What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

This Week’s Unicorn Review Stories

🍷 Matthew J. Kaner wrote about how Uruguay is becoming just as recognized as its South American neighbors for its high-quality meat and fantastic wines. 

🥃 Are you an Old Fitzgerald fan? Susannah Skiver Barton has some other wheated bourbons to recommend if you are interested in trying something that is a little easier to find.

New Bottle Releases

Johnnie Walker Black Cask ($35) 

This is the first new release from Johnnie Walker in about 15 years. It’s a new blend that is geared towards bourbon drinkers, and to meet that specific flavor profile it’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’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.

Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week

Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey 20th Anniversary Limited Edition ($85)

When’s the last time you drank wheat whiskey? The odds are that it’s been a while, and that’s understandable—even though some major distilleries produce this category, it’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—two decades, to be precise—is Heaven Hill, and to celebrate that anniversary it released this new 20th Anniversary Limited Edition.

Bernheim, which first launched in 2005, is made using Heaven Hill’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 “just legal” 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’d expect, but there’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—that brings out some new flavors. Or mix it up in a cocktail like an Old Fashioned—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.

Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week

Big Salt 2024 Oregon White Blend ($25)

This week’s wine is a personal favorite. It’s one of my wife’s wines of spring, and it’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.

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’s southern reaches, many planted in the ‘60s and ‘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—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—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’s Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay, is another version of the same thing, from another era. Big brand or small, the goal is the same—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’ve been wanting to do for many years. So grab Big Salt whenever you see it.