What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Sarah Clarke's wine journey started out by visiting some of the best restaurants in France, and ultimately led her to LA stalwart Republique. <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/hidden-gems-wine-list-sarah-clark">She discussed her career and picked some of her favorite bottles at the restaurant</a>.
🥃 Cognac might be the best known style of brandy, but this grape-based spirit can be found in many countries around the world that <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/brandy-global-spirit-wine-whiskey">make expressions appealing to both wine and whiskey drinkers</a>.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Daniel Weller Spelt Wheat ($550)
The latest edition of Buffalo Trace&rsquo;s Daniel Weller series, which is built around using different wheat varietals, is the new Spelt Wheat expression. Like most other whiskeys in the Weller lineup, this is a wheated bourbon. Buffalo Trace is famously tight-lipped about its mashbills, but what the distillery does reveal is that this bourbon was made using spelt wheat, an ancient grain normally used for baking and beer.
Peg Leg Porker &ldquo;Spirit of America&rdquo; Limited Edition Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon ($60)
This Nashville whiskey brand was founded by pitmaster Carey Bringle. The latest edition is a bottled-in-bond bourbon released to honor America&rsquo;s 250th anniversary (one of many that you&rsquo;ll see over the coming year). Details are a bit scarce about what's actually in the bottle, but given that it&rsquo;s bottled-in-bond we know that it was made at one distillery, it&rsquo;s at least four years old, and it&rsquo;s bottled at 100 proof.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Remus Master Distiller Experimental Series No. 2 ($70)
Is this the year that wheat whiskey finally gets the recognition it deserves? That&rsquo;s kind of a loaded question, because it assumes that you actually think wheat whiskey deserves recognition&mdash;and I would say that it does, given that there are some truly excellent options out there to try in this often under-recognized category. One of the latest comes from MGP under its Ross &amp; Squibb line, which just added a wheat whiskey for the very first time to its Remus Bourbon brand.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/7f44a86c-9474-4953-9744-45bffb67e634.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Remus 2026 Experimental Image 2"> 
The whiskey in question is the second release in the Remus Master Distiller Experimental Series, which is spearheaded by master distiller Ian Stirsman. The first expression arrived last year in the form of a nine-year-old bourbon aged in Seguin Moreau barrels. That company mostly makes French oak casks for aging wine and cognac, but in this case they made American oak barrels that were seasoned for 24 months, toasted, and lightly charred. As mentiond before, this new release is a wheat whiskey, the first to be bottled under the Remus brand.
This isn&rsquo;t your standard 51 percent wheat whiskey (or thereabouts), however; instead it&rsquo;s modeled after MGP&rsquo;s rye recipe with 95 percent wheat in the mashbill. It was distilled in 2017, bottled at a high 113 proof, and finished in a combination of casks&mdash;tawny port, white port, ruby port, and Oloroso sherry. The result is a really flavorful and complex whiskey that is really unlike anything else you have probably tried from MGP or Remus. There are rich fruit notes that veer to the sweeter side of the flavor spectrum but step back from the precipice, along with flavors of roasted almond, dark chocolate, and vanilla custard. Overall, this is a much more interesting release than the first, and really lives up to the "experimental" part in the series&rsquo; name. This might not be your go-to Tuesday night pour, but it&rsquo;s certainly an interesting creation that is worth trying.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
Dispatch From the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2026 in&nbsp;Ciro, Calabria, Italy
I had the privilege of judging wines for the ros&eacute; portion of Concours Mondiale de Bruxelles this year on the southern end of Italy, surrounded by Mediterranean waters during weather that makes a warm place feel cold. We&rsquo;re in Calabria, a wine region with a 3,000-year history, where vines stretch from wind-carved hilltops to within yards of the sea. Much of it is given to ros&eacute; wine, which makes this an ideal place to explore.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/7454b76c-bb72-4ea4-a295-fb002b61869f.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Wine Comp">
The Concours Mondiale is one of the oldest and largest wine competitions in Europe. You&rsquo;ve probably come across the little medallion sticker on imported bottles in wine shops&mdash;aside from critics, it&rsquo;s one of the more time-tested ways that wineries market their wares.
Just the ros&eacute; portion alone in 2026 encompasses more than 1,200 wines from 32 countries. (Judging for whites, reds, sparkling, and sticky wines each have their own weekend later in the year.) The judges, too, are an international lot. I&rsquo;m one of just three Americans; the rest come from Britain and the E.U., as you&rsquo;d expect, but also Africa, China, and even South Korea are represented. My tasting table included judges from Italy, France, Spain, and Hungary. It seemed like we shouldn&rsquo;t agree on anything.
That&rsquo;s not exactly true; quality finds its adherents, no matter where it comes from and no matter who&rsquo;s judging. We tasted wines from eight countries this morning; the next two days will bring more sources. While I can&rsquo;t tell you who won (at least not now&mdash;I&rsquo;m not supposed to scoop the competition), I can tell you that one of our favorites was a rosado from Baja Mexico, which surprised the hell out of all of us.
We&rsquo;re looking to find wines that fulfill the charm offensive that ros&eacute; is known for&mdash;its yum factor, for sure, but also its facility with food, a thing that was proven at our luncheon an hour after tastings concluded. When I can reveal&nbsp; more of the results, I will. In the meantime, I urge you to stock up on spring pink wines from any number of Mediterranean locales, whether that&rsquo;s Provence, Greece, Spain, or even Calabria, Italy.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 27

