary Dowling name to honor her legacy. While the announcement is not quite accurate in saying that Dowling's story has never been told—she was featured in Fred Minnick's 2013 book Whiskey Women, among other places—dedicating whiskeys to her name is a home run of an idea. We haven't tasted the whiskeys yet, and we certainly hope they...

Here for your reading pleasure are some of the latest scores and reviews from the Whisky Advocate tasting panel. The art of barrel finishing stands front and center on this list, with the inclusion of high-scoring expressions finished in rum, tequila, and pineau des charentes casks. Another thread is the art of aging, as Very Old St Nick takes its place among some of the best-aged bourbons, and  Colorado distiller Laws Whiskey House has offered its oldest wheat whiskey yet, at 7 years of age. These entries represent just some of our reviews and ratings, all of which will be published in our Buying Guide in the Fall issue.


96 Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Voyage, 53%, $275
The first rum cask expression in Wild Turkey’s history, done in collaboration with Dr. Joy Spence of Jamaica’s Appleton Estate. This Master’s Keep expression is an absolute stunner, though a bit more pricey than previous editions. The Master’s...

Las Vegas locals famously avoid The Strip’s mega-casino resort venues, but many make an exception for The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails in the Cosmopolitan. With its own separate space and live music nightly, it feels like a real bar, not an open-air pedestal in a sea of slot machines. Set immediately off the smaller of the resort’s Las Vegas Boulevard entrances on the corner by the Bellagio, it’s actually much easier to reach than most casino lounges—no matter where you stay on The Strip. For whisky lovers, music lovers, and bar lovers, it’s worth seeking out.

The entrance is an actual barbershop (10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and till midnight Friday and Saturday), where you can get a haircut ($70) or a straight-razor shave ($50). Those services all include complimentary well pours (Jack Daniel’s, Jameson, and Maker’s Mark). The Saloon, a speakeasy lounge, is hidden behind this, but even when it’s closed the full whisky...

This latest crop of new scores and reviews features the most recent sherry finish from McCarthy’s, as well as Old Forester 117 Bottled in Bond, Beam's new release from the Hardin's Creek Kentucky Series,  and two new whiskeys from Lost Lantern’s Summer of Bourbon series. We review the second edition in the James B. Beam Distilling Co. Hardin’s Creek line: Frankfort. These reviews represent just some of our reviews and ratings. There are plenty more to come, all of which will be featured in our Fall issue.

95 McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Oloroso Cask Finished 6 year old Limited Release 2023, 56%, $120     
The renowned McCarthy’s single malt from Hood River Distillers in Oregon traditionally was a 3 year old expression, but lately it's been making a bigger commitment to aged whiskies. Last year came the release of a 6 year old, followed by a 6 year old finished in PX sherry casks, and now this year’s 6 year old...

Whatever happened to the dog days of summer? The whisky world has been keeping us busy lately with new releases from distillers far and wide. We've been tasting some excellent ones, as attested by some of our latest new whisky ratings. This week, there's more. Baker's is back with its 13 year old expression, which we haven't seen since 2019. Hardin's Creek has dropped the second release in its three-part Kentucky Series (the third is due in September), while Elijah Craig honors the players at golf's Ryder Cup with a new bourbon finished in toasted European oak. WhistlePig is out with FarmStock Beyond Bonded, which is actually 3 bottlings—a bourbon, rye, and wheat whiskey, all of them single barrels. And whisky purists, take cover! Glenlivet has just released two pre-made cocktails, a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned, in 375 ml bottles. Back in 2019 Glenlivet briefly stepped outside the box with its Capsule Collection, described as "glassless cocktails" wrapped...

Armagnac, cognac’s less famous cousin, is distilled from a blend of grapes in Gascony, France. It’s a niche spirit in the U.S., and whiskies finished in armagnac barrels are even more so. The spirit’s history stretches back to the early 14th century, and while it shares DNA with France’s more well-known brandy, armagnac’s single distillation and unique aeration and aging—distillers aerate the spirit by periodically rebarreling the armagnac, with some producers doing this yearly—give the spirit character all its own.
Often, armagnac-finished whiskies are released as limited editions, like Yellowstone’s 2020 special release, or retailer single barrel bottlings, like the occasional armagnac-finished releases from High West, which often go to stores like California’s K&L Wine Merchants or the Midwest’s Binny’s Beverage Depot.
While armagnac-finished whiskies are still few in number, recent years have seen...

