What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🥃 Susannah Skiver Barton <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/julian-van-winkle-interview">interviewed Julian Van Winkle III</a> about <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Pappy+Van+Winkle&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pappy Van Winkle</a>, the infamous Jell-O shots, &ldquo;Poor Man&rsquo;s Pappy,&rdquo; and secondary market price inflation.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Star Hill Farm Whisky ($100)
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Maker%E2%80%99s+Mark&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maker&rsquo;s Mark&rsquo;s</a> <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Star+Hill+Farm+Whisky&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Star Hill Farm Whisky</a> has returned for 2026. When it was first released last year, it was made from the distillery&rsquo;s first new mashbill in 70 years&mdash;actually, a blend of two mashbills: 100% malted wheat; and 70% wheat and 30% malted barley. The two were aged for seven to eight years, blended together, and bottled at 58.2% ABV, which is slightly higher than the first release. The whisky (Maker&rsquo;s spells it without the &ldquo;e&rdquo; like the Scots) is also Estate Whiskey certified and made from regeneratively grown grains. Look for notes of ripe fruit, dark chocolate, cherry syrup, maple, and vanilla on the palate.
Ardbeg Dolce ($110)
This single malt is <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Ardbeg&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ardbeg&rsquo;s</a> new Ardbeg Day release to celebrate the annual F&egrave;is &Igrave;le festival. Expect the typical intense smokiness that defines Ardbeg&rsquo;s whiskies, but there&rsquo;s a bit of sweetness in the mix as well due to the fact that this expression is a combination of whisky aged in bourbon barrels and whisky aged in Sicilian marsala dolce casks. Ardbeg Dolce is bottled at 47.8% and has notes of dark chocolate, soft smoke, salted nuts, and lemon rind on the palate.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
New Riff Duet ($80)
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=New+Riff&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Riff</a> is one of the very best new-school Kentucky distilleries, an independent operation that produces fantastic bottled-in-bond bourbon, rye, and American single malt whiskey. New Riff's latest release doesn&rsquo;t fall into any of those categories, however, but it&rsquo;s a superb new whiskey nonetheless that was made in collaboration with a local brewery called Rhinegeist.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/e9ccbf51-ccbb-4d4c-84ea-8d7f3c9fc1fd.png?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Nrd Duet Rhinegeist 4"> 
DUET American Whiskey was made from a mashbill of 57% malted barley, 37% raw barley, and 6% rye, so from the get-go this is not your usual whiskey (and notably one that doesn&rsquo;t meet the qualifications of an American single malt because of the mashbill). The &ldquo;majority&rdquo; of the whiskey was then aged in a combination of barrels&mdash;new American oak, Spanish Oloroso, and Pedro Ximenez sherry (unclear where the minority of the whiskey was aged)&mdash;before being blended together. That blend was then put into a foeder, a large oak vat typically used to ferment beer or wine, and then put back into used American oak barrels for a period of time. The final whiskey was aged for a minimum of six years and bottled at 111.2 proof.
And it&rsquo;s delicious, with notes of toasted nuts, dark and milk chocolate, ripe berries, dark roast espresso beans, orange candy, baked apple, and sherry spice on the palate. Once again, New Riff has come up with a really good, and really unique, whiskey that is truly worth hunting down. DUET American Whiskey is available now at New Riff&rsquo;s gift shop and select retailers in Ohio and Kentucky, and you can also find it being poured at The Aquifer Tasting Room at New Riff and at Rhinegeist&rsquo;s Tap Room.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: April 24

In the bourbon world, there is no name that is more famous than Van Winkle. And yet the man behind the moniker, Julian Van Winkle III, is as modest as they come. The grandson of Pappy Van Winkle, Julian is the custodian of his family&rsquo;s legacy, but he is also a key figure&mdash;perhaps the key figure&mdash;in the transformation of bourbon&rsquo;s reputation from a rough-and-ready shot to a collectible luxury spirit. And yet he hardly drinks much bourbon at all anymore.
Van Winkle&rsquo;s story may be familiar to most bourbon drinkers today, but it&rsquo;s no less remarkable in the retelling. When he joined his father, Julian Van Winkle Jr., in the whiskey business in 1977, bourbon was on a downward trajectory, as baby boomers opted for clear spirits like vodka and fine wine over the brown liquor their parents favored. Faced with a glut of unwanted whiskey, distillers started offering novelty decanters meant to appeal to specific demographics like<a href="https://www.revivalky.com/1979-michters-pot-still-sour-mash-university-of-texas-football-decanter/"> Texas fans</a>,<a href="https://www.revivalky.com/1983-paramount-james-a-rhodes-ohio-statehouse-decanter-vintage/"> Ohio voters</a>, or members of the<a href="https://www.revivalky.com/1971-jim-beam-honorable-order-of-the-blue-goose-international-vintage/"> Honorable Order of the Blue Goose</a>, who would purchase the package without much regard for the liquid.
<h3 dir="ltr">Surviving the Bourbon Doldrums</h3>
The Van Winkles sold decanters of their <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Old+Rip+Van+Winkle&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Rip Van Winkle</a> brand as well, using wheated bourbon from the family&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Stitzel-Weller&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stitzel-Weller</a> distillery (sold in 1972 and closed in 1992)&mdash;a means of keeping the brand going during a dark time. Later, Van Winkle began purchasing bourbon from other Kentucky distilleries to bottle, trusting that the quality would be up to snuff without the need to verify ahead of time. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d buy the barrels and taste them once they came to the warehouse,&rdquo; Van Winkle recalled. &ldquo;Ninety-nine percent of the time they were just fine.&rdquo;
After his father&rsquo;s death in 1981, Van Winkle continued in the bottling business at a site he called <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Old+Commonwealth&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Commonwealth</a> Distillery, and began to focus on overseas markets. Japan stood out in particular as a lifeline, because consumers there couldn&rsquo;t get enough American whiskey, even as domestic consumption continued to tank. &ldquo;It kept me alive for a while,&rdquo; he said.