Rare are the homebars of the 21st century that are equipped with a brandy warmer. The sideways snifter propped above a flickering tea candle feels more like a vestige from some old Alfred Hitchcock picture, slowly warming the spirit to release volatile aromatics. Overall, brandy is often thought of as a stodgy spirit these days, with just a few select strongholds keeping its legacy alive. But, as grape-based spirits struggle to gain traction with new consumers, it is the perfect moment for the category to reinvent itself.
Brandy&rsquo;s plight has been particularly acute in recent years. According to data from IWSR, the global leader for beverage alcohol data and insights, the compound annual growth rate for brandy in the US from 2022 to 2024 was -7 percent, worse than any other spirit category during the same period. Just this January, <a href="https://www.lvmh.com/en/publications/solid-performance-in-a-disrupted-global-economic-and-geopolitical-environment">LVMH reported</a> that cognac sales in the U.S. and China in particular were weighing down the company&rsquo;s declining revenue. While the traditional centers of brandy production lag, now is the time for new regions to court international consumers with intriguing grape spirits that satisfy both wine and whiskey lovers equally.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Brandy for the Wine Lovers</h3>
Brandy follows in the footsteps of wine, and, like wine, brandy relies on both varietal and environmental factors to determine its expression of flavor. Some of the most exciting brandies out there are speaking the oenophile&rsquo;s language of terroir, drawing on unique selection of varietals, high altitude growing, and windswept vineyards to create distinct spirits.&nbsp;
It should come as no surprise that some of the most ancient wine producing regions of the world craft legacy brandies. Georgia, which has produced wine for around 8,000 years, has enjoyed a recent resurgence in the international popularity of its wine. Brandy may follow suit.The country&rsquo;s oldest brandy house, which once sold to the Russian Czar and was later run by the Soviet Union, was only reprivatized and reintroduced to the world in the last two decades. Through all of this, <a href="https://www.sarajishvili.com/home">Sarajishvili</a> has been making brandy aged in oak since 1884.&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s most exciting about Sarajishvili&rsquo;s brandies, beyond its oak-mellowed, balanced-but-sharp VSOP, is that the house relies heavily on some of the beloved native grape varietals of Georgia. Local grapes like Chinuri, Goruli Mtsvane, Tsitska, and Tsolikouri offer distillers advantageous high acidity, a common trait in any good brandy grape. As the wine world warms up to vintages and indigenous varietals from the Caucasus region, esteemed brandy houses like Sarajishvili should become better known.&nbsp;
We then turn to South Africa&rsquo;s domination of Chenin Blanc. Here, too, we find a brandy connection. While Chenin Blanc, locally called Steen, grows well on the windy vineyards of the Cape, it was historically used as an input of the local brandy industry. Along with Colombard, South African winegrowers favored Chenin Blanc as a suitable base for the country&rsquo;s once booming brandy industry. Some of South Africa&rsquo;s signature wines owe their existence to brandy.
Narina Cloete, head winemaker at <a href="https://www.blaauwklippen.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorag4N1j4gOcYfjlH23HESjGKQ7qVxtnEqrpDmiohMyagdRQCwH">Blaauwklippen</a>, explained: &ldquo;Brandy is a big part of the South African wine and spirits history. As Blaauwklippen is the oldest wine farm in Stellenbosch, it is a must for somebody that values great brandy, history, and tradition.&rdquo; She pointed to two varietals, Colombard and Chenin Blanc, as being essential.&ldquo;They are the workhorses of South Africa&rsquo;s white grape varieties and make excellent base wines for our brandies,&rdquo; she said. While the vineyard is known for their red wines, Blaauwklippen also pot distills the iconic white grapes and ages the eau-de-vie for 10 years.&nbsp;
Further off the beaten path is a rising star in the category&mdash;Singani, Bolivia&rsquo;s unique, high-altitude brandy made from Muscat of Alexandria grapes. Unlike the oak-aged expressions of Georgia and South Africa, Bolivians tend to drink their Singani as a clear spirit, often in a chuflay, a highball made with ginger ale and citrus. This common usage bolsters the relevance of brandy as a cocktail spirit.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We are lucky that Singani is as versatile as it is, simply by nature,&rdquo; said <a href="https://singani63.com/">Singani 63</a> CEO Richard Scully, &ldquo;Many bars and restaurants showcase their creativity by pushing Singani to new limits. We see this in the excitement of early adopters&mdash;they share their enthusiasm, encouraging new experimentation, and the creativity continues. Singani&rsquo;s distinctiveness makes it stand out like a new color in a box of crayons, offering an original experience to cocktail culture.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The most distinct part of Singani production? The grapes must grow in vineyards at least 5,250 feet above sea level. The spirit is light, bright, sharp&mdash;just like the dizzying altitudes of the Andes.
In Eastern Europe, the Balkans are also home to a deep distilling tradition. But the most intriguing offerings from this region ultimately push the oenological envelope&mdash;they are made from plums instead of grapes. While you might be hard pressed to find a Serbian wine at your local shop, imported rakija offers a different essence of fruit. Serbian brandies, in particular, treat plums just as winemakers treat grapes. Brands like <a href="https://starasokolova.com/?lang=en">Stara Sokolova</a> distill spirits only from the trnovača variety, while <a href="https://yebiga.com/">Yebiga</a> opts for the čačanska rodna fruit. If you&rsquo;ve memorized all your grape varietals, it might be time to sip some Balkan brandies and brush up on your plums.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Brandy for the Whiskey Lovers</h3>
If talk of varietals and terroir is not enticing enough, brandy has the dual-appeal of being an aged spirit. From time-honored cognacs matured in French oak to newer brands relying on used bourbon barrels, brandy is a spirit that can be very appealing to whiskey lovers.&nbsp;
Take, for example, Asbach Uralt, a German brandy that has a variety of aged expressions at different price points. The legacy distillery on the right bank of the Rhine looks to cognac as a model and exclusively uses Limousin oak from south-central France to age its spirits.&nbsp;
In America, Louisville distillery <a href="https://copperandkings.com/">Copper &amp; Kings</a> is vying to reclaim brandy&rsquo;s story as a heritage American spirit by relying on bourbon barrels for maturation. &ldquo;If I told you that for every three bottles of bourbon sold in America, there is one bottle of brandy sold, it would be hard to believe,&rdquo; said Rob Bourdon, owner and CEO of Copper &amp; Kings American Brandy Company.
His distillery buys Muscat, Chenin Blanc, and Colombard grapes from California, but the rest of the process, from fermentation to distillation and aging, is rooted in Kentucky&rsquo;s bourbon tradition. From custom fabricated copper pot stills to aging in ex-bourbon barrels, Copper &amp; Kings keeps pace with their corn-fed counterparts, although there are differences.&ldquo;We have a cellar downstairs and we control our aging environment,&rdquo; said Bourdon. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have that rough and tough aging environment that bourbon goes through; brandy is a softer spirit.&rdquo;&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s not that there is no brandy-making tradition in the U.S.&mdash;on the contrary, Bourdon wants to reclaim that history. &ldquo;We have this rich American heritage with brandy, and if you asked someone on the street, they wouldn&rsquo;t know that,&rdquo; he said. But when we look at the domestic brands that dominate the category, they are selling at lower price points and gathering dust on the bottom shelf. The largest brands, like Gallo&rsquo;s E. &amp; J., Sazerac&rsquo;s Paul Masson, Heaven Hill&rsquo;s Christian Brothers, and Korbel, all hail from the vineyards of California.&nbsp;
It makes sense that America&rsquo;s brandy heartland would be where over 80 percent of its grapes are grown, but these brands aren&rsquo;t necessarily trying to capture the attention of new consumers. Instead, excitement is drawn to brands like Copper &amp; Kings that are adding a new small-batch, craft spirit twist to the category.&nbsp;
In farflung countries, distillers are approaching the brandy category with a newfound vigor (even if they follow a centuries-old tradition.) &ldquo;Drinkers around the world are self educating like never before and seeking fun, new and authentic experiences,&rdquo; said Singani 63&rsquo;s Scully, &ldquo;The category of grape spirits is vast and exciting.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Even as brandy struggles at the macro level, there is a silver lining coming from regions that have not always been part of the discussion. Cognac may feel a bit dated and stuffy to some, but Georgian brandy has the apricot zing of a newfound treasure, South African brandy breathes with the southeasterly winds of the Atlantic, and Kentucky is adding some Southern char and sweetness to California grapes. If you look around, it&rsquo;s easy to see that the current doldrums in the brandy industry could be setting the stage for some exciting new waves to come.&nbsp;