As reported earlier this morning in our sister publication, Shanken News Daily, Kentucky bourbon maker Blue Run Spirits has been acquired by North American brewer Molson Coors. The Blue Run whiskey team, led by liquid advisor Jim Rutledge and whiskey director Shaylyn Gammon, will remain in place—as will the company’s founders, Mike Montgomery, Tim Sparapani, Jesse McKnight, and Andy Brown.
Founded in 2020, Blue Run has gotten off to a fast start, sparked initially by the name recognition of Rutledge, best known for his legendary role in revitalizing Four Roses. To date, the company has released 15 different whiskeys, with three more on the way this year. Its offerings have garnered consistently high scores from Whisky Advocate, nearly all in the 90-91 point range, the highest-rated being its 13 year old Kentucky straight bourbon, which scored 91 points in 2021. 
Blue Run’s two core expressions are Reflection 1 Kentucky straight bourbon and Kentucky...

When it comes to making whiskey cocktails, people often go straight to bourbon or rye—and indeed, many classic recipes were invented with these styles in mind. Irish whiskey may not have the storied cocktail history of its American counterparts, but it’s just as mixable with a wide variety of ingredients and worthy of the spotlight in the cocktail realm.
Patrick McGoldrick, beverage director at Afterbar in Chicago, believes that Irish whiskey is one of the most essential and versatile spirits in the world. “It’s incredibly accessible to novices and whisky veterans with its smooth and balanced sweetness,” he says. “This makes it a wonderful choice for both sour-style drinks as well as spirit-forward ones.”
Irish whiskey in fact offers something for every type of whisky drinker: It shares similarities with scotch due to the malted barley in its mashbill, but its lack of big, bold smokiness in favor of subtler sweet and fruity qualities...

August has started off with a bang, with plenty of new whiskies ripe for drinking. From Japan (and America) comes a new iteration of Legent from Beam Suntory, this one with a Yamazaki cask finish. Another intercontinental effort is Campfire from High West, that ingenious blend of rye, bourbon, and scotch whisky, whose annual release was announced this week. And pop icon Rod Stewart becomes the latest rocker to release a whisky—but if you're inclined to skip past it, note that it's made at Loch Lomond Distillery, so it definitely seems worth a look. Also from Scotland, Gordon & Macphail has released six new single malt bottlings, with vintage statements ranging from 1976–1997. There's a 1997 Imperial in there for $550—yes, that's the cheapest one—and things get very pricey from there.
On our side of the Atlantic, McCarthy's is back with its 6 year old expression, this one finished in Oloroso sherry casks. Barrell Craft Spirits...

Chances are if you mention peat to another whisky drinker, you’ll spark a strong reaction. Peated whiskies aren’t for the faint of palate; their often intense flavors, which run the gamut from iodine, asphalt, soot, seaweed, and burnt ends, are over the top from first sip to last. Peated whiskies are most often associated with Scotland, and specifically Islay, where brooding bogs of sphagnum moss elicit that signature smoke that defines the island’s single malts. There, peat is incorporated into the malting process, during which the barley is smoked over a peat-fed fire, picking up pungent flavors as the smoke is absorbed into the grains.
Slowly but surely, more peated whiskeys are being made in the U.S. The easiest way for American distillers to get that peaty flavor in their own whiskeys is by using peated malt from Scotland. This is a popular route—earlier this year Buffalo Trace debuted a peated bourbon that substituted its regular barley with peated...

Once upon a time, Irish whiskeys could be accused of sameness, but that’s no longer true. In recent years Ireland has been among the most innovative of the major whisky nations, partly due to its good fortune of having some creative leeway in its production regulations. The new distillers that emerged in Ireland over the past decade have waited patiently for their whiskeys to mature and they’re releasing them. Meanwhile, the traditional players—Jameson, Bushmills, Redbreast, Powers, and the Spots—have been unveiling a host of new expressions. Here’s a list of our top-scoring Irish whiskeys to sip.
91 Bushmills 12 year old Single Malt 40% • $60
Date loaf, sweet fig, chocolate orange, oak, black tea, walnut, and honey
89 The Busker Single Malt 44.3% • $30
Toffee, apple, sultana, vanilla, chocolate ganache, spices, caramel, and rich fruit
89 Clonakilty Double Oak Single Malt 43.6% • $50
Lychee, fresh...