Van Winkle came up with numerous brands and labels exclusively for export, like<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=lottas+home&amp;state=ENDED&amp;sortBy=number_aschttps://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Lottas+Home&amp;state=ENDED&amp;sortBy=number_asc"> Lottas Home</a> and<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=society+of+bourbon+connoisseurs&amp;state=ENDED&amp;sortBy=number_aschttps://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Society+of+Bourbon+Connoisseurs&amp;state=ENDED&amp;sortBy=number_asc"> Society of Bourbon Connoisseurs.</a> At the time, these flew under the radar in the U.S., but now are some of the rarest and most collectible bottles netting auction prices in the tens of thousands of dollars. In addition to his own brands, Van Winkle bottled whiskey for others, like Marci Palatella&rsquo;s International Beverage. Unfortunately, he held onto very few of these bottlings. &ldquo;Back then, who knew?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was just a regular bottling for me and I saw no huge value down the road for these things like they are now. I didn't see that coming at all.&rdquo;
<h3 dir="ltr">The Age Statement Era</h3>
In 1994, Van Winkle released the first <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Pappy+Van+Winkle%E2%80%99s+Family+Reserve&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pappy Van Winkle&rsquo;s Family Reserve</a>, a 20-year-old Stitzel-Weller bourbon named after his grandfather, Julian Van Winkle Sr. It hit the market inconspicuously, but garnered high scores in spirits competitions and caught enough attention that Van Winkle continued to add to the lineup, releasing a 23-year-old in 1998 and a 15-year-old in 2004. The timing was fortuitous, as bourbon was just starting to emerge from the doldrums and would eventually, by the early 2010s, surge dramatically.
By that point, the Van Winkle brand&mdash;increasingly just called &ldquo;Pappy&rdquo; by many bourbon drinkers&mdash;was so well-known that tracking down a bottle at the suggested retail price of $90 for the 20-year-old was increasingly unlikely. &ldquo;Allocation&rdquo; was the magic word, as bar, restaurant, and store owners vied for a share of each annual run, which since 2002 had been produced at <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Buffalo+Trace+Distillery&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buffalo Trace Distillery</a> in partnership with the Van Winkles. Since there was so much demand for so few bottles, some retailers began to jack up the price, while others offered their customers the chance to purchase through a lottery or raffle. Charity auctions became another popular method for distributing the limited supply of whiskey. It&rsquo;s not an exaggeration to suggest that the Van Winkle brand is responsible for more philanthropic largesse than any other Kentucky whiskey.
<h3 dir="ltr">Iconic Status</h3>
All this, plus the allure of the wheated mashbill and the high-profile scandal of the &ldquo;<a href="https://gardenandgun.com/articles/what-netflix-gets-right-and-wrong-about-pappygate/">Pappygate</a>&rdquo; thefts at Buffalo Trace, have cemented the Van Winkle name in American whiskey lore. Pappy is a byword for rarity and luxury, the bottle&rsquo;s sepia-toned label popping up in movies and on TV, lit dramatically on back bars from Las Vegas to London. Its desirability, bolstered by cultural icons like <a href="https://x.com/Bourdain/status/146711608599642112">Anthony Bourdain</a>, has continued to grow even as other collectible bourbons took their places in the pantheon over the past decade and a half.
None of this would have happened without Julian Van Winkle keeping faith that really good whiskey would always find an appreciative audience. It goes back to the original Pappy&rsquo;s motto, which hung on a sign at Stitzel-Weller: &ldquo;We make fine bourbon. At a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.&rdquo;
The Unicorn Review talked with Julian Van Winkle III about counterfeit bottles, unopened collections, and the infamous Pappy Jell-O shots.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/69328e75-339f-43d1-9ada-5f5055eee8f5.png?width=4250&amp;height=2833" alt="Julian Van Winkle Iii">
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Unicorn Review: Decanters were a big thing in the 1970s and &lsquo;80s, when there was a bourbon surplus. I&rsquo;ve noticed some companies offering them in the present day. Are we back to a period where some people are trying to sell the bottle more than what&rsquo;s inside it?
Julian Van Winkle III: I don't think so. I think they're just trying to do something different.
People have a lot of money these days. The decanter business went down the tubes when the retail price got to be about $49.99. That's when I quit&mdash;when the public didn't want to spend $50 for a damn decanter, not caring about the whiskey.
But it's funny, if you see these bottles and they're full, these days you save the whiskey and throw the decanter away because the whiskey was damn good. Nobody really cared about the main product back then. It's kind of ironic the way things have flipped over.
In many ways the Van Winkle brand has become bigger than your family name. Was there a moment that you noticed it had taken on a life of its own?
I think I bottled the first Pappy label in about 1994, and it got a nice rating by the Beverage Tasting Institute. [The rating was 99 points. &ndash; Ed.] That kind of kicked things off for us and that brand. But when Anthony Bourdain starts talking about it and then chefs start talking about it and wine people start talking and it ends up in magazines, movies, and TV shows&hellip; It's hard to pinpoint when it happened and there was no particular thing that set it off. It was just kind of a gradual appreciation by different people. I think it happened because it's a good product. It deserves its acclaim.
Bourbon drinkers can feel a sense of ownership in brands that they really love. How do you feel about fans being possessive and emotional about your whiskey?
It certainly doesn't bother me. It bothers me when you see some guy's collection of 50 bottles of the 12-year-old sitting on their shelf in their bar that they're not enjoying, because that's why we make it. But to see the popularity and the people just going crazy over the name, and it's hard to get&mdash;it's frustrating that there's not enough to go around. I wish there was more.
There&rsquo;s a dark side to that frenzy&mdash;the thefts and counterfeits that can damage the brand&rsquo;s reputation. Is that difficult for you to witness?
It&rsquo;s upsetting that these crooks are out there and they do it with wine and ladies' handbags and whatever. Anything that's popular, the bad people seem to want to make money illegally.
Counterfeiting is a big deal and there's a lot of it. It's hard to determine if a bottle is legitimate or not, because they can counterfeit these things so well these days. So that is frustrating. We can't control it and some people are getting ripped off. That's the worst part.
We're trying to put these devices on the bottlings that you can scan and guarantee that it's legitimate or if it's been opened or not&mdash;that's good for the stuff from now on. But the older stuff out there, there's no way to guarantee unless you open the bottle and taste it.