Why Brandy Has Become a Global Spirit That Appeals to Both Wine and Whiskey Drinkers

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Is Arizona on your radar as a notable wine region? If not, Asonta Benetti makes the case for <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/arizona-wine-destination">why you should consider wine from this southwestern state</a>.
🥃 Three decades into his career, Jefferson&rsquo;s Bourbon founder Trey Zoeller is still experimenting, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/trey-zoeller-jeffersons-bourbon">and has a lot to say about American whiskey</a>.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
New Riff Silver Grove Bourbon and Rye ($60)
At six years old, these are the oldest expressions in New Riff&rsquo;s Silver Grove lineup to date. The bourbon is bottled at 116.4 proof and made from a mashbill of 65% corn, 30% rye and 5% malted barley; the rye is bottled at bottled at 115 proof and made from a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye. Proceeds from the sales of these whiskeys goes to benefit the Silver Grove Community Foundation.
Kavalan L&Aacute;N Single Malt Whisky ($80)
Taiwanese distillery Kavalan makes some truly fantastic single malt. This new release is a blend of whiskies aged in port, bourbon, and STR wine casks (shaved, toasted, recharred), bottled at 43 percent ABV. That has given it notes of sweet fruit, jasmine, orange, and cinnamon, making this another notable world whisky in this rapidly growing category.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Oban 15 Year Old Port Cask Finish
Last year, one of the best single malt scotch whiskies came from Oban, the small coastal distillery owned by Diageo that is often outshined by its much better known counterparts like Lagavulin and Talisker. That whisky was the 15 Year Old Cask Strength Sherry Cask Finish, a 55.3 percent ABV single malt that stood out in a crowded field of many new releases. This year, Oban has returned with another new cask-finished expression, and it&rsquo;s also one worth seeking out: Oban 15 Port Cask Finish.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/fc9f2f0a-20e9-478b-9f35-8533be46ee5a.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Oban 15 Hero Image">
As you can tell by the name, this whisky is different from last year's release because it is finished in port instead of sherry casks&mdash;specifically, it spent 15 years in American oak hogsheads and then was given a secondary maturation in American oak ruby port casks from Portugal, and bottled at 52.1 percent ABV. This is the second in this series of 15-year-old whiskies, so presumably there will be more coming down the line.
The whisky at hand is perhaps not quite on the level of last year's sherry cask finish, but if you consider it as a standalone release it&rsquo;s certainly in the conversation about noteworthy new scotch whiskies to try. The exact amount of time it spent finishing in port casks is not revealed, but it's likely less than a year based on the information provided. That has imbued it with rich and syrupy fruit notes, as well as vanilla, maple, black pepper, honey, and baking spice flavors. And the higher proof than normal goes a long way here, leaving some lingering heat on your tongue as it fades.
Oban often talks about the maritime influence on its whisky that comes from the distillery's proximity to the sea, and you may or may not pick that up here (I found the port influence to obscure that for the most part). Regardless, the distillery is a key member of the Diageo portfolio that has put another excellent new whisky into the world, and it's one that is well worth seeking out.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
Cadre 2024 San Luis Obispo Coast Band of Stones Gruner Veltliner ($30)
There have been a number of stabs at growing and making Gruner Veltliner in the U.S. since the late &lsquo;80s, when Austria pulled off its minor putsch on the American market. Talk about anything but Chardonnay. Gruner was fresh and verdant, full of energy and somehow weightless in lighter, federspiel bottlings, more weighty and full-bodied in smaragd styles. It didn&rsquo;t taste like oak, it didn&rsquo;t taste like fruit salad, it was its own racy self.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/b8939904-0304-4593-90a5-b6a0072e5307.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Gruner">
Not surprisingly American winegrowers set down some gruner vines, and did what they could to capture that bolt of green lightning, with plantings in the Finger Lakes, Oregon, and parts of coastal California. Most seemed a little wan, too pale or too one-dimensional to approximate Austrian versions.
In the mid-2000s, John Niven took a portion of his family&rsquo;s pioneering vineyard Paragon in the Central Coast&rsquo;s Edna Valley and planted cool climate whites, including Albarino, Gruner, and Sauvignon Blanc, to found Cadre. The vines are nearing 20 years of age, and the wines are really showing some character, none more than the 2024 Cadre Gruner Band of Stones.
This comes mostly from older vines at Paragon, a relentlessly cool site not five miles from the Pacific. It&rsquo;s aged in steel, and malo is suppressed. Its scent is spot on&mdash;green pea shoots and salted citrus, a hint of ground pepper, and a&nbsp; tropical fruit base, like papaya. Made at a federspiel level of richness, this wine is structured to be bright and racy, less fat, more sun. The acidity and saline tang reminds you of its coastal character and proximity to the sea. Grab a bottle and head to the beach.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 20