Wine cask finishing has long been part of the whisky maker's repertoire, and in recent years such expressions have become ever more plentiful. Three of our Top 20 Whiskies of 2022 were finished in wine casks: Tomintoul Cigar Malt Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish (No.-12), Blackened Rye The Lightning Double Cask Madeira and Rum Finished (No.-14), and Indri Trini The Three Wood (No.-17). Our most recent Buying Guide also featured a range of four age-stated Japanese single malts from Hakata, all sherry cask-finished and all scoring between 93 and 96. But while port, madeira, and sherry casks may live in the limelight, there’s one type of wine cask that’s more quietly been part of the scene for quite some time: tokaji (pronounced tow KAA jee).
Tokaji is an unfortified dessert wine from the Tokaji wine region in northeastern Hungary and part of Slovakia, a particularly hilly area near the Carpathian Mountains. The wine is made entirely from white grapes from one of six...

This week’s big news is a new tequila-finished Tennessee whiskey from Jack Daniel Distillery, though unfortunately the size of the release doesn’t quite match the magnitude of the headlines. The tequila finish is part of the Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series, a succession of experimental whiskeys that are packaged in 375 ml bottles and sold only at the distillery and a few Tennessee retailers. We wish Jack would make these experiments more widely available, but can’t complain, as we’ve seen some serious innovation from the Lynchburg, Tennessee distillery in recent years, including its 10 and 12 year old releases, as well as a Tennessee rye and a limited run American single malt.
Elsewhere, Garrison Brothers is out with Laguna Madre, its annual aged bourbon release that's highly sought-after. And it’s rock and roll time, as Catoctin Creek offers another release in its Ragnarök Rye series, and Lynyrd Skynyrd turns it up with Hell...

If you’ve ever wanted a quick course on American single malt (ASM), Virginia Distillery Co. has you covered. The distillery just launched “ASM Academy,” a free, comprehensive educational guide to all things American single malt. “This is an online training portal with videos and quizzes, and it’s not just about our products, or our company—we talk about other American single malt producers as well, and the whiskey’s greater history,” says Virginia Distillery Co.’s lead blender Amanda Beckwith. “Regular fans can get into it, and it can also be a real training tool for other producers, distributors, and bars and restaurants.”
The course features 28 lessons and 30 minutes of video content, with videos ranging from matters as simple as “What is Single Malt?” and “ASM Regions”—an overview of the various regional differences between American single malts—to a detailed...

Gordon & MacPhail, the scotch whisky industry’s longest-operating independent bottler, will no longer participate in that business, the company announced this morning. G&M will halt new cask fillings starting in 2024 to focus on its own distilleries, Benromach and The Cairn. The company’s existing whisky stocks for independent bottlings will be depleted over the coming decades as it focuses on building its own single malt brands as part of a long–term growth strategy
Gordon & MacPhail has been in business for 128 years and has filled casks at over 100 different scotch whisky distilleries, helping to pioneer the popularity of single malt scotch whisky. The Elgin-based company, run for generations by the Urquhart family, became a distiller itself when it bought the shuttered Speyside distillery Benromach in 1993 and restarted production there in 1998. It also owns The Cairn Distillery in Speyside, which opened in 2022, and will debut with a 12 year old...

Summer is getaway time, and if London is on your radar screen, check out our London travel guide. If Ireland is in the plan, consider a side trip to Northern Ireland, where Belfast is reviving its old reputation as a whiskey city and other parts of the north are in renaissance mode as well. Read all about it in our profile of the distilleries of Northern Ireland. Of course, if you're staying close to home, you'll have a chance to keep an eye on the latest new releases. This week marked the arrival of two new single malt scotches from Benromach, a new bonded bourbon has joined the Old Forester 117 Series,  Lux Row is offering a new four-grain bourbon, and new American Single Malts are out from Dogfish Head, Copperworks, and Old Line. Meanwhile, Lost Lantern is unveiling its Summer of Bourbon, a collection of eight bourbons from distilleries around the country. Read on for further details.
Old Forester...