I've tasted a counterfeit bottle before and they put in decent whiskey. Some of them just put junk in there and some of them put something that's fairly close so the customer will not know the difference.
Do you get asked to authenticate bottles?
Yeah, quite often since they're being used in all these charity auctions.&nbsp; They want to make sure they're legitimate. I do the best I can as far as looking at the packaging and the bottling date etched in the glass and printed on the bottom of the glass bottle.
I haven't really detected that many fakes. Buffalo Trace, of course, they have a lab and they can determine in a heartbeat, once they open the bottle and check it, if it's bad or not. They probably get a lot of the questionable bottles.
Some people call everything in the lineup &ldquo;Pappy.&rdquo; Does that drive you crazy?
Not really. I mean, a little bit just because they're not paying attention, but that's the way it is. It's fine. It's a little annoying if they say, give me some of that Pappy rye whiskey or whatever, when it's not that particular label, but I can live with that. At least they're interested in our whiskey and not somebody else's.
What did you think of the Louisville bar owner who served his Van Winkle allocation in<a href="https://robbreport.com/food-drink/spirits/pappy-van-winkle-jell-o-shots-follow-up-1235620892/"> Jell-O shots</a>?
I kind of go both ways on that. I think I just read the other day that his place had<a href="https://www.wdrb.com/news/business/a-true-adventure-downtown-louisville-bar-to-close-after-12-years/article_bd78169b-c050-4513-ba1f-4b7a10c2f02c.html"> gone out of business</a>. It was kind of a gimmicky thing. I think he was upset because he didn't get a very good allocation, so he decided to just say to hell with it and make something ridiculous like a Jell-O shot. I think he took advantage of the popularity and presented it as a publicity stunt. I guess it's a good idea if you're him, but not if you're the producer.
In the past few years a new company started up under the name Old Commonwealth. Did you sell them the trademark?
No, unfortunately I just let it go. I saw no need for it. I knew we weren't going to keep the Old Commonwealth brand because Buffalo Trace wasn't interested in bottling it as a spinoff brand. The name lapsed as far as the trademark.
These folks picked it up and they're using it as best they can, purchasing whiskey from other distilleries. I've tasted some of them; it's pretty good. Even the Old Commonwealth package is pretty much the same, and there's some others that they've duplicated using what we did, which is kind of screwy. They're nice folks, but I wish I had hung onto it because they probably would've paid pretty good money for it.
Fifteen years ago, you did an<a href="https://nunncenter.net/ohms-spokedb/render.php?cachefile=2010oh059_bik016_ohm.xml"> interview</a> with the University of Kentucky in which you had to define wheated bourbon, and you named the five others that were available besides yours. Now there are dozens of distilleries making wheaters, due at least partly&mdash;maybe mostly&mdash;to the fact that you popularized the style in the modern era. Is this an unmitigated positive thing, or is the abundance of wheated bourbon diluting what makes it so special?
It&rsquo;s an honor to have someone duplicate what you're doing. We're not sure where exactly what distillery made the first wheated bourbon. It was either the <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Old+Fitzgerald&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Fitzgerald</a> plant in Frankfort back before Pappy bought the label, back when he started Stitzel-Weller, or it could have been the Stitzel Distillery who made whiskey for the Wellers. There&rsquo;s the problem with bourbon history&mdash;none of it's written down.
Pappy liked the wheated brand, obviously, and stuck with it, so all the brands at Stitzel-Weller were wheated. It's an honor that people have seen how popular it is as far as our brand, so they're trying to duplicate it or at least make their own wheated bourbon.
Do you ever drink rye bourbon?
I like Buffalo Trace, some older <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Wild+Turkey&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wild Turkey</a>, and a particular <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Four+Roses&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four Roses</a> single barrel&mdash;I don't remember which one. Some of the other rye-based bourbons I am not that fond of. And I haven't tried many of the new ones because there's just too many, all these craft distilleries out there.
I drink very little anymore. We hardly ever have our whiskey sitting around the house, to be honest with you. If there's anything, it's going to be a bottle of Weller, which is the same recipe, just a younger version of ours. That would be my go-to for sure, back when bourbon was a regular drink of mine.
When we hooked up with Buffalo Trace 20-something years ago, [then-CEO] Mark Brown said, &ldquo;One of the things I'd like you to do to make this thing work is promote <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Weller&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weller</a>." Mission accomplished. Now it's hard to find in most places.
There&rsquo;s a lot of speculation that you&rsquo;re getting rich off all these inflated shelf prices for Pappy. I even found an article purporting to disclose your net worth. What&rsquo;s the real story?
We sell to the distributor and the distributor has a certain markup. He makes his 20 percent or 30 percent or whatever it is, and then when it hits the retail store, it's out of our hands. That&rsquo;s where the huge markup comes. We have nothing to do with that. We still split [profits] with Buffalo Trace when we sell it. We get a normal profit, but we're certainly not getting that huge profit that the retail stores are. They're obviously taking advantage of the supply and demand.
Have you ever tried &ldquo;<a href="http://bourbonr.com/blog/poor-mans-pappy/">Poor Man&rsquo;s Pappy</a>&rdquo;?
I can't even remember what the actual recipe is for the knockoff Pappy. I've never tried it myself. I&rsquo;ll have to do that sometime.
You said you are not drinking as much bourbon these days, but are there any bottles you&rsquo;ve held onto that you want to open with a grandchild or on a significant date?
I did keep some of the older whiskey that I bottled back at Lawrenceburg and some at Buffalo Trace. Through the years we've used them at my children's weddings.
I like wine a lot too, and if you&rsquo;ve got a really nice bottle of wine, you never know what's the best opportunity to open it. How good an opportunity or an event does it have to be? I'm always kind of reluctant to open it up. I'm that way with the whiskeys also. But I do have supply that we can use for when a grandchild becomes 21 and so forth.
Your son Preston followed you into the whiskey industry and your three daughters opened their own lifestyle business,<a href="https://pappyco.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooRVzIqu2ZTfgKQFNdISb-f8YtF-i7hLfsLuVKpt_QK-RNhvbOk"> Pappy &amp; Company</a>. Do you expect the grandkids will join someday too?