When Trey Zoeller started working in the liquor business in the 1990s, he was surprised to find that, outside of his home state of Kentucky, nobody wanted bourbon. &ldquo;Everybody drank bourbon here and I never thought about it&mdash;I assumed they drank bourbon everywhere,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then I moved to a half dozen different places around the country and nobody was drinking it.&rdquo;
Why, then, did he decide to start a bourbon business in 1999, a year when bourbon sales were, to put it bluntly, in the toilet?
For one thing, he could get good bourbon cheaply. There were just eight distilleries operating in Kentucky, replete with well-aged barrels from the so-called glut era of the 1980s, but &ldquo;we could buy from anyone,&rdquo; Zoeller recalled. He also believed that bourbon had the potential to achieve the same high prices that scotch and Irish whiskeys were starting to command.
&ldquo;Ignorance is bliss,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;There wasn't a high-end [bourbon] market or consumer at the time, but I had confidence that what was out there, some of the great old barrels, were superior to things that were being bottled&mdash;and that there's always room at the top. Maybe that was a little bit before our time because we couldn't give it away in the beginning.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Sales were so poor in the early days that Zoeller had to diversify, so he shilled energy drinks, fortified water, and even a Chardonnay called Pinque. Those products outsold Jefferson&rsquo;s for years, helping to sustain Zoeller&rsquo;s faith that, eventually, whiskey drinkers would come around. &ldquo;I should have concentrated more effort on those products than bourbon, because it wasn't paying the bills at the time,&rdquo; he said.
Eventually his passion project paid off. Early bottlings of Jefferson&rsquo;s Presidential Select, originally priced at $100 and containing Stitzel-Weller bourbon, now command thousands of dollars at auction. Though his initial supply of glut-era barrels has long since been exhausted, Zoeller has been shrewd about laying down new make on contract and buying whiskey from different distilleries, all with an eye toward finishing and blending. It&rsquo;s this post-distillation process that defines Jefferson&rsquo;s rather than what happens in the stillhouse.
Over the years, Zoeller hasn&rsquo;t shied away from aggressive barrel finishes, and he&rsquo;s made waves&mdash;literally&mdash;with products like Jefferson&rsquo;s Ocean, a bourbon aged onboard active container ships that some commentators in the past have dismissed as a gimmick. The brand now has a deep bench of everyday whiskeys, as well as a luxury offering in Marian McClain, a five-bourbon blend named for an early American distiller and ancestor of Zoeller. As part of the Castle Brands portfolio, Jefferson&rsquo;s was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2019. The company is building a distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky that Zoeller says should come on line sometime later this year.&nbsp;
Many in Zoeller&rsquo;s position would have retired at this point, but he&rsquo;s still full of energy and ideas&mdash;and looking at potentially bringing his children, twins who recently turned 21, into the business in the future. Even with bourbon&rsquo;s 21st-century momentum starting to slow, he sees plenty of opportunity ahead. The Unicorn Review sat down with Zoeller to talk about the bourbon community, the roots of his experimental philosophy, and more&mdash;including an as-yet-unreleased collaboration with an A-list rock star.&nbsp;
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Unicorn Review: There are a number of whiskey blenders making a good name for themselves nowadays, but that wasn&rsquo;t the case when you got started. Did you consciously avoid talking about blending?&nbsp;
Trey Zoeller: We didn't beat our chest about it, that's for sure, because you're exactly right: blending was bad. It was a dirty word. People associated it with blended scotch whisky, blended Canadian whiskies. What we were doing was blending Kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys&mdash; great products all the way around&mdash;and just trying to put them together to make them better than they were. We started doing it way before most had even thought about it. If there were other distilleries doing it, they weren't talking about it.&nbsp;
Now people are putting more weight and more credit into blending. I think there's a real art to it. It's the hardest product. We&rsquo;ve done 30 expressions, and we've got four blended products now. Those are the ones that are still the most difficult to put together because there's one way to do it&mdash;that's by taste.&nbsp;
You told me once that distilling is not what&rsquo;s interesting to you. It&rsquo;s maturation and what you can do with the whiskey afterwards. Where does that philosophy come from?
When I started, 99% of bourbon was made in Kentucky. If you look at the history, then you understand why they distill and age the way they do, which is all borne out of practicality. So I looked at it as: if you threw practicality out the door, what could you do to enhance bourbon the most?
So Marian McLain, my eighth-generation grandmother, was arrested for not paying taxes. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington had to pay for the war, so he instituted the whiskey tax. A lot of the distillers [from the East] went over the Appalachian Mountains and started distilling in this region. To get the whiskey back to where there were people, they put it in barrels for the first time. They floated it down the river system and then shipped it around Florida, back up to where there were people.&nbsp;
I recreated that [journey] 10, 12 years ago, and the whiskey that we distilled and sent on that voyage was unbelievable. It was as dark as the 16-year-old bourbon that we double-barreled for five years. Completely complex, so much more rounded than the same whiskey distilled on the same day and aged in Kentucky.&nbsp;
Then the railroad made its way down to Kentucky and you could ship barrels of whiskey up to New York in two weeks. Two-week-old whiskey sucks. So what did they do? They built warehouses right next to the distillery, built them high rather than wide, and aged it year over year over year to catch up to what happened on that voyage.&nbsp;
I looked at it and said, what changed on that voyage? It was environment and agitation. If you change the environment and agitation, you can drastically change the outcome of the whiskey. So I started experimenting in those different routes and that really opened up to what I could do.&nbsp;
Jefferson&rsquo;s Ocean is tremendously impacted by its sea voyage, but I still see people casually dismissing it as a gimmick. They don&rsquo;t understand what&rsquo;s happening to the barrel when it gets loaded onto a ship. What do you say to the haters?
It's really interesting that they dismiss that, but they buy into Warehouse J or Warehouse G [as influencing flavor in specific ways due to their location]. You've been to Kentucky&mdash;no microclimates here. It's either blanketed in heat and humidity or it's cold as shit. So is there really a difference between one warehouse and another? Maybe so&mdash;if so, slightly.&nbsp;
But let's say you take a barrel out of that warehouse and you put it on a ship and it's rocking back and forth and you take it down to the Tasmanian Sea and all the way up to the North Sea and cross the equator. If you can't [believe] that that matures bourbon in a different way than it would from one warehouse to another, then you've lost the ability to rationalize.
Your early Presidential Select bottles were $100 at time of release. Now they&rsquo;re selling for thousands at auction. Did you ever expect that?
We had a hard time selling for a hundred bucks. I would&rsquo;ve held a lot more of it back if I knew that was going to be the case. I was just happy to sell what we had.&nbsp;
Most people would say it was a perfect storm of things coming together that finally made bourbon take off, from the economy to Mad Men to cocktail culture. If you ask me, this [holds up phone] is what it was.&nbsp;
Once people could geek out together and to form a community together, that's when bourbon really started to take off. But at the time, the collectability of bourbon wasn't a thing. Nobody anticipated any of that&mdash;I certainly didn't. It's the community of bourbon that has made it proliferate so much, which is such a great, cool thing about it.
Have you ever seen people trying to sell fake Jefferson&rsquo;s, refilled bottles or something like that?
I've seen empty bottles for sale on the internet, so I can only assume.&nbsp;
When I first got into the industry, and I'm talking 1997, I remember being with a distributor in Nashville and seeing people recork wine bottles. It totally blew my mind. I couldn't believe that was going on, and it was going on in the open in front of a number of people. I'd be naive to think it doesn't happen.&nbsp;
I've seen bottles that we've only sold overseas end up in the U.S. I assume that's how they got there, but I'm not positive. So I think unfortunately it happens, but I guess that's just a sign of the success of the category or the brand. When we started doing some releases and seeing how many people were lined up there knowing that 50% of them were buying it only to flip it&mdash;you hate to see that, but it's indicative of the success of the category.&nbsp;
You&rsquo;ve been at this for almost 30 years. In the next 30 years, do you think bourbon can establish itself internationally as a whiskey that&rsquo;s as well known and respected as scotch?
Absolutely. When I first went to the first WhiskyFest in New York [in the late 1990s], us bourbon companies were pushed in the corner. We were the redheaded stepchild. Nobody was there to talk bourbon. It was all about scotch.&nbsp;
It's an education process. I don't think that we have properly pushed bourbon out into the world with as much emphasis as we should. In my mind, it's all about prestige and status that bourbon has not done a good enough job establishing. So I think absolutely it can be and will be more and more accepted. If you go to South America and Asia, scotch is king just as it was here in the &lsquo;90s. There will be a time and a place that shift happens, and it will happen rapidly like it did here. When that happens, I don't know.&nbsp;
Do you ever lose track of your experiments?
We&rsquo;re much better at [keeping track] now that we&rsquo;re part of Pernod Ricard. That said, I've got a number of experiments that I would love to bring to market. It's just how you can only bring so much to market at a time. We've got some unbelievable products that we've done in very small amounts that I would now like to do in commercial bottlings. That&rsquo;s one of the fights that I have with the bigger company all the time. I want to put these out and they're like, hold on, let's have a more planned out release for them and space it out a little bit more.
In 2019, you told me you were shipping bourbon over to <a href="https://tenutailpalagio.com/">Il Palagio</a>, Sting&rsquo;s wine estate in Tuscany. What happened with that?
It wasn&rsquo;t enough for a commercial release. That&rsquo;s one of those products I&rsquo;d love to come out with. It&rsquo;s got all the right components: different climate, a building to age it, which is perfect. We do have one obstacle to overcome, which was the legality of what we were doing. How to get it there. I&rsquo;ve got to figure that out.&nbsp;