Early July saw brisk sales across auction houses with a number of high-value sales. Our focus this week covers activity at three online auction houses, including Whisky-Online Auction’s sale of Brora 40 year old, which achieved the year’s highest hammer price for the Brora 40 year old to date. Elsewhere, Sotheby’s held a small online sale of iconic vintages of Macallan that produced the three highest hammer prices of the month so far: Macallan The Reach 81 year old ($222,606), Macallan Tales of the Macallan Volume 1 ($72,020), and Macallan Anniversary Malt 1928 50 year old ($65,472). Overall, it’s clear that the summer season hasn’t slowed the enthusiasm for collectible whisky.
 Whisky Auctioneer
Auction ended July 10th


Japanese: Karuizawa Noh Whisky 1971 41 year old Cask No. 1842, $51,347. We last saw this bottle in our list of highest hammer prices in April, when it sold at the same auction house for $61,786...

The phoenix is a mythological bird that rises from the dead, like the story of Four Roses Bourbon at age 135.
To arise, a phoenix must die, of course, but Four Roses didn’t just die. It was murdered.
Four Roses was born in 1888, in Atlanta. Paul Jones moved the business to Kentucky a few years later and Four Roses became an international success as a Kentucky straight bourbon. After the founding family sold it to Seagram Company Ltd. in the 1940s, Four Roses was converted into an American blended whiskey.
A Canadian distiller, Seagram made blends in Canada and thought that was what we should drink down here too. For Seagram owner Sam Bronfman, it was an article of faith. “Distilling is a science. Blending is an art,” is probably his most famous quote.
Seagram made blends in different grades, based on the ratio of straight whiskey to nearly-neutral grain whiskey, very much as Scottish merchant blenders had done since the early 19th century. Under...

Amid all the excitement over Ireland’s whiskey renaissance, Northern Ireland is frequently overlooked. While sectarian differences have long separated the North from the Republic, both sides share many things in common—not least of which is a formidable pedigree in whiskey. If Dublin was the epicenter of global whiskey making in the late 19th century and the early 20th, Belfast in the north was its great rival. The biggest Belfast whiskey names—Dunville & Co., J.&J. McConnell, McElvey, Cromac, Avoniel, and Royal Irish—were vast facilities, exporting millions of barrels of their whiskeys around the world. Their immense bonded warehouses were an imposing presence on the city’s vibrant commercial landscape.

 

1 Scott’s Irish Whisky
2 Boatyard Distillery
3 Wild Atlantic Gin School & Distillery
4 An Carn Derry (under construction)
5 Old Bushmills Distillery
6 Glens of Antrim Distillery
7...

Among this week's new whiskies, Heaven's Door has released its first bourbon that includes distillate from its own backyard. Earlier this year, Heaven's Door announced plans to open a Kentucky distillery in the scenic town of Pleasureville, the heart of bourbon country. The Pleasureville distillery has actually been in development since 2017 and making small batches there since 2018 on a custom Vendome still. But in September the place will open its doors to the public, to reveal a campus with two separate stillhouses, a visitor center, tasting rooms, and other amenities. Back in 2019, Heaven's Door was mapping plans to open a distillery and brand center in a 160 year old church in Nashville, which it acquired in 2016. That site will now be used as the headquarters of The Heaven's Door Foundation, the company's philanthropy arm supporting charities and the arts. 
Among other new releases, Kentucky distiller New Riff and Idaho-based Grand Teton Distillery...

For many years after the near-collapse of the Irish whiskey industry in the 1960s and ’70s, innovative whiskey making in Ireland was nearly extinct. That dearth of artistry was by necessity, as all efforts were centered on just a handful of brands in order to get Irish whiskey back on its feet again. The wilderness years lasted nearly three decades, but Irish whiskey creativity has finally returned to the fore, with innovators tapping into terroir, creating modern twists on Irish whiskey’s past, and pushing the envelope on flavor. Here’s a look at what’s happening.
Boann Distillery
Salvaging History in a Dram
Boann Distillery started making whiskey in 2019, and is using the past to inspire the future. Soon after opening, Boann partnered with Irish whiskey historian and author Fionnán O’Connor on its vintage mashbills project to test 10 historic recipes. Since then it has been on a mission to be one of the more creative players in the...