They&rsquo;re a little young yet. We're not going to force it on them. They&rsquo;ve got to make their own decision. But we&rsquo;re planning on hopefully having some of these grandkids be in the business. They&rsquo;d be the fifth generation. The third generation usually screws it up, which is my generation. So I&rsquo;m trying not to do that. There&rsquo;s still time to screw it up, but I&rsquo;m hanging in there.

 Setting the Bourbon Benchmark: An Interview with Pappy Van Winkle's Julian Van Winkle

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Gamay Noir is an exciting red wine varietal, but one that&rsquo;s sometimes overlooked Vicki Denig <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/gamay-noir-red-wine">dove into the world of Gamay</a> to explain why it&rsquo;s worth seeking out.
🥃 Ted Simmons wrote about some recent spirits releases that are <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/world-cup-spirits-collaborations">tied to the upcoming World Cup</a>, and the potential value of the greater world of sports-spirits collabs moving forward.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Blue Note Special Reserve ($150)
This is the third release of this limited-edition whiskey from Memphis company B.R. Distilling. <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Blue+Note&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Note</a> Special Reserve is a blend of whiskey aged from five to 19 years that was aged in nine different casks: cognac, madeira, sherry, port, vino de Naranja, vanilla cognac, apricot brandy, cognac, and winter bock. The final blend was bottled at 119 proof, and official tasting notes describe notes of cedar, warming spice, dried apricot, allspice, peanut, and vanilla on the palate.
Gambit No. 6 ($70)
This is another whiskey that was finished in a large amount of casks&mdash;six, in this case. Gambit No. 6 is the second release from former <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Balcones&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Balcones</a> founder Chip Tate, who is now master distiller for innovation for Foley Family Wines &amp; Spirits. The whiskey started as six-year-old, low-rye Kentucky bourbon. 15 percent was finished for 19 months in Cabernet Sauvignon wine barrels. The remaining 85 percent was finished for three months in Chardonnay French oak, and that whiskey was then divided into oloroso sherry, Muscatel, apple brandy, and Tokaji barrels for 12 to 16 months more. The final blend has notes of cacao, sweet tobacco, and ripe fruit on the palate.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Talisker Magma 47-Year-Old ($5,250)
You may have seen this particular whisky gimmick before, as unlikely as it seems. A few years ago, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Dewar%E2%80%99s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dewar&rsquo;s</a> released Double Double Magma Stone, a 21-year-old blended scotch that was finished in French oak casks that were toasted with Icelandic magma rocks. Okay, so how exactly was that supposed to affect the whisky&rsquo;s flavor? The radiant heat from the rocks was meant to precisely control the way that the cask was toasted, which in turn would add some consistency to how the wood interacted with the whisky.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/4f57405e-eb7f-4d2f-a2bf-e266cc6a86cc.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Talisker Magma Bottle Serve">
Did it work? I remember that this was a good whisky, but I certainly can&rsquo;t say if that was because the cask was toasted with hardened lava or not. Still, Diageo&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Talisker&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Talisker</a> distillery seemed to have thought this was worth a try, because it just dropped a new 47-year-old single malt that was given a similar treatment. The whisky was initially matured in refill American hogsheads before being moved to American oak casks that were toasted with magma for four months. And not just any magma, but volcanic rocks from the Isle of Skye where the distillery is located, perhaps to give the whisky some rocky terroir, or maybe just to tie this gimmick together in a nice, neat bow.
Here&rsquo;s a little more about that process from the distillery press release: &ldquo;Replacing the traditional open-flame method, the rocks are heated before the barrels rotate around them, toasting the interior without direct contact with the staves. Steaming during the process keeps the cask hydrated and maintains a steady, controlled temperature. The absence of combustion brings out the taste of the fruit, developing notable depth and complexity.&rdquo; Again, I really can&rsquo;t say if any of that really had an effect upon the whisky or not, or rather what that effect actually was. But what I can say is that this is a very tasty ultra-aged single malt, with rich notes of old oak, soft smoke, sweet fruit, and rich and buttery vanilla. It&rsquo;s another good release from a distillery that consistently makes high-quality whisky, regardless of whether the cask was toasted with volcanic rock, moon rocks, or, someday, Martian rocks.
Talisker Magma 47-Year-Old is available in limited quantities, just 622 bottles total with 105 coming to the U.S., with a suggested retail price of $5,250.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: April 17, 2026

Whether it&rsquo;s food or music, a good collaboration combines the best of both worlds&mdash;think chocolate and peanut butter, or Jay-Z and Linkin Park. When done right, these partnerships can pull in fans from either side, but are especially appealing to those who appreciate both parties. The same is true in the world of spirits, where new releases drive sales and a good team-up can substantially increase an existing audience.
<h3 dir="ltr">Sports Partnership Potential</h3>
The goal of a collab is to drum up excitement, and that has certainly been the case this spring as spirits brands in all categories have announced commemorative releases for the forthcoming World Cup, which is hosted this year by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Diageo serves as an official tournament sponsor, and this past March the global spirits giant announced the release of a limited-edition green-and-gold <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=don+julio+1942&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Don Julio 1942</a>, along with a series of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Buchanan%E2%80%99s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buchanan&rsquo;s</a> bottles designed by LA-based brand Kids of immigrants. Both releases commemorate the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
&ldquo;Sports collaborations and crossover releases help Buchanan&rsquo;s show up in culture in a way that goes beyond traditional spirits marketing,&rdquo; said Jesse Damasheck, whiskey portfolio SVP North America for Diageo. &ldquo;With this collection, we&rsquo;re creating a bridge between sport, music, fashion, and lifestyle that feels real, not imposed. It&rsquo;s not about inserting ourselves into culture, but about meeting consumers where they are already living and creating and finding ways to tap into that identity authentically.&rdquo;
Dameasheck acknowledged the way that Buchanan&rsquo;s has been embraced by the Latino community, making the World Cup a perfect crossover opportunity. But there are other non-Diageo brands on the pitch as well. <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Clase+Azul&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clase Azul</a> released a commemorative &ldquo;Spirit of Champions&rdquo; bottle priced at $1,700 (not officially affiliated with the World Cup, but inspired by it). On the other end of the price spectrum, Bacardi is releasing a limited edition gold rum featuring a soccer ball on the label at just $13. Kansas City&rsquo;s J. Rieger &amp; Co distillery is capitalizing on its role as a host city with a &ldquo;Raise the Cup&rdquo; edition of its Kansas City Whiskey, priced at $48.