After Three Decades in Bourbon, Trey Zoeller Is Still Experimenting

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Vicki Denig <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/hidden-gems-smithereens-nikita-malhotra">spoke to Nikita Malhotra</a> about her journey into the world of wine, and some of her favorite bottles at her NYC restaurant Smithereens.
🥃 It&rsquo;s almost St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day, so Gina Pace <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review">wrote about the category&rsquo;s comeback</a> and picked some of the best and most collectible bottles to consider.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Lux Row Estate Bourbon ($100)
This is the first estate bourbon from Lux Row, a project that master distiller John Rempe has had in mind for some time now. It&rsquo;s a five-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon made from a mashbill that includes #2 yellow corn (78% corn, 12% malted barley, 10% rye) that was actually grown at the Lux Row estate and bottled at 107 proof. Official tasting notes describe honey on the nose and brown sugar, black cherry, and dark chocolate on the palate and finish.
Barrel Cigar Blend ($85)
This is the first cigar blend from Louisville&rsquo;s Barrell Craft Spirits. The whiskeys in the mix were aged from 7.5 to 18 years and finished in three different types of barrels: Madeira, Armagnac, rum, and Hungarian oak. Like any other cigar blend you can certainly enjoy this without smoking, but the flavors of Boston cream pie, grape soda, cedar, and pecan pie on the palate make this a good whiskey to pair with a stogie.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
High West Bourye ($125)
High West&rsquo;s Bourye isn&rsquo;t the only bourbon-rye blend that you can find on liquor store shelves anymore, but it was one of the first to combine these two distinctive styles of whiskey. The 2026 release just arrived, and there have been some changes this year&mdash;most notably, the ABV is higher at 50.5 percent (101 proof, for all you Wild Turkey fans). But that&rsquo;s not the only thing that makes this excellent whiskey stand out.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/e1ac0ed7-f191-473b-8389-16619413cd79.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="260207 Bourye 9">
The blend changes a bit from year to year, and the details for this year&rsquo;s release are as follows. The mashbill combines two different bourbons and two ryes, three of them sourced and one produced in-house. The bourbons were made at MGP in Indiana from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; and 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malted barley. One rye also comes from MGP&rsquo;s classic mashbill of 95% rye, 5% barley malt; the other is made in-house at High West from its mashbill of 80% rye, 20% malted rye. Each whiskey was aged for a minimum of 10 years and up to 19 years, and the final blend has not been chill filtered. &ldquo;We re-evaluated Bourye in 2026 to better showcase the elegance and complexity of its 10+ year‑old whiskeys,&rdquo; said a rep for the distillery in a statement. &ldquo;With the rich, decadent flavor that emerges in whiskey over long maturation, this blend can boldly embrace a higher proof while maintaining balance, depth, and approachability.&rdquo;
I&rsquo;d say the High West team succeeded in that with this release, which is the best Bourye in recent memory. While the exact proportions are not revealed, there is clearly a balance of bourbon and rye present as you sip, and one style does not overtake the other. That means that sweet maple, honey, and vanilla notes are nicely balanced with dried fruit, black pepper, and a cabinet full of baking spices. And at 101 proof, there&rsquo;s a nice warming heat on the finish.
High West recommends that you sip Bourye neat&mdash;preferably &ldquo;around a campfire while looking at the Milky Way.&rdquo; Please do try it that way, it sounds pretty nice especially as the weather starts to warm up a bit. But the whiskey also happens to work very well in a Manhattan, so give that a try too. However you choose to drink the new Bourye, you won&rsquo;t be disappointed.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
R&eacute;my V ($35&mdash;this week&rsquo;s wine pick is a spirit)
Sometimes it&rsquo;s worth it to go against type. Earlier this month, Cognac house R&eacute;my Martin announced the U.S. debut of a new neutral spirit distilled from grapes called Remy V (35% ABV). It&rsquo;s an un-oaked, unadorned eau-de-vie with a Cognac pedigree.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/50f943f5-698a-4737-96be-605e47dbac64.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Remy">
The Grande Marques house of R&eacute;my Martin has moved steadily in the direction of finer and finer bottlings of Cognac, culminating with Louis XIII Black Pearl, an expression that retails for north of $30,000. Compare that to your basic Louis XIII, one of the finer things that&rsquo;s ever landed on my tongue, which goes for a mere $4,000-$5,000. &nbsp;R&eacute;my Martin is a house known for the balance and finesse of its brandies; to my palate, it&rsquo;s always been a house that emphasizes clarity over concentration or depth of flavor.
Cognac, of course, is a white spirit before it becomes a brown spirit. Distilled from grapes in copper pot stills, the R&eacute;my V bottling draws from what the house does best. There is often a raw phenolic (and not unpleasant) bite to the flavors of un-oaked grape brandy, similar to grappa or other eaux-de-vie concoctions that are made, pretty much, wherever grapes are grown. It may be a neutral spirit, but R&eacute;my V is less neutral than vodka, and much closer to grappa in its character.
As such, it has grappa&rsquo;s gorgeous aromatics. Freed of the influence of oak, the nose is lifted and bright, smelling of toasted lees and ripe pear, with a light topnote of white tea. The palate is rich, round, and slightly sweet (they&rsquo;ve added a pinch of sugar to round out the texture), with a pleasing phenolic bite. It feels like an ideal base for citrus cocktails, or sipped over a single sphere of ice.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 13

