Though best known for its iconic Old No. 7, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Jack+Daniel%E2%80%99s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jack Daniel&rsquo;s</a> has a much bigger portfolio of whiskeys, and one that stands out is <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Single+Barrel+jack&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Single Barrel Select</a>. More complex than the flagship, it is nevertheless overlooked surprisingly often by connoisseurs, perhaps because it sits in the shadow of high-profile releases like the barrel-proof (and sometimes hazmat) <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Coy+Hill&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coy Hill</a> and Jack&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=jack+daniel%27s+age+statement&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">age-statement range</a>. But those who drink Single Barrel Select love it, thanks to its consistently high quality and crushable flavor at a price (around $55, sometimes significantly less) that&rsquo;s hard to beat.
Made from the same recipe as Old No. 7&mdash;80% corn, 12% malted, and 8% rye&mdash;Single Barrel Select is a few steps up in terms of both proof (47% ABV) and depth of flavor. You might not like the bananas foster character of the JD mashbill, but many people do, and here it takes on a br&ucirc;l&eacute;ed edge that injects depth and complexity into the familiar sweet, creamy profile. There&rsquo;s also plenty of oak&mdash;lightly tannic and just the right amount of bitter&mdash;to counterbalance all those dessert notes.
This whiskey was well ahead of the single barrel boom when it debuted in 1997. Since then, Jack has also unveiled versions at 100 proof and barrel strength, as well as special editions like <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Single+Barrel+Heritage+Barrel&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Single Barrel Heritage Barrel</a>, which is matured in high-toast, low-char casks. But the 94-proof Single Barrel Select remains popular and widely available for a reason. It may be chosen by the Jack Daniel&rsquo;s tasting staff or by a store or bar owner, but either way the whiskey will be sweet and smooth while avoiding the bland territory its lower-proof siblings tend to occupy.&nbsp;
Jack's single barrels have enough variety to keep many fans engaged from bottle to bottle, but when you're ready to explore beyond these, there are plenty of whiskeys from other distillers that share similar flavors. Rather than jumping right into another single barrel line&mdash;where individual bottlings aren't predictable&mdash;we're recommending core whiskeys that provide a consistent drinking experience and a grounding in the brand's house style. These bottles deliver the effortless enjoyment&mdash;and similar smooth sweetness&mdash;of the best Jack single barrels, again and again.&nbsp;
Old Forester 1870 Original Batch
Jack and <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Old+Forester&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Forester</a> share the same parent company, Brown-Forman. And although one is a Tennessee whiskey and the other is a Kentucky bourbon, they share some flavor similarities. In particular, both showcase an estery sweetness that comes from fermentation; while Jack&rsquo;s is notably banana-forward, Old Forester&rsquo;s highlights more honey and vanilla ice cream. At 90 proof, the <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=old+forester+1870+Original+Batch&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1870 Original Batch</a>&mdash;which pulls together three types of barrels to showcase different entry proofs, age profiles, and aging locations&mdash;is a great example of the brand&rsquo;s house style and a satisfying all-rounder.
Widow Jane 10-Year-Old
Forget the silly claims about New York mine water somehow making this bourbon special; it&rsquo;s just good whiskey, full stop. The current bottling combines straight bourbons from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee&mdash;it&rsquo;s worth noting that <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Heaven+Hill&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heaven Hill</a> acquired <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Widow+Jane&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Widow Jane</a> in 2022, so it&rsquo;s possible that eventually one of the company&rsquo;s two Kentucky distilleries will be the source for this brand. For now, the blend&rsquo;s evenhanded mix of sweet oak and caramel, bottled at 91 proof, requires no pedigree to be enjoyed.
