What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

News of the Week

🍷 Cleveland, Ohio has a thriving wine and food scene that is worth checking out.

🥃 The impact of Seagram’s can still be felt on modern American whiskey.

🇮🇹 Autumn is the perfect time to drink Italian wine.

🦃 Here are 11 wines to consider for your Thanksgiving meal.

🇳🇿 The Macallan’s new whisky, a tribute to New Zealand, was partially aged in bourbon barrels.

New Bottle Releases

Old Overholt Extra Aged Cask Strength 12YR

Old Overholt has long been one of Jim Beam’s bottom-shelf rye whiskeys, but one that is beloved by bartenders and whiskey enthusiasts alike. Over the past few years, the brand has gotten some major upgrades, including a run of cask-strength age statement expressions. The latest of those is a new 12-year-old whiskey bottled at 117 proof, a significant improvement on the original that is worth checking out. 117 proof; SRP $110

Lost Lantern American Vatted Malt Remix

Lost Lantern is the rare American independent bottler, a business model much more common in the scotch whisky world. One of the latest releases from the brand is American Vatted Malt Remix, a new version of its Vatted Malt that was released to celebrate its fifth anniversary. This is a blend of 11 whiskeys from distilleries in eight states, including Andalusia (Texas), McCarthy’s (Oregon), Virginia Distilling Co. (Virginia), and Westland (Washington). 110.7 proof; SRP $100

Frey Ranch Harvester Series: Second Harvest 

Nevada distillery Frey Ranch makes fantastic grain-to-glass bourbon and rye whiskey, but there are some special releases also worth checking out. The latest is Second Harvest, the new edition in the Harvester Series. This is a non-age statement blend of whiskeys aged between four and nine years that is made up of the following components: 100 percent wheat whiskey, four-grain bourbon, unmalted barley whiskey, malted barley whiskey, and 100 percent barley whiskey that is half malted and half unmalted. 122.44 proof; SRP $250 (375-ml bottle)

Unicorn Pick of the Week

The Laddie Rye

Bruichladdich is a scotch distillery located on Islay that produces two types of whisky—peated and unpeated. The Classic Laddie, its core expression, is the prime example of the latter, while the Port Charlotte range and particularly the annual Octomore releases contain some of the most heavily peated whisky you can find. The distillery is always toying with different experiments in terms of terroir and grains, and the latest example comes in the form of a new rye scotch whisky, which is unusual for the category.

Bruichladdich originally released a rye whisky made from a mashbill of 55 percent Islay rye and 45 percent Islay barley a few years ago as part of its Regenerative Project (so named for the regenerative effects planting rye has on the soil). That was a very limited release, but the new Laddie Rye is much more widely available. It was aged for seven years in American oak (ex-bourbon and toasted and uncharred virgin oak) and bottled at 100 proof with no chill filtration and natural color.

There’s no mistaking this whisky for American rye, but that’s not the point—this is Scottish rye and the character is completely different. There’s a nice hit of spice as you sip, undercut by big floral notes along with flavors lilke grass, vanilla, citrus, and some caramel. So what to do with this whisky? Sip it neat for sure, but go ahead and try it in a cocktail—it just might make your next Rob Roy more Manhattan-like.