<h3 dir="ltr">Collabs Beyond the Cup</h3>
It&rsquo;s clear there&rsquo;s a lot of hype heading into the 2026 World Cup, but does that same excitement exist for these limited edition bottles? And, more broadly speaking, what is the market&rsquo;s appetite for a sporty spirit?
Beyond the Raise the Cup bottle, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=J.+Rieger&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J. Rieger</a> president Andy Rieger estimates that the distillery has worked on at least a dozen sports collaborations, including a commemorative whiskey to celebrate Kansas winning the 2022 NCAA men&rsquo;s basketball championship, and two vodkas celebrating the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl in 2022 and 2023. One challenge, he said, is that despite category troubles, beer remains the go-to drink for fans, especially when they are at stadiums watching games.
In many ways, beer brands are the more logical partner for sports teams&mdash;there is a contextual familiarity, and beer&rsquo;s lower ABV lends it to more sessionable consumption and larger sales volume. Fans do not consume spirits the same way they do beer, even if both products are catering to fandom in similar ways. &ldquo;Right around the start of COVID, sports teams started viewing spirits [in the same way]&nbsp; as beer,&rdquo; Rieger said, calling his brand a guinea pig of sorts for sports and spirits collaborations. One lesson he&rsquo;s learned along the way is to make these collaborations limited rather than year-round offerings.
Another lesson: there needs to be something special about the bottle or the spirit. He referenced a barrel of 10-year-old whiskey made with champagne yeast that was distilled the day after the Kansas City Royals won the 2015 World Series, and is just being bottled now. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s [about] finding those moments of enjoyment, but not making things consistent and persistent,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Collaboration projects are fun, but they get stale.&rdquo;
Surprisingly, Rieger is not so enthusiastic about sports collaborations in general, unless it's a commemorative limited release. &ldquo;Then it&rsquo;s clear and obvious what the purpose of it is,&rdquo; he said. The Raise The Cup edition, for example, is part of an effort to welcome visitors to the city and guide them to landmarks, restaurants, and bars during their stay. Rieger talks about making a lasting impression with these collaborations and using them as a way to capture new drinkers while allowing the quality of the whiskey to bring them back for more.
In this way, spirits pegged to specific events like a tournament or championship function better than simply licensing a team's logo. Either the moment or the spirit needs to have impact and to convey something special&mdash;and smart partnerships can do that. &ldquo;Sports teams so often treat them not as collaborations, but as sponsorships,&rdquo; Rieger said. &ldquo;There needs to be more partnership.&rdquo;
<h3>Kentucky Bourbon Enters the Picture</h3>
Partnership was central to <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Elijah+Craig&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elijah Craig&rsquo;s</a> 2025 Ryder Cup Small Batch release, a bourbon finished for eight weeks with toasted sugar maple and applewood staves. Elijah Craig was the official sponsor of the Ryder Cup and has a team of golf ambassadors including PGA pros J.T. Poston and Robert MacIntyre.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We believe the most effective sports collaborations are rooted in shared values, not just visibility,&rdquo; said Max Stefka, assistant vice president of global whiskey brands at Heaven Hill. Collector status is earned when a collaboration transcends marketing and becomes culturally or emotionally meaningful. From a sports perspective, moments matter.
In other words, the products become a time-stamp of occasions that the consumer is already passionate about. &ldquo;When a collaboration reflects both the heritage of the sport and the heritage of the brand, it resonates more deeply, and that&rsquo;s what drives collectability,&rdquo; Stefka said.&nbsp;
While Elijah Craig found success innovating with its Ryder Cup collaboration, there is value in label-driven releases as well. According to Julian Garcia, VP of marketing for Tequila Don Julio, early response to the brand&rsquo;s World Cup release, which has been available for pre-sale since February, has centered on the bottle&rsquo;s design and its appeal as a collectible item.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Woodford+Reserve&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Woodford Reserve</a> has found similar success with its annual Kentucky Derby bottle, which taps a different artist each year to design a custom label. These bottles become collectible for their visual artistry as well as their limited availability, and in terms of celebrating a moment, they have become fixtures of Derby parties in Kentucky and beyond.
&ldquo;The Derby bottle is absolutely a centerpiece at Derby parties, whether someone is mixing Mint Juleps or Spires or pouring it neat for guests,&rdquo; said Woodford Reserve master distiller Elizabeth McCall. &ldquo;But it's also a collector's item that people proudly display. We've been releasing these bottles since 1999, with a new artist and design each year for many fans, it's become a tradition to add the latest edition to their collection. It really lives in both worlds.&rdquo;
And that is the true sweet spot for sports and spirit collaborations&mdash;they serve as collectors items for some and as a celebratory focal point for others. These bottles mark occasions, reminding you with their presence of memories shared, and, if you&rsquo;re lucky, championships won. So will these World Cup bottles be collectible? It depends on who lifts the trophy and what that means to you in the end.&nbsp;

Brands are Releasing World Cup Themed Bottles—But Can Sports and Spirits Collabs Truly Become Collector’s Items?

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Jamal Rayyis wrote about the history of Chilean wine, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/chilean-wine-guide">tracing its path from uniform supermarket shelf staple to the proliferation of interesting varieties</a> that exist today. He also offered some bottle recommendations for white, orange, and red wines from the region.
🥃 Maggie Kimberl <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/organic-whiskey-distilleries">tells the story of organic whiskey</a> by focusing on Journeyman, which operates a pair of craft distilleries in Michigan and Indiana where they produce some excellent&mdash;and 100 percent organic&mdash;whiskeys. There are also other brands making organic and regenerative whiskeys, including Maker&rsquo;s Mark which launched a partially regenerative wheat whiskey last year.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Hard Truth French Oak Finished Bourbon ($100)
Indiana distillery <a href="https://hardtruth.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hard Truth</a> is one of the best craft operations out there, a case that is proven once again with the release of this new French oak-finished bourbon. This whiskey is a blend of 23 barrels made from two different mashbills: one is 73 percent corn, 19 percent rye, eight percent malted barley; the other is 82 percent corn and 18 percent rye. The final blend was finished in French oak and bottled at 106.1 proof, revealing notes of toffee, candied fruit, and rye spice on the palate.