Western Pennsylvania whiskey maker Liberty Pole Spirits has relocated to a new facility within its hometown of Washington, Pennsylvania, about 28 miles south of Pittsburgh. Its original location in downtown Washington had been open since 2016, and now its owners, the Hough family, have built a new and substantially expanded distillery.

Washington and the surrounding area of Washington County are located in the historic farm country of the Whiskey Rebellion, which took place from 1791-94. In keeping with the Hough family’s longstanding commitment to local whiskey history, the new distillery is fronted by a strikingly accurate reconstruction of an 18th-century stone meetinghouse—like those where the rebels met to oppose Alexander Hamilton’s whiskey tax. Inside are two bars serving cocktails, neat pours, local beer, and small bites in a colonial atmosphere that includes four stone fireplaces. The meetinghouse also has a retail shop offering the full range of...

Cherry flavors can surface throughout the entire whisky tasting experience— from the aroma to the palate and into the finish—from the first sniff of a freshly picked ripe red cherry to the sensation of biting into the crimson flesh of a glossy black variety. When picking out descriptors, the sensations evoke more than just the flavor of individual cherries; it can be concentrated and intensified in jams, jelly, candies, and dried cherries; it can be found in cocktail cherries, sour morello cherries, and sticky glacé cherries. They are packed with dried vine fruit and nutty flavors in rich fruitcakes, nestled under a sweet pastry lattice in deep cherry pies, erupting from fresh-baked cobblers and crumbles with bubbling juices, or lying sandwiched between chocolate sponge and whipped cream in black forest gateau. Cherries and beverages mix well too, and aside from cherry brandies and maraschino liqueurs, you can buy cherry-flavored cordials, sodas, colas, bitters...

Ireland’s spectacular west coast features some of the most stunning coastal scenery on earth. It’s a paradise for surfers, walkers, sailors, history buffs, food lovers, and whiskey fans—offering an epic coastline-hugging journey of 1,600 miles through ancient lands where towering cliffs have withstood the raw power of Atlantic waves for thousands of years. The route wends around the headlands of Cork in Ireland’s southwest, all the way up to Donegal in the northwest. Its shores fire the imagination with craggy islands, historic treasures, natural wonders, magnificent castles, quaint harbors, colorful towns, and deserted beaches. The entire route takes at least a week or two to cover, and more time will be required if you want to visit distilleries and sample the fine fare at the pubs along the way. But you don’t have to tackle it all, of course. The route can be started from either end, but since vehicles in Ireland drive on the left, go south to north if...

Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. master distiller Caleb Kilburn and chief operating officer Cordell Lawrence are leaving the company to launch new distillery in Eastern Kentucky. The venture, to be called Eastern Light Distilling, will be built from the ground up in Rowan County near the town of Morehead, about 66 miles east of Lexington, and will represent an investment of more than $143.7 million.
The business plan calls for Eastern Light to be a custom contract distiller for craft whiskey makers—a model similar to those at Bardstown Bourbon Co. and MGP. The new facility will have a production capacity of 90,000 barrels annually, making a variety of whiskeys including bourbon and rye, but not limited to those. Both Kilburn and Lawrence will stay on at Peerless while they get the new project underway.
The new project is expected to create a total of 50 new jobs, not including the construction work need to build the site. Little was disclosed about the...

Throughout my childhood in Montréal, summer vacations were spent in Maine. Each July, my parents would bundle us kids into the family car for the long drive to Kennebunkport, where we would spend days on the beach and nights at the self-catering School Days Inn.
For my mother and father, a highlight of the trip was the opportunity to dine on lobster, an experience pretty much confined to high-end restaurants back when the Atlantic fisheries weren’t as developed as they are today. And because my siblings and I were freaked out by these odd-looking creatures, we were more than content to eat hot dogs in front of the television while my parents cracked claws by candlelight.
I don’t recall what they chose to accompany their lobster back then, but I’m pretty sure my parents weren’t drinking any sort of whisky. Which is a shame, because so long as the heft of the spirit is kept in check, whisky can be a superb companion to all sorts of...