The history of Irish whiskey is one of collapse, reinvention, and recalibration. The industry nearly disappeared in the early 20th century, when Prohibition forced one of the category&rsquo;s biggest markets&mdash;America&mdash;to close for business. By the 1960s, just two distilleries remained, Midleton and Bushmills. But the industry roared back in the late 2010s and early 2020s, fueled by new distilleries, ambitious cask programs, and a global audience that was curious about pot still whiskey, single malts, and provenance.
That boom pushed experimentation, leading producers to try things like aging in mizunara barrels and micro‑distilling rye. But it also inflated expectations. The market has since cooled, both globally and in terms of Irish whiskey exports, and this correction has clarified what actually matters to collectors: scarcity based on substance, ideas backed by production, and bottles that tell a story beyond age and price. The whiskeys below reflect that shift. Some are literal endpoints, like the final drops from the Old Midleton distillery or the last of Waterford&rsquo;s terroir‑driven farms. Others show how Irish whiskey continues to evolve through cask choice, mashbills, and small‑scale innovation. Together, they map the category&rsquo;s past, present, and the future it&rsquo;s still trying to define.
<h3><a href="https://www.midletonveryrare.com/en-us/silent-distillery-collection/chapter-six">Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Chapter Six</a> ($60,000)</h3>
Chapter Six is the final release from Old Midleton&mdash;a true &ldquo;last drops&rdquo; whiskey distilled in the 1970s on equipment that no longer exists, including a coal‑fired 140,000‑liter pot still (the largest in the world). After decades in American oak, the whiskey was moved into a one‑of‑a‑kind marrying cask built by master cooper Ger Buckley from staves of the previous five chapters, a symbolic closing of the circle. The result balances antique oak with surprising freshness, but its real power is historical&mdash;this is the end of Old Midleton&rsquo;s distillate style, never to be recreated and finite by definition.
<h3><a href="https://bushmills.com/products/30-year">Bushmills 30</a> ($2,200)</h3>
Bushmills 30 Year Old is one of the most expressive examples of long‑aged Irish single malt, shaped by an unusually patient maturation arc: 14 years in bourbon barrels and sherry butts, followed by 16 years in first‑fill Pedro Xim&eacute;nez sherry casks. That extended PX finish (really more of a double maturation) concentrates the whiskey into an incredibly complex dram, a mix of syrupy fruit, leather, and deep spice that slowly unfurls as you sip.&nbsp;
<h3><a href="https://www.glendaloughdistillery.com/products/glendalough-single-malt-mizunara-cask-finish">Glendalough 7-Year Single Malt Mizunara Cask Finish (</a>$100)</h3>
Glendalough&rsquo;s 7-Year Mizunara Finish was the first Irish whiskey to seriously explore Japan&rsquo;s rare, temperamental mizunara oak, an audacious move for this young, independent distillery in the Wicklow Mountains. The base whiskey is Irish single malt, but the mizunara finish is what makes it special. This type of wood is notoriously porous, expensive, and difficult to cooper, and each cask behaves differently. That unpredictability creates subtle batch‑to‑batch variation and a distinctive incense‑and‑spice signature that no other Irish whiskey quite replicates. It&rsquo;s a cross‑continental oak experiment that helped push Ireland&rsquo;s modern whiskey renaissance forward. The 13- and 17-year-old versions are also great if you can track one down.
<h3><a href="https://www.methodandmadnesswhiskey.com/en/product/rye-malt">Method &amp; Madness Rye and Malt (</a>$80)</h3>
Method &amp; Madness Rye and Malt is one of the most meaningful releases to come out of Irish Distillers&rsquo; Micro Distillery, the experimental operation located at the same distillery where big brands like Redbreast, Powers, and Jameson are made. This whiskey is a true small‑batch experiment made from a mashbill of 60% rye and 40% malted barley that is triple‑distilled and matured in refill bourbon barrels. The point is to show how rye behaves in a pot still rather than a column still, giving it a uniquely Irish texture and delicacy. Only 5,000 bottles were released, which makes this project a standout for collectors.
<h3><a href="https://legacydeforge.com/producers/hawks-rock-distillery">Garavogue 20 Year Old Single Malt (</a>$250)</h3>
Garavogue&rsquo;s inaugural 20 Year Old debuted in 2025, marking a major new entry in Irish single malt. It was crafted by master blender Helen Mulholland, the first woman to hold that title in Irish whiskey, and named for the river that runs through Sligo. Designed as a bridge between tradition and experimentation, the whiskey was aged for 14 years in ex‑bourbon barrels before being divided into an unusually broad set of finishing casks. These include French Muscat, Sauternes, PX sherry, and Barbadian rum barrels. As the first Irish release from Sazerac&mdash;whose American portfolio includes some of the most collectible whiskeys in the world&mdash;Garavogue signals the company&rsquo;s ambition to bring that same limited‑release ethos to Ireland.&nbsp;
<h3><a href="https://www.redbreastwhiskey.com/en-us/whiskey-collections/redbreast-27-year-old-whiskey/">Redbreast 27 Year Old (</a>$1,000)</h3>
Redbreast 27 sits at the top of the single pot still category, built on the classic mash of malted and unmalted barley and triple distillation, but pushed into rarefied territory by its long, layered maturation. The whiskey spends its early life in bourbon and sherry casks before moving into ruby port pipes, where it develops the deep fruit and gentle tannin structure that define the series. Pot still whiskey originated as a style to avoid paying as much tax on malted barley by including unmalted barley in the mashbill. Long‑aged pot still whiskey is in short supply in Ireland, and each small batch of Redbreast 27 shows slight shifts in character&mdash;enough that collectors chase every release.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Waterford Single Farm Origin - Dunbell, Dunmore &amp; Ballykilcavan ($100-$320)</h3>
Waterford&rsquo;s Single Farm Origin series remains one of the most ambitious experiments in Irish whiskey&mdash;treating barley like Burgundy treats vineyards. Each bottling comes from a single farm, a single harvest, and a fully traceable production chain, making them some of the most terroir‑driven whiskeys ever released in Ireland. With the distillery now closed, these bottles have become quietly collectible, especially farms with distinct soil types and microclimates. <a href="https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/waterford+single+farm+origin+dunbell+malt+whisky+ireland/1/usa?utm_source=copilot.com">Dunbell</a> ($100), <a href="https://www.totalwine.com/spirits/irish-whiskey/waterford-dunmore-single-farm-origin-irish-whiskey/p/234743750?utm_source=copilot.com">Dunmore</a> ($121), and <a href="https://caskcartel.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/waterford-single-farm-origin-ballykilcavan-1-2-irish-whiskey-700ml">Ballykilcavan</a> ($320) are still findable online, each showing its own grain‑driven character. Together, they offer a snapshot of what Waterford was trying to prove: that terroir matters in Irish whiskey.
<h3><a href="https://www.teelingwhiskey.com/us/en/teeling-whiskeys/32-year-old-purple-muscat/">Teeling 32 YO Single Malt Purple Muscat Finish (</a>$3,495)</h3>
Teeling&rsquo;s 32 Year Old continues the distillery&rsquo;s run of quietly spectacular older releases&mdash;liquid distilled in 1990, long before Teeling reopened distilling in Dublin and helped kickstart the city&rsquo;s whiskey-production revival. The whiskey spent 28 years in bourbon barrels before getting a rare four‑year finish in a single Portuguese Purple Muscat French oak cask. The result is the ultimate end-of-meal dram, with juicy red berry flavor, spice, and tropical fruit notes.Only 283 bottles were released in the U.S.