Bulleit Mesquite Smoked Malt ($50)
Popular whiskey brand <a href="https://www.bulleit.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bulleit</a>, which is owned by Diageo, launched this new experimental mashbill last month. It&rsquo;s made from 65 percent corn, five percent malted barley, and 30 percent mesquite-smoked malt&mdash;and, as you&rsquo;d expect, that last grain has really defined the character of the whiskey. Think savory barbecue notes intermingling with classic flavors of vanilla, maple, and honey, making this an interesting choice to use in a cocktail like an Old Fashioned to reveal smoky notes with no smoking required.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Chicken Cock Wheated Bourbon ($55)
When <a href="https://chickencockwhiskey.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicken Cock</a> launched about a decade ago, most people had no idea what this new brand was and didn&rsquo;t necessarily pay much attention to it, aside from perhaps snickering at the name (it's okay, you can admit it). The brand traces its history back to 1850s Kentucky, and after moving to Canada for a time during Prohibition, it disappeared shortly after Repeal Day. Chicken Cock was revived in 2014 by Grain and Barrel Spirits, and since then there have been some hits and some misses&mdash;and some whiskeys that have been priced way too high, particularly in regards to cask finishes that you can find from other brands for much cheaper. This new bourbon, however, is both affordable and very tasty, which is why it&rsquo;s worth covering here.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/ab867d1f-b2fe-46ac-9035-cf86eada41e4.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Chicken Cock Wheated"> 
This is the first wheated bourbon for Chicken Cock, meaning wheat is used instead of rye as the secondary flavoring grain. Specifically, the mashbill is 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley, putting it just above brands like <a href="https://www.garrisonbros.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Garrison Brothers</a> and <a href="https://www.makersmark.com/en-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maker&rsquo;s Mark</a> in terms of wheat percentage. It was distilled at <a href="https://www.bardstownbourbon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardstown Bourbon Company</a>, aged for five years, and bottled at 94 proof (both a good age and strength for a whiskey at this price point). But most importantly, it&rsquo;s a really decent sipper that I have been returning to over and over again, despite having pretty low expectations when I first opened the bottle.
As a wheated bourbon, you should expect some sweetness on the palate, but this is never overpowering. Overall, Chicken Cock Wheated is just very classic in character, with notes of brown sugar, cherry, orange peel, maple, and vanilla that pop as you sip. That higher proof gives the whiskey a bit of heat, a welcome feature given the subtle sweetness to the palate, and one that makes it work quite well in a cocktail&mdash;try this whiskey in an Old Fashioned, and you will be pleased with the results.
Hopefully Chicken Cock continues to focus on simpler whiskeys like this one, with only the occasional dalliance into expensive cask-finished expressions. I am looking forward to seeing what the brand releases next, and plan on revisiting some past releases to see how they stand up.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: April 10

The organic movement is based around two central concepts: making sure our food sources have a gentler impact on the planet, and offering a healthier alternative to factory farming by eschewing the use of chemicals and pesticides. Given that whiskey is essentially a value-added agricultural product, it makes sense that consumers are seeking out distilleries and brands with a lesser carbon footprint that adhere to organic practices.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Journeyman's Journey to Organic Spirits</h3>
At the Journeyman Distilleries in both Three Oaks, Michigan and Valparaiso, Indiana, founders Johanna and Bill Welter knew from the start that they wanted to create organic spirits. &ldquo;We were definitely inspired by KOVAL,&rdquo; said Johanna Welter, referring to the small Chicago craft distillery. Terroir and sense of place were important concepts to the couple, and they felt they could express this by using local ingredients. &ldquo;We wanted to tell the story of the region,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Cherries and apples are king here in Michigan, so we decided to source [local] cherries and apple cider. The sources that we get it from are not certified organic, so while those items are not organic, all of our [other] spirits that we produce are.&rdquo;
From the getgo, the Welters were focused on sustainability as well as organic practices, so they decided to reuse and repurpose as much as possible. Their first venture was to turn a former corset factory into their Michigan distillery. &ldquo;Featherbones were invented in this factory,&rdquo; said Welter. &ldquo;If you take a handful of turkey quills and you bind them together, it becomes a flexible bone structure invented by a guy named E.K. Warren. For us, reusing old buildings is sustainability. What we did both in Michigan and Indiana is as green as you can get, which is repurposing what was already there.&rdquo;
They also incorporated practices like using glass bottles instead of plastic, trading spent grains for beef from local farmers, and even using spent gin botanicals to make pickles. Today, the spent grains from both Journeyman locations are sent to a biodigester, where they generate clean energy for the local power grid.
&ldquo;Sustainability and organic has always been part of who we are as people,&rdquo; Welter explained. &ldquo;We took an old building from the 1890s, and rather than building something new and creating a new footprint, we decided to bring something back to life that was here before. We wanted to source the best ingredients that we could, and being located in the Midwest, we have access to all of these great farmers that grow grains&mdash;and not just corn, but a lot of ryes and wheat. We had access to an organic co-op that we could source all of this high-quality grain from.&rdquo;
<h3 dir="ltr">The Benefits of Regenerative Agriculture&nbsp;</h3>
Still, there are challenges when it comes to making organic whiskey, she said. For example, larger operations don&rsquo;t have access to the volumes of organic grains they would need. Welter pointed out that there are distillers who have one organic product and ten conventional products because they just can&rsquo;t get enough organic grain to make the switch. Farming organic grain is a challenge because of high costs and difficulties with disease and pest management, so organic distillers have to be agile about where their grains come from in any given growing season.