Traveller
It&rsquo;s okay if you can&rsquo;t name a single Chris Stapleton song. You can still drink the whiskey he endorses, made by <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Buffalo+Trace&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buffalo Trace</a> master distiller Harlen Wheatley, which is neither bourbon nor Tennessee whiskey but something else altogether. This is a blend whose components haven&rsquo;t been disclosed, but there is likely a decent amount of straight bourbon in the mix, as well as some light whiskey, corn whiskey, and/or general used-barrel American whiskey (Sazerac states that it contains no neutral spirit). Regardless of the makeup, Traveller is a sweet and straightforward whiskey that rolls right down the middle of the road with flavors of vanilla and chocolate and a warm, cushiony texture. If you get thirsty for something stronger, there&rsquo;s a new high-proof&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=traveller+whiskey&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Traveller</a> sporting a chunky 60.5% ABV.&nbsp;
George Dickel Barrel Select
Since Tennessee whiskey is a pretty small category, this offering from the state&rsquo;s number-two distillery was obviously created to compete with Jack&mdash;I mean, the names are almost identical, and in fact <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=george+dickel&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dickel&rsquo;s</a> mashbill is almost exactly the same at 84% corn and 8% each rye and malted barley. This whiskey, however, is batched from multiple barrels, typically showcasing pastry notes of apple pie and pecan roll. It&rsquo;s proofed to 86 for a milder sip, but punches well above its weight with a minimum of nine years&rsquo; maturation. And there&rsquo;s a single-barrel option for when you&rsquo;re ready to step up in proof (103) and try out some more varied flavors.&nbsp;
Sweeten&rsquo;s Cove Bourbon
This golf course&ndash;inspired brand, backed by Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick, hit it right down the fairway with its first release in 2020, a 13-year-old Tennessee bourbon that has long since sold out. But the new flagship bourbon, made by Tennessee Distilling Group and aged for five years, carries through well to the next hole. Proofed to 93.7, it has weight without heaviness and ample sweetness in notes of Werther&rsquo;s Original and cr&egrave;me br&ucirc;l&eacute;e. And it goes down very easy&mdash;no need to wait for the 19th hole to wet your whistle with this one.

What to Drink Next if You Love Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Select

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🥃 Gina Pace picked some of the <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/best-tequila-for-whiskey-fans">best aged tequilas for whiskey drinkers</a>, from single estate expressions to anejos aged in wine barrels to a reposado matured in Japanese mizunara oak.
🍷 Alissa Bica Raines took a <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/new-zealand-central-otago-wine-region">deep dive into the world of New Zealand&rsquo;s Central Otago region</a>, exploring its world-renowned Pinot Noir and highlighting a range of white wines that are worth collecting.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
TX Whiskey Texas Straight Rye Whiskey Full Proof ($40)
This is the 16th edition of TX Whiskey&rsquo;s Experimental Series, which highlights the Fort Worth distillery&rsquo;s use of different mashbills and maturation techniques. This rye whiskey was aged for seven years and bottled at 120 proof, an attempt to showcase how the specific climate in Texas affects a whiskey&rsquo;s flavor. Look for notes of toasted oak, cinnamon, molasses and caramel, along with a healthy dose of spice.
Jack Daniel&rsquo;s Halo MK1 Tennessee Whiskey ($600)
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=jack+daniel%27s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_aschttps://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Jack+Daniel%E2%80%99s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Jack Daniel&rsquo;s</a> partnered with the Formula 1 McLaren Racing team back in 2022, and has released special edition bottles every year since. Those have basically been the same whiskey as you&rsquo;d find in a bottle of Old No. 7 with different label designs, although sometimes the proof has been bumped up. But the latest release is something totally different&mdash;Halo MK1 is a $600 bottle of whiskey aged in barrels made from staves that were seasoned for much longer than usual, and the liquid was bottled at an impressive 117.4 proof. Look for notes of caramel, chocolate, pipe tobacco, and baking spice.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Glenmorangie Harrison Ford Limited Edition ($100)
There are a lot of celeb-backed booze brands out there, and most of them fall into the tequila category. From George Clooney&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Casamigos&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Casamigos</a> to Kendall Jenner&rsquo;s 818 to The Rock&rsquo;s Teremana, there&rsquo;s a face and persona for everyone looking for an agave spirit. The whiskey world doesn&rsquo;t have quite as many examples, but there are a few of note. Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=brother%27s+bond+bourbon&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brother&rsquo;s Bond</a> is one of the best, and it&rsquo;s a brand that the two actors seem to be quite actively involved in. More recently, Willem Dafoe partnered with smoky scotch distillery <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Laphroaig&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laphroaig</a>. Concurrently, Harrison Ford embarked upon an ad campaign with Highland distillery <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Glenmorangie&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glenmorangie</a> called &ldquo;Once Upon a Time in Scotland,&rdquo; and the corresponding whisky has finally arrived. It&rsquo;s aptly called Glenmorangie Harrison Ford Limited Edition, and it&rsquo;s a classic example of a single malt that you might expect from this distillery, with or without Ford&rsquo;s name attached to it.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/aac13657-6d2d-4e4b-bc8f-45c25908089e.png?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Harrison Ford Limited Edition K V2"> 
Of course, the official line is that Ford &ldquo;co-created&rdquo; the whisky, and there might be some truth to that, but it&rsquo;s always good to take it with a grain of salt. The reality is more likely that director of whisky creation Dr. Bill Lumsden MBE and his team did most of the heavy lifting. He&rsquo;s often called the mad scientist or Willy Wonka of whisky, but we are not going to do that here because it&rsquo;s a total cliche. What we will say is that he&rsquo;s been responsible for some very unique and innovative whiskies from both Glenmorangie and its sister distillery <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Ardbeg&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ardbeg</a> over the years.
