What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

This Week’s Unicorn Review Stories

🥃 We picked some of the best bottles of whiskey to give to your dad this Father’s Day, all of which have a strong father-son family legacy behind them.

🍷 Vicki Denig spoke to COQODAQ wine director Ian Smedley about his career trajectory and how he keeps the Champagne list relevant at this NYC fried chicken and bubbles hotspot.

New Bottle Releases

Russell’s Reserve 13 (SRP $200)

Russell’s Reserve released the latest batch of its always popular 13-year-old bourbon, and this one clocks in at a high 121.1 proof. This also coincides with master distiller Eddie Russell’s 45th anniversary at Wild Turkey, and to celebrate the distillery is also releasing a documentary about him called His Own Way: The Story of Eddie Russell. You can see the film starting June 23 at select Alamo Drafthouse locations.

New Riff 10 Year Bourbon and Rye (SRP $90)

Kentucky distillery New Riff continues to impress with its bottled-in-bond whiskeys and fantastic American single malt. They also have some older barrels aging in the warehouses, as evidenced by the release of these new 10-year-old whiskeys. The bourbon was bottled at 116.9 proof and made from a mashbill of 65% corn, 30% rye and 5% malted barley; the rye was bottled at 118.8 proof and made from a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye. Both are available now to New Riff Whiskey Club members.

Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week

Penelope Bourbon’s Cooper Series: Riviera ($80)

Every now and then, Penelope Bourbon comes along and releases something pretty special. The brand, which was founded in 2018, was acquired by MGP in 2023, the same distillery that it sources its whiskey from. Penelope puts out a lot of new releases, and some of them are really good, while others sometimes feel a little bit redundant. But when the whiskey hits the right notes, it sings—and that is the case with Riviera, the new edition in the Cooper Series which is focused on different cask finishes.

Past releases in the Cooper Series include Rio, which was aged in the very divisive Brazilian amburana wood, and Havana, which was finished in maple syrup and rum barrels. Both of these drove their flavor points home very clearly, but that is not necessarily the case with Riviera, and I mean that in a very good way. This whiskey is similar to Rose Cask Finish, another Cooper Series release, which was finished in—you guessed it—rose wine casks. That expression was a bourbon, but Riviera is a blend of non-age statement bourbon (made from a mashbill of 74% corn, 16% wheat, 7% rye, 3% malted barley) and eight-year-old light whiskey. After initial maturation, it was finished in rose wine barrels from Spain and bottled at 94 proof. 

The result is a really light and flavorful whiskey, with the rich, juicy fruit notes that you might expect from this type of secondary maturation. I’m not sure what the percentages of each component in the blend are, but the bourbon’s vanilla and oak character are certainly present, along with notes of apricot, citrus, butterscotch, caramel, and red berries. There is a sweetness to this whiskey, but it’s soft and not overpowering. Overall, this is a very well executed finish that stands out from the rest of the series, and is further proof that the Penelope team has really mastered the art of the secondary maturation—but please, no more amburana!