A beautiful thing happens when whiskey meets a teaspoon (or mountain) of sugar. The bold flavors of a neat pour are eased into a delectable saccharine hug—all of its warmth and unique flavors left to be enjoyed. Whiskey desserts aren’t anything new, but there’s a lot more on the roster than the classic Irish coffee cake. Though whiskey’s rich and buttery mouthfeel holds up against other ingredients that have a bitter edge, like chocolate and coffee, it also is a natural pair for less acerbic, but equally rich flavors such as stone fruits, berries, vanilla, and caramel. All of this offers a platform for whiskey to take the stage in sweet treats. 
When it comes to your choice of whiskey, a few general tips prevail. Vanilla-tinged spirits like bourbon, Tennessee, and American rye whiskeys make a great addition, bringing out the round, soft flavors of the dessert’s sweetness while adding some punch to keep it interesting. Corn and Canadian whisky, on...

When the nice weather arrives, there’s no better place to be than the great outdoors. Chances are you’ll want to enjoy a dram outside now and again—whether it’s an evening at the park, a trip to the beach, an open-air concert, a party, or any other outdoor event. We've put together a list of equipment to make the most of your al fresco affair, so ditch the clunky cooler, leave the breakable glassware, and check out these stylish alternatives to enhance the experience.
Among this week's new whiskies, Blackened is back with a new limited-edition bottle that celebrates Metallica’s 72 Seasons album and M72 world tour, Four Roses has come out with a nifty sample pack of the 10 component whiskeys used in making its various bourbons, and Frey Ranch brings a cask strength bourbon to the table. Read on for full details.
Blackened 72 Seasons Limited Edition
Style: Blend
Origin: Multiple
Age: Not...

Four Roses, beloved by bourbon devotees, is known for a somewhat unusual regimen of making whiskey. It distills using two separate mashbills and five different yeast strains. The result is 10 unique whiskeys, which are then blended in a variety of ways.
But rarely are these 10 separate whiskeys tasted alone, and so most Four Roses fans don’t get a chance to appreciate them individually. There are a few exceptions, such as the Four Roses single barrel expressions, but these whiskeys are mainly used as blending components, much like the single malts in a blended scotch.
Now, finally, Four Roses is offering a chance to taste all 10 whiskeys independently, in the form of a 10-pack of 50-ml bottles. Availability will be somewhat limited, unfortunately. The 10-pack goes on sale starting June 30 at Four Roses’ visitor centers in Lawrenceburg and Coxs Creek, Kentucky. In July, it will become available at select retailers in California, Georgia, Illinois, and Kentucky...

In planning out a wedding day, selecting a special location is the first big step. Once upon a time, a distillery wouldn’t have been on the menu of choices. But as whiskey has grown ever more popular, distilleries and matrimony have become an unlikely pair. Weddings, meet whiskey.
Distillers around the country have added event spaces to host weddings, creating distinct and memorable places where brides and grooms can celebrate their love—for each other, of course, but also for their favorite spirit. You can get married in the rickhouse, have your reception in the tasting room, and take photos next to stills. Your guests can sample the distillery’s whiskeys and tour areas that aren’t usually open to the public.

“From the barrels to the stills, distillery properties offer really unique elements that a traditional wedding venue won’t have,” says Becca George, owner and event planner at Nashville, Tennessee-based wedding firm Modern...

There’s no shortage of great whisky bars in New York City. There are those that celebrate American whiskey, others that spotlight scotch, and some that feature Irish or Japanese whiskies. In today’s (hopefully) post-pandemic world, some of the city’s most-beloved whisky spots are sadly no longer with us: places like Noorman’s Kil, Coogan’s, Angel’s Share, Highlands, Ward III, and others did not survive the shutdowns. But whether you’re looking for a nightcap, a whisky-filled evening, or whisky on top of dinner and a show, we’ve got you covered. From up and down Manhattan and across the river into Brooklyn, these Big Apple whisky bars will leave you happily drammed.

Bar Moga
Sure, it’s fun to go to a bar that offers a little bit of everything, especially if you’re with companions who prefer different styles of whisky (or something else altogether). If it’s Japanese whisky you’re after, head straight to...