This new whisky might not fit that bill as far as going to the extremes of barley varietal or maturation experimentation, but it&rsquo;s still a very nice version of Glenmorangie&rsquo;s house style that has been given a cask finish. In other words, this is a non-age statement single malt that was initially aged in bourbon barrels and then given a secondary maturation in toasted Portuguese red wine casks. It&rsquo;s bright and zesty with notes of honey, maple, cherry, vanilla, spiced apple, orange marmalade, and dark chocolate on the palate, with a bit of heat slowly lingering beyond your final sip.
Like Laphroaig&rsquo;s collab with Willem Dafoe, Glenmorangie Harrison Ford Limited Edition stays true to the distillery&rsquo;s core character, but just gives it a little boost, a bit of a spin, a wee twist. This single malt is not the most interesting whisky Glenmorangie has ever released, but it&rsquo;s a very satisfying sipper that fans of the distillery&rsquo;s honeyed, citrusy, vanilla-infused character will certainly enjoy.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: May 8

Whiskey drinkers tend to think of tequila in broad strokes&mdash;blanco for cocktails, reposado for adding some mellow barrel notes, a&ntilde;ejo for people who want it to taste like bourbon. But the category is far more varied than that shorthand suggests, and the best way to understand its range is to look at it the same way you&rsquo;d look at whiskey&mdash;through production choices, cask influence, and the way distillers shape flavor over time. Agave has its own voice&mdash;peppery, vegetal, often savory&mdash;and oak interacts with it differently than it does with grain. Some tequilas stay bright and distillate‑driven; others lean into sherry casks, French oak, or extended aging that pushes them into deeper, more oxidative territory.
To make sense of that spectrum, it helps to borrow a few reference points from whiskey&mdash;pairing each tequila with a whiskey whose structure makes its profile easier to understand. Here are eight tequilas that show how far the category can stretch, and are great for collectors or those just getting into the category.
<h3 dir="ltr">Tequila Ocho Single Estate A&ntilde;ejo, ($70)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Tequila+Ocho&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tequila Ocho&rsquo;s</a> Single Estate A&ntilde;ejo stays remarkably pale after a year in ex‑American oak, a deliberate choice by master distiller Carlos Camarena, whose priority is preserving the agave&rsquo;s voice rather than letting the barrel speak for it. The nose opens with aromas of cooked agave, black tea, light pepper, and a touch of honeyed sweetness, with hints of chocolate and nuts emerging on the palate. Oak plays only a structural role, adding shape without sweetness or weight. It would appeal to fans of <a href="https://www.auchentoshan.com/core-range/american-oakhttps://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Auchentoshan&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Auchentoshan American Oak</a>, a single malt scotch that is bright, citrus‑lifted, minimally oaked, and driven by the distillate rather than the depth of the cask.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://mijenta-tequila.com/products/mijenta-anejo">Mijenta A&ntilde;ejo</a> ($200)</h3>
Aged for roughly 18 months in four cask types&mdash;American oak, French oak, acacia, and cherry&mdash;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Mijenta&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mijenta</a> A&ntilde;ejo leans into a soft, confectionary profile. The nose shows cacao nibs, butterscotch, and cooked agave, transitioning&nbsp; into dried fruit, gentle spice, and coffee on a smooth, velvety palate. The cask influence is layered but never heavy, giving the tequila a rounded sweetness and polished finish. For whiskey drinkers, this sits closest to <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Balvenie&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask</a>, a Speyside single malt that is dessert‑leaning, honeyed, chocolate‑tinged, and shaped more by elegance than intensity.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Laelia<a href="https://laeliatequila.com/products/laelia-anejo?srsltid=AfmBOop23rsSysHL3WnsI93FlfxEPz3-Gh42erIWhyheHSxklYrwdZ-J"> A&ntilde;ejo</a> ($80)</h3>
