New Spirits Releases - August 26, 2022

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is an annual, vintage-dated, one-of-a-kind bourbon. It comes together from barrels selected from one specific day of production and released each year on September 2nd to celebrate the birthday of Old Forester founder George Garvin Brown. For the 2022 release, the brand is holding an online lottery on its website from August 24-31st for the opportunity to purchase a bottle. Notified via email on September 2nd, winners will have to pick up the bottle at the Louisville distillery. (SRP $149.99)

Michter's US*1 Toasted Barrel Sour Mash Whiskey begins with the brand's fully matured Sour Mash Whiskey--although not disclosed, this mash bill doesn't have enough corn to qualify as a bourbon nor enough rye to qualify as a rye. That whiskey is then placed into toasted barrels to mature further. The toast level for these secondary barrels was selected by Michter's Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson. Available in the US and export markets as of September 2022, this is just the second time this whiskey has been released following its initial launch in 2019.

The sixth release in the Little Book limited edition annual series is dubbed To The Finish to reflect Freddie Noe's interest in cooking and the flavors that come together to compliment each other. There are five components to this bottling, four of which begin as 4 year-old straight malt whiskeys. These four are finished separately with different staves/barrels as follows: cherrywood staves, applewood smoked barrels, hickory smoked barrels, and maplewood staves. They are then blended together in various ratios along with a parcel of 5 year-old Kentucky straight bourbon. It's bottled without chill-filtration at a cask strength of 117.45 proof. Available nationwide as of August 2022.

This Small Batch Bourbon is the 15th limited edition release from Four Roses and it features four different bourbon recipes aged 14-20 years. The recipes are as follows: 14 year OESF (20% rye, herbal notes yeast); 14 year OESV (20% rye, delicate fruit yeast); 15 year OESK (20% rye, slight spice yeast); 20 year OBSV (35% rye, delicate fruit yeast). The bourbon was crafted by Master Distiller Brett Elliott and is bottled at 109 proof without chill-filtration. Approximately 14,100 hand-numbered bottles will be available nationwide on September 17, 2022.

Barrell Vantage is a blend of straight bourbons (distilled in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee) which was aged and finished separately. The finishing barrels used were Japanese Mizunara oak, French oak, and toasted American oak barrels, all virgin oaks. Blended and bottled at cask strength of 114.44 proof, this will be an ongoing series for the brand. Availability begins at select retailers nationwide and online as of August 2022.

This is the the fourth batch of Ardbeg's permanent 19 year old expression, Ardbeg Traigh Bhan (pronounced TRI VAN). Always produced in small batches and released once annually, this dram draws its inspiration from Islay’s Traigh Bhan beach, known as “the Singing Sands." For this release there was a greater proportion of oloroso sherry casks used in its creation than previous batches. Each batch has its own unique code, batch symbol and signature from a famous member of the team. This one is from Colin Gordon, Ardbeg’s Distiller Manager. It is bottled at 46.2% ABV and available as of September 2022.

This bourbon from Heaven Hill's Larceny Bourbon brand consists of bourbon made from a wheated mash bill (68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley). The barrels used in the batch were aged from 6 to 8 years. But as the name suggests, the bourbon is bottled straight from the barrel at Barrel Proof. Heaven Hill releases three batches each year so be on the look out for the batch number and proof on the label. Batch C922 is bottled at 126.6 proof and is the highest proof batch for 2022. Available in limited quantities as of September 2022.