What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

This Week’s Unicorn Review Stories

🥃 Susannah Skiver Barton recommends some bottles to check out if you’re a fan of Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select.

🍷 Gina Pace talked to comedian Eric Wareheim and winemaker Joel Burt about their Las Jaras Wines brand, and how they shaped its identity over the years.

New Bottle Releases

Stitzel Reserve 31 Year Bourbon ($3,000)

This is the second release in the Stitzel Reserve collection, following last year’s 24-year-old bourbon. Stitzel Reserve 31 Year is, as you can tell by the name, a 31-year-old whiskey. That’s really, really old for bourbon, but according to Diageo’s director of American whiskey liquid development and capabilities, Nicole Austin, the 13 barrels she selected for this release were outstanding. This bourbon, which was bottled at a staggering 163.2 proof, was not actually distilled at Stitzel-Weller, but it was aged there. The 176 bottles are available to purchase onsite, with a limit of one per customer.

Green River Honey Finished Bourbon Whiskey ($25)

Green River may have paused most of its production recently, but the distillery, which is now part of Lofted Spirits with Bardstown Bourbon Company, just released this interesting new expression. This is a four-year-old straight bourbon that was finished with honey, which was added directly into the barrel, and bottled at 92 proof. That means it’s technically no longer a straight bourbon, or even a bourbon, but a whiskey specialty product. Whatever the case, this is a uniquely honey-flavored bourbon that should work well in a variety of cocktails.

Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week

Smokehead 15-Year-Old ($70)

If you’re a fan of smoky scotch whisky, you’re familiar with all the big names that are located on the island of Islay—Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, and Bowmore, to name a few. Each has its own distinct style, and each produces whisky to its preferred level of smokiness—some are verifiable smoke bombs, others are more subtle. One peated scotch that prefers to keep its source a secret is Smokehead, a brand owned by Ian Macleod Distillers, which also owns the Glengoyne, Tamdhu, and Rosebank distilleries. Smokehead recently released a 15-year-old expression, which turns out to be an affordably priced peated whisky that is worth trying.

Of course, secrets are meant to be sleuthed, especially when it comes to whisky. With the caveat that nothing I’m about to write is confirmed, if you search online there are three likely suspects that come up as being the source of Smokehead’s whisky: Ardbeg, Caol Ila, and Bunnahabhain. Again, to be clear, none of these are confirmed, so this is just conjecture. But the fact that the distillery is not disclosed, and given that there are only 10 working distilleries on Islay, whisky fans can’t help but speculate.

Anyway, on to the bottle at hand. The new 15-year is the oldest expression to date to be released here in the U.S. from this brand that has been around since 2006. Other expressions include the NAS Original and various cask-finished releases, like Sherry Cask Blast and Tequila Cask Terminado. What you can expect here is, of course, a very smoky whisky, with layers of peat that span the range from seaweed to iodine to smoldering campfire. In between there are notes of vanilla, oak, citrus, black pepper, and ripe berries, but if you’re drinking Smokehead you’re here for the smoke—and it delivers. This is not the most complex smoky scotch you’re ever going to drink, but at about $70 it certainly packs a punch (it’s bottled at 86 proof), and at 15 years old it’s in that nice mid-range of maturation.

Of course, you’re also going to have to get past the packaging. The skull on the label feels like a second rate Punisher logo, and overall the design and even names of these whiskies just feels a bit aggro, a little bro-y, a tad middle school Halloween. Still, it’s about what’s inside the bottle, not the bottle itself, and if you’re a fan of peated single malts this is a whisky worth trying.