Aged 12&ndash;14 months in French oak, Laelia A&ntilde;ejo stays light in color but not in character. The nose is buttery and agave‑forward, with pepper, cooked agave, and a touch of black tea. The palate brings gentle sweetness&mdash;caramel, soft chocolate, dried fruit&mdash;that is held in check by a clean line of agave spice. For whiskey drinkers, this brings to mind <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Michter%E2%80%99s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Michter&rsquo;s US 1 Rye</a>, where the distillery&rsquo;s toast‑then‑char barrels build a rounded sweetness that sits in harmony with rye spice. Both spirits land in that space where pepper and sweetness meet at the center.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.lobos1707.com/extra-anejo">Lobos Extra A&ntilde;ejo</a> ($70)</h3>
Aged more than three years in American oak and finished in PX sherry casks, Lobos 1707 Extra A&ntilde;ejo leans into a dark, sweet, oxidative profile. The nose brings sweet tobacco, cinnamon, and orange peel, while the palate layers caramel, roasted agave, leather, and a touch of wood smoke, with a long, honey finish. Fans of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Redbreast&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Redbreast Lustau Edition</a>, a PX‑finished Irish single pot still whiskey known for its dried‑fruit richness and chocolate‑caramel sweetness, will like it. Both spirits deliver a plush, spiced dessert‑leaning profile.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://partidatequila.com/products/tequila-roble-fino-anejo">Partida Roble Fino A&ntilde;ejo Tequila</a> ($150)</h3>
Partida&rsquo;s Roble Fino A&ntilde;ejo starts with 18 months in ex‑bourbon barrels before a five‑month finish in sherry‑seasoned single‑malt casks, and the result is one of the most layered a&ntilde;ejos in this lineup. Dried fruit, toasted oak, chocolate, and cooked agave drive the nose, with a line of pepper and a faint smokiness. It&rsquo;s reminiscent of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Highland+Park&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Highland Park 18</a>&mdash;a lightly smoky, sherry‑rich scotch where dried fruit, chocolate, spice, and gentle smoke accent a punchy core.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://donfulano.com/products/imperial">Don Fulano Imperial</a>, ($200)</h3>
Aged more than five years across French oak, European oak, oloroso sherry, wine casks, and Hungarian oak, Don Fulano Imperial leans into true umami depth. The nose has coffee beans, dried tobacco, old leather, and dark berries; the palate follows with dark chocolate, berries, baking spices, roasted nuts and a savory brothiness that runs through the mid‑palate. It&rsquo;s a profile that echoes the character of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Mortlach&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Mortlach 16</a>&mdash;sherried, meaty, and complex, with a dark, structured core and a long, cocoa‑rich finish.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://cazcanes.com/products/no-7-rosa-anejo">Cazcanes No. 7 Rosa A&ntilde;ejo</a>, ($140)</h3>
Only 600 bottles exist of this one‑off, three‑barrel blend. Two components were aged in uncharred French oak wine casks, the third in a lightly re‑charred American oak bourbon barrel. Together they create a profile that&rsquo;s subtle rather than showy. The nose has cinnamon, vanilla, and a little jalape&ntilde;o warmth; the palate brings gentle fruit from the wine casks and a touch of sweetness from the bourbon barrel, finishing clean with a snap of pepper. Fans of <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Compass+Box&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Compass Box&rsquo;s</a> wine-influenced blends, like <a href="https://www.compassboxwhisky.com/products/the-story-of-the-spaniard">Story of the Spaniard</a>, will likely be fans of this tequila.
<h3 dir="ltr"><a href="https://casadragones.com/us/sipping-tequila/casa-dragones-reposado/">Casa Dragones Reposado Mizunara</a> ($160)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Casa+Dragones&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Casa Dragones</a> Reposado is aged exclusively in new Mizunara oak, and the influence is immediate: sandalwood, white pepper, and a soft, almost cedar‑like perfume that sits over cooked agave. The palate is clean and lightly sweet, with hints of vanilla, citrus peel, and a gentle incense note. It&rsquo;s an unusual profile for a reposado&mdash;more aromatic than oaky&mdash;and it is a good tequila counterpart to the <a href="https://us.glendaloughdistillery.com/whiskey/7-year-mizunara">Glendalough 7‑Year Single Malt Mizunara Finish</a>.

