What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

News of the Week

🦃 Try pairing these fantastic wines with your Thanksgiving meal this year.

🍗 Don’t know what to drink this Thanksgiving? These experts have some cocktail and whiskey recommendations.

🌵 New Mexico is a wine region that is about to have a moment.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Diageo is closing down one of its malting facilities until June 2926.

🏨 What does it take to have a successful hotel bar?

New Bottle Releases

Little Book The Infinite: Edition II

Eighth-generation Beam distiller Freddie Noe created his Little Book series of blended whiskeys back in 2017, and each release since has varied in terms of the component whiskeys involved. Last year he launched the first Infinite version of this whiskey, sort of a riff on an infinity barrel concept. Edition II arrived this year, a blend of bourbon aged from 7 to 22 years and bottled at cask strength. 120.8 proof; SRP $200

New Riff Sherry Finish Malted Rye

Who says sherry cask maturation is just for scotch whisky? Kentucky distillery New Riff just released a barrel-strength rye made from a mashbill of 100 percent malted rye that was finished in Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks and bottled without chill filtration. This is the latest edition of this whiskey, which was first released in 2022. 111.9 proof; SRP $70

The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Jamaica Edition

This is a U.S. exclusive from Speyside distillery the Glenlivet, one of the world’s best-selling single malt scotch whisky brands. It’s a 12-year-old whisky that was finished in Jamaican rum barrels to give it notes of tropical fruit, brown sugar, and molasses, amplifying the classic Speyside character of the whisky. 80 proof; SRP $55

Unicorn Pick of the Week

The Macallan - A Night on Earth: The First Light

Generally speaking, the Macallan is a distillery known for doing one thing very well—making single malt scotch whisky that is matured in sherry-seasoned oak casks. And that is, in fact, mostly what it does, sourcing European and American oak barrels from bodegas in Spain that were previously used to mature sherry and then having them shipped to Scotland to infuse the whisky with rich flavors as it ages. But the distillery also has many bourbon barrels in its aging arsenal as well, which might not be discussed as much but sometimes play an important role.

Actually, another thing the Macallan is known for is dropping a lot of special releases each year (and breaking records at auctions for its extremely old whiskies). The latest to fall into the special release category is a single malt that was aged in sherry and bourbon casks, and while the use of the latter type of barrel comprised only a small percentage of the entire maturation makeup, it still had a profound impact on the whisky.

The Night on Earth series kicked off in 2021 with A Night on Earth Scotland, and then traveled to Spain last year before landing in New Zealand for this release. The point of the series is to highlight New Year’s traditions around the world, so the First Light edition is a reference to New Zealand being one of the first countries to enter the new year. The whisky is bottled with natural color, as are all of the Macallan’s whiskies, and was aged in a small amount of bourbon barrels along with the usual sherry-seasoned oak. That has resulted in a fantastic single malt with a bright burst of vanilla and citrus, along with the expected flavors like dried fruit, baking spice, molasses, honey, and baked apple.

While not unheard of for the Macallan, this whisky does stand out for that slightly atypical maturation process—and it also stands out as just being a very good single malt. This is one that completist fans of the Macallan should look out for, as well as whisky aficionados looking to try something a little bit different from one of the best-known names in scotch whisky.