Old Fitzgerald 15 year old Bottled in Bond (Fall 2019 Release)

Style: Bottled in bond bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 15 years old
Proof: 50% ABV
Price: $150
Release: December 2019
Availability: Limited edition

Need to know:

The newest release of Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond is hitting shelves now. The bourbon was distilled in September 2004 and bottled in November 2019.

Whisky Advocate says:

The oldest release of Old Fitzgerald to date, this is also the most expensive. Like all the releases, this bourbon conforms to the rules of the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897.

Bardstown Bourbon Co. The Prisoner Wine Barrel-Finished Bourbon

Style: Bourbon
Origin: Tennessee
Age: 9 years old
Proof: 50% ABV
Price: $125
Release: December 2019
Availability: 10,000 bottles

Need to know:

The newest release in Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s (BBCo.) Collaboration series, this bourbon was distilled in Tennessee and aged for 9 years before being finished for 18 months in French oak barrels that previously held The Prisoner red wine.

Whisky Advocate says:

Spirits, beer, and wine giant Constellation Brands owns The Prisoner and holds a minority stake in BBCo., so this collaboration makes sense. BBCo. released another red wine barrel-finished bourbon earlier this year, this time in conjunction with Phifer Pavitt. That whiskey scored 92 points in the Buying Guide, so we have high hopes that this bourbon will be equally delicious.

Barrell New Year Bourbon (2020 Edition)

Style: Blend of straight bourbons
Origin: Multiple (KY, IN, NY, TN, and TX)
Age: Not stated
Proof: 54.7% ABV
Price: $90
Release: December 2019
Availability: Limited edition

Need to know:

Barrell’s fourth New Year edition blends 5 and 10 year old straight bourbons from five states: Kentucky, Indiana, New York, Tennessee, and Texas.

Whisky Advocate says:

This special New Year’s blend has become a Barrell tradition, with each release combining a different range of bourbons. No matter what you choose to toast with, there are few better ways to ring in a new year than with a great whisky.

Oak & Eden Wheat & Spire

Style: Bourbon
Origin: Indiana
Age: Not stated
Proof: 45% ABV
Price: $39
Release: December 2019
Availability: CO, KY, LA, MI, OK, TN, and TX

Need to know:

Distilled at MGP from a mashbill of 51% corn, 45% wheat, and 4% malted barley, this bourbon is aged in new charred oak barrels for 2 years. When it’s bottled, a toasted French oak spire is placed into the bottle to “finish” the whiskey.

Whisky Advocate says:

Oak & Eden has patented the “in-bottle finishing” process that it says imparts additional flavor on the whiskeys. In addition to this wheated bourbon, the company also offers a standard bourbon with a toasted American oak spire, bourbon with a cabernet sauvignon-soaked French oak spire, and rye with a charred American oak spire.

Penderyn 12 year old Portwood Single Cask (Cask #PT113)

Style: Single malt
Origin: Wales
Age: 12 years old
Proof: 60.4% ABV
Price: $140
Release: December 2019
Availability: 251 bottles

Need to know:

This is perhaps the oldest Penderyn ever released—certainly the oldest in the U.S. Its maturation time was split more or less evenly: first in a bourbon cask, and then in a port cask. This whisky is only available in the U.S.

Whisky Advocate says:

Penderyn doesn’t put age statements on its core range of whiskies, so it’s hard to say for certain that this is the oldest one ever released, but it’s certainly the oldest age-stated example I can find. It’s also cask strength. With such a significant time spent in the port cask (over 6 years), this is sure to be a lush and rich single malt indeed.

Abraham Bowman 13 year old Twice-Finished Whiskey

Style: Whiskey
Origin: Virginia
Age: 13 years old
Proof: 50% ABV
Price: $70
Release: December 2019
Availability: Very limited; for sale at the distillery only

Need to know:

Made at Virginia’s A. Smith Bowman Distillery, this whiskey was distilled with an unspecified corn, rye, and malted barley mashbill and initially aged in new charred oak barrels for 8 years and 3 months. It was then moved to port-style wine barrels for roughly 4 years and 7 months, then transferred again to sauternes casks for a final finishing period of two months.

Whisky Advocate says:

Bowman won’t disclose the proportions of grain in its mashbill, so it’s hard to say whether this is a whiskey only because of its aging regimen, or also because it doesn’t use a bourbon mashbill. My money is on the former. When a bourbon gets moved from new charred oak to any other type of cask, it ceases to be bourbon and becomes simply “whiskey,” although many brands tout such products as “bourbon finished in X barrels” and the like.

1964 Tullibardine 51 year old

Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Highlands)
Age: 51 years old
Proof: 40.4% ABV
Price: £2,000
Release: December 2019
Availability: 242 bottles

Need to know:

Distilled at Tullibardine, this single malt is the latest release in the distillery’s Custodians Collection of highly aged whiskies. Its low proof of 40.4% ABV is actually cask strength—after so many years of maturation, the liquid lost a lot of alcohol to evaporation.

Whisky Advocate says:

Update Jan. 10, 2020: Tullibardine has finally confirmed that the whisky was all distilled in 1964, but removed from cask several years ago, when it was at 51 years old.

Confusingly, it seems as if not all of this whisky was distilled in 1964, because it has a 51 year old age statement. Tullibardine may be in violation of Regulation 12 of the Scotch Whisky Regulations of 2009, as vintage-dated whisky can only include liquid distilled in that year. There is, however, one potential explanation. Scotch whisky ages only as long as it’s in the cask; if the whisky in this 1964 bottling was removed from cask at age 51 (in 2015 or 2016) and has been held in glass or stainless steel since then, only just being bottled, then the vintage date and 51 year age statement would make sense.