The Best Tequila For Whiskey Fans to Drink on Cinco De Mayo—Or Any Day of the Year

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🥃 Gina Pace picked some of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/best-bourbons-kentucky-derby">best bottles of bourbon to drink during the Kentucky Derby</a> this year, from official Derby-affiliated expressions to bourbons that encompass the spirit of the event.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Abraham Bowman Special Release #26 Rye Whiskey ($80)
This is the first rye whiskey that the <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=A.+Smith+Bowman&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A. Smith Bowman</a> distillery has released since 2010. Abraham Bowman Special Release #26 (110 proof) was entirely distilled and aged onsite at the Virginia distillery, which is not always the case&mdash;this is a sister distillery to <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Buffalo+Trace&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buffalo Trace</a>, and some of the whiskey is first distilled there or at another Sazerac distillery before being shipped to Bowman and redistilled. Look for notes of vanilla, apricot, black pepper, and spice on the palate.
Blue Run Blueprint Series ($70)
This new release takes the role of flagship bourbon for <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Blue+Run&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Run</a>, a brand owned by Molson Coors Beverage Company. It was blended by head of whiskey and innovation Shaylyn Gammon, combining two different mashbills&mdash;a wheated recipe and an experimental mashbill known as &ldquo;Founders' Mash&rdquo; (details are not revealed)&mdash;and bottled at 105 proof. This bourbon is meant to be sipped or used in a cocktail like an Old Fashioned, with notes of orchard fruit, vanilla, cinnamon, baking spice, and and toasted oak.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Cedar Ridge Pete &amp; Sherri Married &mdash; 2nd Anniversary ($100)
Do you give whiskey made in Iowa much thought? And no, I&rsquo;m not talking about Templeton Rye, which is actually making whiskey at its Iowa distillery after sourcing from MGP for many years (it still does that too, to be clear). But have you heard of Cedar Ridge Distillery? That name is a reason to pay attention to Iowa whiskey, because it&rsquo;s making some really good stuff, and the latest example is the third installment in the Pete &amp; Sherri Married series, which is part of its QuintEssential Special Release series. That&rsquo;s a lot of setup, so let&rsquo;s explain what this whiskey is all about.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/7402554b-da20-4539-96d8-71072fd22a0d.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Cedar Ridge"> 
Cedar Ridge makes different kinds of whiskey, but it excels in particular at making American single malt, which is what this new release is. The QuintEssential series focuses on this style, and for this release master blender Murphy Quint blended single malts aged from six to nine years together, and bottled it at cask strength of 116.8 proof (58.4% ABV), with no chill filtration and, of course, no color. The two main whiskeys in the blend are as follows: single malt made from two-row pale malted barley initially aged in ex-bourbon barrels from the distillery and then finished in Pedro Xim&eacute;nez and Oloroso sherry hogsheads; and peated malt whiskey initially matured in the distillery&rsquo;s bourbon barrels and then finished in amontillado sherry butts.
The result is a really complex and rich sipper, with notes of dried fruit, black pepper, creme brulee, ripe grapes and dried raisins, dark chocolate, and cinnamon. At nearly 117 proof, there&rsquo;s a flash of heat on the palate as you sip, ending with a lingering bit of warmth that lasts for a moment or so after the liquid is gone from your glass. If you like this whiskey, and I&rsquo;m pretty sure you will, there will be more to come, as the series continues to focus on different blends and cask finishes. In the meantime, give the rest of the Cedar Ridge lineup a try as well, and you may decide that Iowa whiskey is something you need to start paying more attention to.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: May 1

The Kentucky Derby has come a long way over the last century and a half. The first running in 1875 was a local spectacle; now it&rsquo;s a weekend‑long operation involving hats, handicapping, traffic patterns, and a surprising amount of bourbon logistics. The julep didn&rsquo;t become the official cocktail until 1938, but by then Kentuckians had already made whiskey part of the rhythm of the day&mdash;something for the early races, a dram for the main event, and a healthy pour for the post‑race debrief when everyone&rsquo;s feet hurt.
Most people experience all of this from a living room, backyard, or party where the dress code is &ldquo;Derby‑adjacent at best,&rdquo; but the bourbon still matters. What changes each year are the bottles people reach for: special releases, seasonal editions, and the occasional showpiece that feels right for a weekend built on speed, spectacle, and very fast horses. A few of these eight bourbon picks have clear Derby lineage; the rest are here because they&rsquo;re the right pour for a weekend built around celebration, whether you&rsquo;re there in person or watching the race from a bar, a party, or your living room this Saturday, May 2.