The Best Irish Whiskey to Drink This St. Patrick's Day (And All Year Long)

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Matthew J. Kaner <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/uruguay-wine-collecting">wrote about how Uruguay is becoming just as recognized</a> as its South American neighbors for its high-quality meat and fantastic wines.&nbsp;
🥃 Are you an Old Fitzgerald fan? Susannah Skiver Barton has <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/what-to-drink-next-old-fitzgerald">some other wheated bourbons to recommend</a> if you are interested in trying something that is a little easier to find.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Johnnie Walker Black Cask ($35)&nbsp;
This is the first new release from Johnnie Walker in about 15 years. It&rsquo;s a new blend that is geared towards bourbon drinkers, and to meet that specific flavor profile it&rsquo;s aged exclusively in ex-bourbon casks as opposed to the mix of casks that regular Johnnie Walker Black is matured in. That gives this blend stronger notes of vanilla, maple, and honey, and makes it a good choice to use in cocktails.
Compass Box Hedonism ($165)
This is the oldest version of this whisky to date, an expression that was originally released back in 2000. It&rsquo;s a blended grain whisky (the brand says it was the first of this style when it came out) that is now a limited annual release. Some of the components in the blend are a 30-year-old whisky from Strathclyde Distillery, and whiskies ranging from 20 to 24 years old that were distilled at Port Dundas and Cameronbridge. This latest version features actress Karen Gillan as the muse on the label, continuing the tradition of keeping women at the center of its visual identity.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey 20th Anniversary Limited Edition ($85)
When&rsquo;s the last time you drank wheat whiskey? The odds are that it&rsquo;s been a while, and that&rsquo;s understandable&mdash;even though some major distilleries produce this category, it&rsquo;s just not nearly as popular as bourbon or rye. One legacy name that has had a wheat whiskey in its lineup for some time now&mdash;two decades, to be precise&mdash;is Heaven Hill, and to celebrate that anniversary it released this new 20th Anniversary Limited Edition.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/045cc555-5027-47cf-bdbb-2ab0d2ecce5d.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Bernheim 20th Anniversary"> 
Bernheim, which first launched in 2005, is made using Heaven Hill&rsquo;s wheat whiskey mashbill: 51% wheat, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley (remember, wheat whiskey must contain at least 51 percent wheat in the mashbill). That makes it a &ldquo;just legal&rdquo; wheat whiskey that still has a lot of sweetness to it due to the large amount of corn in the recipe, so it is something that still appeals to bourbon drinkers (the use of wheat also adds some sweetness, but it doesn't go overboard here). The core expression is a seven-year-old whiskey bottled at 90 proof, but this new 20th Anniversary edition is aged for ten years and bottled at a much higher 115 proof.
Those extra three years in the barrel and that stronger ABV really paid off. The 20th Anniversary expression is a really good whiskey, and one that you should try whether or not you are already a fan of the wheat whiskey category. The higher proof brings some heat to the palate, as you&rsquo;d expect, but there&rsquo;s a lot going on underneath that, with flavors like cherry, dark chocolate, vanilla, almond, oak, and sweet molasses that pop as you sip. Pour this whiskey over a large ice cube and let it dilute a little if you prefer to sip on something less strong&mdash;that brings out some new flavors. Or mix it up in a cocktail like an Old Fashioned&mdash;there's a complexity that will shine through whatever other ingredients you throw at this whiskey.
Some other Heaven Hill releases have come out in the past month that might get more attention, including the new Heritage Collection 22-year-old bourbon. But this is a bottle that will be easier to find (and cheaper when you do), and is definitely worth checking out.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
Big Salt 2024 Oregon White Blend ($25)
This week&rsquo;s wine is a personal favorite. It&rsquo;s one of my wife&rsquo;s wines of spring, and it&rsquo;s a wine I always have in the fridge as the temperatures rise. Big Salt is the love child of John and Ksenija Kostic House of the Oregon wine brand Ovum. I was introduced to the Houses through Ovum, one of those rare wineries in Oregon that for years politely declined to make red wine, least of all Pinot Noir.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/ea6647ff-4880-459a-a761-b15d829a7c58.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Big Salt">
Instead, Ovum was responsible for some of the most challenging, complex, and idiosyncratic white wines in the Pacific Northwest. John and Ksenija tracked down and resurrected older vineyards of Riesling and Gewurztraminer, many in Oregon&rsquo;s southern reaches, many planted in the &lsquo;60s and &lsquo;70s. Armed with unique fruit sources, they built a program of exceptional creativity, doing work in the cellar to make their wines as singular as four walls and the odd concrete egg would allow&mdash;Austrian casks, skin contact, late releases, long elevage. They were and remain some of the most challenging and thrilling wines on my tasting table each year.
Then came Big Salt. Established in 2016, Big Salt drew from a similar palette of aromatic varieties, usually Riesling with a healthy dose of Gewurztraminer and Early Muscat, many of which seemed to be hard sells on their own (later vintages included Pinot Blanc, sometimes a bit of Chardonnay). But Big Salt was irresistible&mdash;an unabashedly forward white wine with beautiful aromatics, juicy, mouthwatering fruit, and tangy acidity. It was an unpretentious, thoroughly delicious alternative, and it flew off the shelves. A Big Pink and Big Orange soon followed, and demand far exceeded supply.
Big Salt proved to be irresistible for Jackson Family Wines too, who have been making wine in Oregon for a little over a decade, and whose own creative teams had devoted plenty of research toward wines of a comparable immediacy and deliciousness. One could argue that their original signature success, K-J&rsquo;s Vintner&rsquo;s Reserve Chardonnay, is another version of the same thing, from another era. Big brand or small, the goal is the same&mdash;to give the people something in their glass for spring and summer bashes.
The Houses will continue to make Big Salt, but they now have the resources and fruit sources to increase production and broaden distribution, something they&rsquo;ve been wanting to do for many years. So grab Big Salt whenever you see it.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 6