There is a way to fill at least some of that gap. Regenerative agriculture shares a lot of commonalities with organic agriculture, in that the main concern is maintaining soil health over time and minimizing water usage, which is believed to result in healthier plants and better outputs. Maker&rsquo;s Mark made a huge splash with their partially Regenified wheat whiskey, Star Hill Farm, which was first released last year. Even Brother&rsquo;s Bond, a celebrity brand created by actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, has leaned into regeneratively grown grains with their Brother&rsquo;s Bond Regenerative Grain Bourbon release.&nbsp;
According to Welter, when Journeyman opened its doors consumers were barely able to wrap their heads around the distilling process, let alone the organic aspect of it. Nowadays, however, those same consumers are actively seeking out organic alternatives. People are more interested than ever&mdash;not just in the authenticity of the spirits they buy, but also the impact their choices have on the environment. Journeyman recognized that from the beginning, starting with a MOSA organic certification and leading to its current USDA organic certification.&nbsp;
Organic and regenerative are not green-washed corporate buzzwords in the whiskey industry. On the contrary, there are numerous distillers locking in the benefits of what are often better-tasting grains, as well as the bragging rights associated with reduced carbon footprints. In the long term, the world will be better off for it.
<h3 dir="ltr">Organic Whiskeys To Try</h3>
<a href="https://www.journeyman.com/spirits/corsets-whips-whiskey/">Journeyman Corsets Whips &amp; Whiskey</a> ($65)
This award-winning wheat whiskey is made from 100% organic Michigan-grown wheat and is bottled at cask strength. It is one of Journeyman&rsquo;s most highly sought-after whiskeys.
<a href="https://www.koval-distillery.com/whiskey/thresh-and-winnow-10-year-rye">Koval Thresh &amp; Winnow 10 Year 100% Rye</a> ($100)
Koval&rsquo;s 10-year, 100% rye whiskey is not only organic, it&rsquo;s also certified Kosher by the Orthodox Union, and has won two gold medals at two competitions since being released in 2024.
<a href="https://hiddenbarnwhiskey.com/series/">Hidden Barn Organic Wheated Bourbon</a> ($90)
Made at the Neeley Family Distillery in Sparta, Kentucky, this bourbon was crafted in partnership with Old Forester alum Jackie Zykan. It has a mashbill of 70% corn, 20% wheat, and 10% malted barley and is fermented with wild-caught yeast.
<a href="https://www.bainbridgedistillers.com/products/yama-whiskey">Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Single Grain Whiskey</a> ($576)
This barley whiskey is made from 100% Washington-grown USDA Organic unmalted Alba and Full Pint barley, and is the world&rsquo;s first non-Japanese whiskey to be matured exclusively in virgin Mizanura oak barrels.
<h3 dir="ltr">Regenerative Whiskeys To Try</h3>
<a href="https://www.drylanddistillers.com/products/100-straight-white-sonora-wheat-whiskey-regenerative-grain">Dry Land 100% White Sonora Wheat Whiskey</a> ($107)
This wheat whiskey is made from 100% Regenerative Organic Certified grain from Jones Farms Organics, and was a special release to celebrate Dry Land&rsquo;s seventh anniversary.
<a href="https://www.makersmark.com/en-us/whisky/star-hill-farm-whisky">Star Hill Farm Wheat Whiskey</a> ($100)
In addition to being the first new whiskey style and brand made in Maker&rsquo;s Mark&rsquo;s history, this wheat whiskey is partially regeneratively grown. Subsequent batches will be fully Regenified Certified.
<a href="https://brothersbondbourbon.com/products/brothers-bond%C2%AE-regenerative-grain-bourbon">Brother&rsquo;s Bond Regenerative Grain Bourbon</a> ($60)
This four-grain blend of bourbons with a derived mash bill of 73% corn, 10% rye, 8% wheat, and 9% malted barley showcases actors Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley&rsquo;s commitment to sustainability.

When it Comes to Whiskey, "Organic" Isn't Just a Buzzword—This Practice Can Result in Fantastic Spirits That Are Better For the World 

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Sylvester &ldquo;Sly&rdquo; Inda&rsquo;s journey has taken him from Kenya to New York City, where he has flourished in the wine world. After stints at Keens Steakhouse and Gramercy Tavern, he&rsquo;s now the wine director at Ci Siamo, Danny Meyer&rsquo;s Italian outpost.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/hidden-gems-sylvester-inda">Vicki Denig spoke to him</a> to find out more about his story and got some bottle recs.
🥃 Booker&rsquo;s is one of the best known barrel-proof bourbons, but there are many other bottles to consider. Susannah Skiver Barton wrote about why Booker&rsquo;s is so important to this category, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/what-to-drink-next-bookers">recommended five other bottles to try now</a>.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Shelby Co. Whiskey ($45)
This is the official bourbon of the Netflix show Peaky Blinders, which might seem odd considering that show takes place in Birmingham, England. Still, the connection, such as it is, is that this is a Kentucky straight bourbon finished with Irish whiskey barrel staves (an homage to the show's Shelby family&rsquo;s Irish roots). It was distilled at Green River, which is part of Lofted Spirits along with Bardstown Bourbon Company, and bottled at 90 proof.
Frey Ranch Farm Strength Uncut Rye ($80)
Frey Ranch is a farm-to-bottle craft distillery in Nevada that is making some excellent bourbon, rye, and other types of whiskey. This new release is a six-year-old, cask-strength rye whiskey made from 100 percent Canadian winter rye grown onsite at the ranch and bottled at 124.52 proof. It arrives on April 17 at the distillery&rsquo;s tasting room and via the website.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
The Dalmore Select Editions Collection - 2007 and 2010 ($550, $250)
The Dalmore is a Highland distillery that lives comfortably in the &ldquo;luxury scotch&rdquo; world, although of course there are some more affordable options to try as well. But those upper-tier whiskies are where this distillery really shines, a series limited-edition single malts that have spent many decades aging in various cask types, including an array of sherry butts and port pipes. The latest release sits in the more obtainable range of luxe whisky, however&mdash;a pair of vintage releases that are aged for 15 and 18 years, both of which are quite good.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/dff81542-5a54-44bd-9971-8c9562a9a124.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="The Dalmore Select Edition 2007&amp;2010 Lifestyle Horizontal">
These whiskies are part of the Dalmore&rsquo;s Select Editions Collection, one-time releases that are bottled with natural color and no chill filtration, two notable features that separate them from other Dalmore whiskies. According to the brand, these are selected by the whisky makers from specific casks during a week in November, an annual event that yields some very special and particular whiskies.