<h3 dir="ltr">Rabbit Hole Raceking ($95)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Rabbit+Hole&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rabbit Hole</a> started with founder Kaveh Zamanian falling in love twice: first with his wife Heather, a Louisville native, and then with the city and its bourbon. The brand, which was founded in 2012, has a naming convention which comes out of that&mdash;Cavehill for the historic cemetery, Heigold for the German stonecutter&rsquo;s Butchertown home, Boxergrail for Louisville&rsquo;s boxing culture, and Dareringer as a tribute to Heather herself. <a href="https://www.rabbitholedistillery.com/pages/raceking">Raceking</a> extends that pattern into the city&rsquo;s horse racing identity, treating it as another facet of the place that pulled him in.
The original Raceking debuted in 2020 as a NAS whiskey; this new edition is aged six years and bottled at 95 proof, giving the chocolate‑malted wheat and chocolate‑malted barley in the five‑grain mashbill more room to deepen and integrate. The profile leans into notes of cocoa, roasted espresso, toffee, and warm spice.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby Bottle ($50)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=woodford+derby&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Woodford Reserve&rsquo;s</a> annual <a href="https://buynow.woodfordreserve.com/en_us/#/US-NY/quick-shop/f8b4212c-a0e4-4510-a68a-823f138789a7">Derby bottle</a> returns with artwork by Chicago‑based artist <a href="https://annapmurphy.com">Anna Murphy</a>, whose blue‑and‑white porcelain-inspired illustration anchors the 2026 release. &ldquo;At the heart of my work is a simple mission,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;To create beauty that leaves people feeling uplifted and carrying a little more wonder into the world.&rdquo;
Woodford (90.4 proof) has the kind of balance that holds up in a julep: enough body to withstand dilution, enough sweetness to keep the drink rounded, and just enough oak and citrus to show through the mint. It doesn&rsquo;t disappear under crushed ice, and the finish stays present even as the drink softens.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Blanton&rsquo;s Gold Barrel ($200-$300)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Blanton%E2%80%99s&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blanton&rsquo;s</a> has two calling cards: the eight horse‑and‑jockey stoppers, each frozen in a different phase of the race; and the letters they collectively spell (B‑L‑A‑N‑T‑O‑N‑S). The toppers made it a collectible; the quality of the whiskey made it a benchmark. When it launched in 1984, Blanton&rsquo;s became the first modern single‑barrel bourbon sold as a branded product, formalizing an idea that had existed informally for decades, and turning &ldquo;from one barrel&rdquo; into a category rather than a curiosity. It also means that a new bottle of Blanton&rsquo;s can taste slightly different than the last you had.
The <a href="https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/our-brands/blantons-single-barrel/blantons-gold-edition/https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Blanton%E2%80%99s+Gold+Edition&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Gold Edition</a> takes that foundation and pushes it further. Bottled at 103 proof and originally released for international markets, it&rsquo;s a deeper, spicier expression of the Blanton&rsquo;s profile&mdash;honeyed citrus, clove, toasted oak, and richer than the standard bottling. It will take a bit of a hunt to snag a bottle.
<h3 dir="ltr">Angel&rsquo;s Envy Cask Strength Bourbon and Rye ($250, $270)</h3>
<a href="https://www.angelsenvy.com/us/en/product/2026-dual-cask-strength/https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Angel%E2%80%99s+Envy+cask+strength&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Angel&rsquo;s Envy&rsquo;s highly anticipated 2026 Cask Strength release</a> arrives as a pair&mdash;a port‑finished bourbon (117.8 proof) and a 10‑year-old rum‑finished rye (111.6 proof). The bourbon comes from some of the distillery&rsquo;s oldest barrels and uses a solera‑inspired approach that incorporates re‑casked liquid from past Cask Strength releases before an extended finish in ruby port barrels. The profile has notes of chocolate-covered cherries and salted caramel. The rye, distilled from 2013&ndash;2015 and finished for up to four years in Caribbean rum casks, lands at a combined 10 years. The result is a whiskey with notes of spiced rum cake and tropical fruit.
There&rsquo;s only 20,640 bottles of the bourbon and 10,800 of the rye, and having both on hand for guests to try side-by-side would make for a memorable derby party.