Father’s Day is this Sunday, and we have plenty of cool whiskies that will make perfect gifts. In addition to those, you could consult our Summer 2023 Best Values and Editors’ Choice lists to make sure you've got all the options covered. This week, the whisky world is awash with new expressions. New scotches include Laphroaig Càirdeas and six age-statement blends from Ian Macleod’s Isle of Skye range. In addition, Woodford Reserve has a new bottled in bond wheat whiskey, and Heaven Hill offers a wheated whiskey from its microdistillery at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Louisville. Meanwhile, Texas and Ireland meet, as Clonakilty has collaborated with Garrison Brothers on a new single malt that's finished in Garrison Brothers casks. Read on for more.
Laphroaig Càirdeas White Port & Madeira Casks
Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Islay)
Age: Not stated

Updated June 13, 2024
Father’s Day is this Sunday, and there’s no better time to celebrate the father figures in our lives. If your dad appreciates a great dram, then odds are there’s a whisky that ties to his other interests, be it a love of cars, the great outdoors, music, or other things. A bottle of whisky goes a long way in letting dad know how much you appreciate him.
History Buff Dad 
Shackleton Blended Malt Scotch, 40% ABV, $35
This blended Highland malt is inspired by the whisky that Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton left behind during a failed bid to reach the South Pole in 1907.
George Washington’s Straight Rye, 43% ABV, $188/375 ml
Researchers discovered the original recipe for Washington’s whiskey in his ledgers from 1798 and 1799—he used a mashbill of 60% rye, 35% corn, and 5% malted barley. Today, that same recipe is made at Mount Vernon Distillery, on the site of Washington’s home.
Grilling...

Whisky Advocate's editors have selected three great value bottles from our most recent issue's Buying Guide. These are whiskies with solid scores, modest prices, and wide availability. The Summer 2023 issue's best values include a blend of straight whiskeys, a blended scotch, and an Irish rye. For all whiskies reviewed in the Summer 2023 issue, visit the Buying Guide.
90 Redwood Empire Lost Monarch Cask Strength blend of straights, 58.6%, $70
Buttered French toast and maple syrup, muted notes of strawberry ice cream, blueberry cobbler, and fragrant oak. The palate is smoothly textured but with plenty of bite, supple flavor integration, hints of milk chocolate and a bakery note of almond paste. Water tames its wilder side, bringing out black pepper, a hint of licorice, and more chocolate. Pleasantly rustic and earthy at its base, with sweeter notes playing atop an excellent finish.
89 The Deacon blended scotch, 40%, $40
A wide spectrum of aromas...

The single barrel selection process is a treat. Barrel hunters often take a private tour of the distillery and the warehouses, and sample from a number of barrels to decide what matches their palate. The process is wildly popular nowadays, and stock sells out every year. Some distilleries cope with demand by keeping a waiting list, while others use a lottery to determine who can participate.
At Four Roses, master distiller Brent Elliott and his team evaluate and select their prize barrels for the program, usually setting aside 40 to 80 total. After touring the Four Roses campus, barrel buyers taste the whiskey in one of the warehouses. “There’s a sense of ownership and pride when someone has control over the bourbon they’re purchasing,” Elliott says. “The program is more popular than ever. We’ve increased the barrel allocation, but demand is still greater than supply.”

For the typical whiskey lover looking to buy a single barrel...

In this new round of releases, Beam Suntory is at it again with yet another collaboration whisky, this one a blended scotch called Ardray, curated by the Scotland and Japan production teams. It's the third cross-global collaboration by Beam Suntory since the company was formed in 2014. The first came in 2019 with Legent, a Kentucky bourbon distilled at Beam and finished by the Japan blending team in a variety of wine and sherry casks. Next came Ao, first launched in Japan and Travel Retail in 2019 and introduced in the U.S. earlier this year, made with whiskies from Beam Suntory distilleries in five countries. Now comes Ardray, as the company seems determined to create some sort of collaborative, international niche within its vast whisky portfolio.
There were lots of other whiskies unveiled this week, including a new Weller family member, the latest red wine cask finished expression from Aberfeldy, the third release of Colere from...