The first whisky is a 2007 vintage aged for 18 years and bottled at 93.4 proof. It was aged in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in both Ap&oacute;stoles and Amoroso sherry casks (the exact length of finish was not disclosed). This is classic Dalmore but with some extra heft. There are big notes of raisin, juicy grapes, toasted almonds, vanilla custard, caramel, and some cinnamon and black pepper on the palate. The second whisky is a 2010 vintage aged for 15 years and bottled at a higher 98.2 proof. This was also initially aged in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished in Matusalem and Amoroso sherry casks. This was my favorite of the two&mdash;the higher proof and younger age statement just make it sing. Look for notes of cacao, roasted espresso beans, candied ginger, lemon cake, and dried figs.
The 2007 is priced at $550 and the 2010 at $250, so these are expensive but not unaffordable bottles. If your tax return just came through and you&rsquo;re looking for some money to blow on really tasty single malts, consider giving either one of these a try&mdash;you won&rsquo;t be disappointed.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: April 3

Every bourbon drinker encounters <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/4fa92367-1086-40df-81c9-6f415c110a7a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Booker&rsquo;s</a> at some point, and it&rsquo;s usually a memorable meeting. The wine-style bottle in its attractive wooden box stands out, as do the hand-scrawled label and slanted batch sticker. Even more remarkable, however, is the whiskey itself: powerful, punchy, at times quite the walloper.
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/18b685e5-af3d-458e-a18b-62323d04e997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Booker&rsquo;s</a> is the OG barrel-proof bourbon, initially created in the late 1980s by Jim Beam master distiller Booker Noe. The first bottlings were given as private gifts, but reception was so enthusiastic that the distillery decided to make this uncut, unfiltered bourbon more widely available. That led to Booker&rsquo;s being the first whiskey in what would eventually become the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, which now also includes Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, and Baker&rsquo;s.
The importance of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/a2cd0d9c-6a87-4678-825c-403b10d2887a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Booker&rsquo;s</a> in the evolution of modern American whiskey can&rsquo;t be overstated. Up until its commercial release, barrel-proof bourbon was virtually unheard of. It certainly wasn&rsquo;t widespread&mdash;indeed, taken for granted&mdash;the way it is today. Although Booker Noe died in 2004, his son, master distiller Fred Noe, continues to select the barrels for each batch of his namesake bourbon. There are usually four batches a year, each with a distinct name and story behind it.
There&rsquo;s minimal variation from batch to batch in terms of both age&mdash;between six and eight years&mdash;and proof, which typically lands in the mid-120s, and the mashbill is always the same 77% corn, 13% rye, and 10% malt. Still, Booker&rsquo;s flavor profile can have some nuance and whiskey fans have their favorite batches, though a few specific notes like peanut, cinnamon, and cola generally remain consistent.
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/b89bdd45-3187-41a5-813f-758a7e556485" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Booker&rsquo;s</a> is the benchmark by which all other barrel-proof bourbons measure themselves&mdash;but it&rsquo;s certainly not the only one you should consider trying. If you like a muscular, even aggressive, bourbon bottled at full strength, check out our recommendations below.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Elijah Craig Barrel Proof</h3>
Barrel-proof bourbon doesn&rsquo;t get more consistent than this. There are three batches a year and every single one lands perfectly at the intersection of mature flavor and brawny vigor. This is perhaps even more remarkable given the range of ages the label showcases&mdash;though it once had a 12-year-old age statement, these days <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/dc8941f6-1736-450e-b9cd-c8f1fa3fa80e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elijah Craig Barrel Proof</a> can be bottled as young as nine and as old as 13 (the label now tells you exactly how old the whiskey is). No matter what, you&rsquo;re getting dark chocolate and rich oak notes galore.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Frey Ranch Farm Strength</h3>
You might want to brace yourself for this bourbon, which punches well above its significant, 120-proof-or-higher weight. All four grains in the mashbill (66.6% corn, 12% malted barley, 11.4% rye, 10% wheat) are grown on the eponymous Nevada ranch, so the somewhat corny &ldquo;farm strength&rdquo; moniker gets a pass. Prepare for a palate full of dark herbs, berries, and cocoa notes, wrapped in leathery oak that registers as mature beyond its years.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/270c5ec0-d182-4ae0-81ab-fdaaaae413c5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">High West Cask Strength</a></h3>
A brand that&rsquo;s built on blending is unsurprisingly the most complex whiskey on this list. It&rsquo;s made up of multiple bourbons as young as six years old and as old as 20, hailing from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. There are five mashbills among them. Four use rye as the secondary grain, ranging from 8% to 40%, and one contains no rye at all, instead featuring an unusually high 40% malt. The dizzying variety comes together in a burly 58.% ABV whiskey replete with nuts and spice.
<h3 dir="ltr">Hirsch The Cask Strength</h3>
This non-distiller producer brand has a similar mashbill to Booker&rsquo;s&mdash;72% corn, 13% rye, 15% malted barley&mdash;and lands very close in age (the most recent 2025 batch was seven years and six months old). But there&rsquo;s a twist to the traditional Kentucky straight bourbon here. Nearly two years of the maturation took place in Hine cognac casks, which are made from French oak and impart silkier tannins and a deep, seamless spice atop the base bourbon&rsquo;s familiar vanilla and caramel flavors.
<h3 dir="ltr">Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Cask Strength</h3>
This whiskey is made at the same distillery and from the same mashbill as Booker&rsquo;s, but don&rsquo;t expect it to taste exactly the same. The barrel-proof version of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213ccd64-797e-471d-9fb9-16e754e207c9/lot/0cfebac2-7090-4f35-b833-193fb53b95d9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Knob Creek</a> offers a great opportunity to explore how different two bourbons that are virtually identical on paper can be in the glass. Also, because it&rsquo;s a single barrel release, each bottling&rsquo;s exact tasting notes and proof vary, just as each batch of Booker&rsquo;s has its own subtleties that set it apart from the others.

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