<h3 dir="ltr">Michter&rsquo;s Celebration Sour Mash ($6,000)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Michter%E2%80%99s+Celebration&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Michter&rsquo;s Celebration</a> doesn&rsquo;t come out every year&mdash;it appears only when master of maturation Andrea Wilson and master distiller Dan McKee find barrels that live up to the name. The 2025 edition (115.2 proof)&nbsp; is built from just seven of the distillery&rsquo;s barrels, a mix of Kentucky straight ryes and bourbons ranging from more than 12 years old to well over 30. Each barrel is selected for how it contributes to the whole, with the goal of creating a whiskey defined by balance rather than sheer age.
Celebration helped redefine what American whiskey could look like at the top end when it debuted in 2013, and part of its appeal is that each release is genuinely unrepeatable. Only 315 bottles exist worldwide. If someone brings one to a Derby party and actually opens it, it&rsquo;s the kind of pour that changes the whole party.
<h3 dir="ltr">Knob Creek 21 Year ($170)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Knob+Creek&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Knob Creek 21 Year Old</a> (100 proof) is the oldest bourbon the James B. Beam Distilling Co.&nbsp; has ever released, following the 18‑year expression which came out in 2022, and showing how the brand&rsquo;s profile evolves at extreme age. Managing barrels this old becomes a hands‑on project&mdash;global small batch ambassador Tim Heuisler described it as &ldquo;warehouse Tetris,&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t just leave a barrel in one place for 21 years and hope for the best.&rdquo; Careful management by moving barrels to cooler places in the warehouse helps keep the whiskey from going too woody, and the 21‑year old actually comes across as more lively than the 18‑year, with brown sugar, caramel, and vanilla layered over oak, leather, baking spice, and tobacco. For Derby weekend, it&rsquo;s the kind of bottle that fits the moment: a historic age statement from one of Kentucky&rsquo;s biggest names.
<h3 dir="ltr">Wild Turkey Master&rsquo;s Keep: Beacon ($300)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Wild+Turkey+Master%E2%80%99s+Keep%3A+Beacon&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">Beacon</a> closes out <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Wild+Turkey&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wild Turkey&rsquo;s</a> decade‑long <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Master%E2%80%99s+Keep&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Master&rsquo;s Keep</a> series, a run of annual limited releases built around older and harder‑to‑find stocks from the distillery&rsquo;s warehouses. This final edition brings together three generations of Russell family work: the oldest component comes from Camp Nelson barrels distilled in 2007 and 2008, part of the stock Jimmy Russell helped lay down before the 2011 expansion; Eddie Russell shaped the 16‑year portion; and Bruce Russell picked the 10‑year whiskey distilled during his early years at the distillery. At 118 proof&mdash;the highest in the series&mdash;Beacon has rich caramel and vanilla, dark fruit, oak, a bit of spice, and a long, warm finish. For Derby weekend, it is a fitting capstone: a finale to a series that brings together Wild Turkey&rsquo;s past and present in a way that matches the scale of the day.
<h3 dir="ltr">Old Forester President's Choice ($225, but can go for much more)</h3>
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Old+Forester&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc">President&rsquo;s Choice is Old Forester&rsquo;s</a> most selective single‑barrel program, built around the same idea that guided the brand&rsquo;s first private barrels in 1964.Historically, each release came from a single barrel hand‑selected by the company president. The 2025 barrels were selected by assistant master distiller Caleb Trigo and master taster Melissa Rift, drawn from stocks that typically mature between seven and nine years and bottled at whatever proof (usually in the 110&ndash;125 range) best preserves the barrel&rsquo;s character. These barrels aren&rsquo;t chosen on a schedule; they&rsquo;re released only when one shows the kind of definition and maturity that warrants the label.
Old Forester <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/search?term=Birthday+Bourbon&amp;state=LIVE%26UPCOMING&amp;sortBy=number_asc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Birthday Bourbon</a> gets most of the attention each year as the prized unicorn, but as master distiller emeritus Chris Morris noted during a recent tasting at the Louisville brand home, President&rsquo;s Choice is the rarer of the two&mdash;a true one‑barrel‑at‑a‑time release available only at the distillery and a few national retailers. For Derby weekend, it&rsquo;s the insider pick.

The Best Bourbons to Drink While Watching the Kentucky Derby—Whether You're at Churchill Downs or At Home

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 Testing 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.

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