Like many bourbons, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/b5fb34e4-e911-4684-bf11-96a1cdef4ebd/lot/93ca45eb-0688-473d-b8e1-b1a079808808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Fitzgerald</a> has a long and rather winding history. Originally created in 1870, the brand found its post-Prohibition home at Stitzel-Weller, where it landed in the hands of none other than Pappy Van Winkle himself. It was Pappy who changed the recipe to feature wheat, rather than rye, as the secondary grain. By 1999, Old Fitzgerald was acquired by Heaven Hill, where it languished as a relatively low-end label and even disappeared for a few years.&nbsp;
Then in 2018, Heaven Hill relaunched the brand as a semiannual, bottled-in-bond release, with an age statement that varied from batch to batch. Packaged in an elegant, decanter-style bottle, the new <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/b5fb34e4-e911-4684-bf11-96a1cdef4ebd/lot/5310277e-882e-479b-9e64-6921d6a9e311" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Fitz</a> became very popular among bourbon drinkers eager for a well-aged wheater, but reluctant to spend big bucks on the likes of Van Winkle or <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/b5fb34e4-e911-4684-bf11-96a1cdef4ebd/lot/6e09032d-bb13-4bad-8029-07bc4c2675de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William Larue Weller</a>. The oldest release so far, at 19 years old, was the Fall 2022 edition, though younger offerings&mdash;notably the 8-year-old from Spring 2021&mdash;meet all the same standards of quality and flavor.&nbsp;
Building on the success of the decanter series, Heaven Hill introduced a permanent expression in 2025. Old Fitzgerald 7 Year Old is bottled-in-bond like the other expressions, but it has a consistent age statement, it's packaged in a less ornate bottle, and it's priced to sell at $60. Like its elder siblings, the whiskey has a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. As an everyday pour, it&rsquo;s hard to beat&mdash;warm and sweetly bready, with a lush texture and deep but balanced oak.&nbsp;
Across the lineup, Old Fitzgerald gets top marks for consistency, and the decanter lineup is chock-full of standouts. Even when it&rsquo;s constrained by the limitations of the bottled-in-bond designation, which dictates that all barrels must come from a single distilling season, finding exceptional whiskey is easy for Heaven Hill because it has so much to choose from. The company&rsquo;s Louisville distillery is capable of producing 400,000 barrels a year, and the recently opened Bardstown plant adds another 150,000 annual barrels to that capacity.
But there&rsquo;s much to explore beyond Old Fitz. As both wheaters and bonded bourbons have exploded in popularity, excellent options abound, many of them still well under the radar. Keep reading for five of our favorites.
<h3 dir="ltr">Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon</h3>
One of Kentucky&rsquo;s newer distilleries, Wilderness Trail, set itself apart from the get-go by using sweet mash, meaning its fermentations forego the traditional setback and always start with fresh yeast. The process creates a more consistent spirit, according to the distillery team, with a softer mouthfeel&mdash;especially with a mashbill of 64% corn, 24% wheat, and 12% malted barley that emphasizes herbaceous mint and coffee bean notes. After debuting at about four and half years old in 2018, this bourbon&mdash;always bottled-in-bond&mdash;has increased in age and varied in proof.&nbsp; 
<h3 dir="ltr">Bardstown Bourbon Company Bottled-in-Bond</h3>
Using the same 68-20-12 mashbill as Old Fitzgerald, the house wheater of Bardstown Bourbon Co. features Kentucky-grown corn and wheat. It&rsquo;s aged for six years, although it tastes older than that, with a brooding earthiness offset by roasted nuts and Concord grapes. The Bardstown lineup underwent a packaging redesign recently&mdash;this one has the black label that prominently announces its bottled-in-bond status.
<h3 dir="ltr">Holladay Soft Red Wheat</h3>
Another bonded 6-year-old, this bourbon comes from Missouri rather than Kentucky. It&rsquo;s made from a mashbill of 73% Missouri corn, 15% soft red winter wheat, and 12% malted barley. The specific type of wheat isn&rsquo;t just for kicks&mdash;its lower protein levels yield a softer (some might even say smoother) spirit that only gets more nuanced with time in the barrel. In this case, Holladay has crafted a bourbon with mature herbal notes juxtaposed with caramel sweetness and black pepper.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Rebel 10-Year-Old</h3>
Offered as a single barrel release, this bourbon isn&rsquo;t bottled-in-bond, but still comes in at 100 proof like its bonded peers. The brand is owned by Lux Row, which was acquired by MGP in 2021, but the whiskey itself was contract-distilled elsewhere in Kentucky. The familiar mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley should give you a clue as to its origins&mdash;and its quality.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Larceny Barrel Proof</h3>
Call this the Old Fitz booster pack. It comes from the same distillery and is made using the same mashbill, but punches through with a more powerful proof&mdash;anywhere from 111 to 126, or sometimes even higher. It&rsquo;s aged 6 to 8 years, right in line with Old Fitzgerald&rsquo;s core whiskey, and released in batches three times a year. Check the label code, which begins with A, B, or C, to determine when it was bottled&mdash;the first number corresponds to the month, the second two to the year. LBP has many of Old Fitzgerald&rsquo;s familiar flavors, but overall is weightier, more viscous, and more muscular, the kind of whiskey that&rsquo;s both an arm wrestle and a bear hug.

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 27

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 27

Cognac

Why Brandy Has Become a Global Spirit That Appeals to Both Wine and Whiskey Drinkers

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The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 20

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The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 20

Bourbon

After Three Decades in Bourbon, Trey Zoeller Is Still Experimenting

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After Three Decades in Bourbon, Trey Zoeller Is Still Experimenting

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The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 13

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The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 13

What to Drink

The Best Irish Whiskey to Drink This St. Patrick's Day (And All Year Long)

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The Best Irish Whiskey to Drink This St. Patrick's Day (And All Year Long)

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 6

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The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 6

What to Drink

What to Drink Next If You Love Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond

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What to Drink Next If You Love Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond

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Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 27

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 27

Cognac

Why Brandy Has Become a Global Spirit That Appeals to Both Wine and Whiskey Drinkers

Cognac

Why Brandy Has Become a Global Spirit That Appeals to Both Wine and Whiskey Drinkers

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 20

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 20

Bourbon

After Three Decades in Bourbon, Trey Zoeller Is Still Experimenting

Bourbon

After Three Decades in Bourbon, Trey Zoeller Is Still Experimenting

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 13

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 13

What to Drink

The Best Irish Whiskey to Drink This St. Patrick's Day (And All Year Long)

What to Drink

The Best Irish Whiskey to Drink This St. Patrick's Day (And All Year Long)

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 6

Week in Wine & Whiskey

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 6

What to Drink

What to Drink Next If You Love Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond

What to Drink

What to Drink Next If You Love Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond

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