What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

News of the Week

🍷 Bag in box wine isn’t going anywhere.

💸 This California winemaker is committed to making affordable wines.

🍴 How to deal with snobby sommeliers at restaurants. 

🦬 The 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection is here, and it includes a brand-new bourbon.

⚡ If you’ve never tried light whiskey, now might be the time.

New Bottle Releases

Sagamore Spirit High Rye Bourbon
Baltimore’s Sagamore Spirit is best known for its rye whiskey, because that’s mostly what it bottles (both sourced and produced in-house). This new release, however, is a bourbon—albeit one that is considered “high rye,” of course, meaning there’s a high percentage of rye in the mashbill. In this case, the recipe is 60 percent corn, 25 percent rye, and 15 percent malted rye. The bourbon was aged for six years and bottled at a strong 59 percent ABV, and has notes of cornbread, fresh apricots, and walnut shells on the palate. 118 proof, SRP $50

Pinhook 2025 Collaboration Series
Pinhook’s latest Collaboration Series release is the fourth in this collection. Founder Sean Josephs worked with New Orleans bartender and bar owner Neal Bodenheimer to select the barrels for this whiskey, a rye made from a mashbill of 60 percent rye, 20 percent corn, and 20 percent malted barley, and bottled at high proof. It’s available for presale now, with orders expected to ship by the end of October. 121.9 proof; SRP $80

High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 13
Utah’s High West Distillery's most collectible annual release is back. A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 13 is a blend of MGP rye whiskey and rye distilled in-house in Utah from a mashbill of 80 percent rye and 20 percent malted rye. This blend is then finished in ruby and tawny port barrels, which gives it notes of dried fruit, berries, spice, and maple on the palate. 98.6 proof; SRP $150

Unicorn Pick of the Week

Paul Sutton Heritage 8 Year
Paul Sutton, a non-distilling producer that currently works with a distillery in Kentucky (rumored to be Bardstown Bourbon Company), released one of its oldest whiskeys to date this past summer, the Heritage 8 Year bourbon. As you can tell by the name, that is an eight-year-old bourbon, and it’s made from what the brand calls a 100-year-old recipe using grains grown in Alabama. A key factor in creating this bourbon was the use of “cooper select barrels,” which the brand says are seasoned outdoors for much longer than most barrels. In other words, as opposed to about six months, these barrels are seasoned for more than 18 months, something that the brand and Independent Stave Company both say strongly impacts the flavor of the whiskey as it ages.

All of that is pretty subjective when it comes down to it, because without an actual control there’s no way of telling if these claims are true or not. But the fact is that this is a pretty good bourbon, and it is indeed rich with classic flavors of maple, oak, vanilla, caramel, and a healthy dose of spice from the use of rye as a flavoring grain. It’s also bottled at 105 proof, and that lesser dilution reveals some complex notes as you sip, along with a nice bit of heat.

This is a pretty limited release, with just about 5,000 bottles made available in ten states (it's currently sold out but will be available again next week). This bourbon isn’t necessarily going to replace the Russell’s Reserve and Four Roses on your home bar, but that’s not the point. If you are looking to try something new from a smaller brand you may not be familiar with, give this a whirl—and decide for yourself just how much the use of those cooper select barrels had an impact on the whiskey’s flavor.