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The Biggest Whiskey Releases of 2023

The whiskey market remains white hot, and these bottles will show you why.

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By Johnny Brayson

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This story is part of our end-of-year series This Year in Gear, rounding up the most notable releases of 2023. For more stories like this, click here.

Depending on how you look at it, 2023 was either a great year to be a whiskey fan or a terrible one. It was great because there was an unbelievable amount of quality brown stuff released, whether you’re into bourbon, Scotch or another whiskey. And it was bad because seemingly every bottle was ultra-hyped, impossible to find and exorbitantly priced. We come down on the positive side of the debate because we enjoyed the hell out of a lot of whiskey (and whisky) this year. The 10 bottles below represent our favorite whiskey releases of 2023.

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged

Maker’s Mark has never been known for its age-statement bottles, but the brand is finally embracing the mature life. In 2023, Maker’s released its oldest bourbon ever with Cellar Aged, a blend of 11- and 12-year-old cask-strength bourbons that were aged in the distillery’s state-of-the-art LEED-certified, temperature-controlled limestone cellar. Bottled at 115.7 proof, the whiskey boasts a balanced flavor of oak, vanilla and fruit.

Learn more about Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged here.

Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat

Buffalo Trace is perhaps the most popular distillery in the country, so when it launches a new brand, people take notice. Daniel Weller was launched by BT in 2023, and the brand named for the grandfather of W.L. Weller — the man credited with inventing wheated bourbon. The first release for the new brand was Emmer Wheat bourbon, which uses the titular ancient grain in its distillate. We found it to have an earthy and rustic nose with notes of orange zest, hazelnut and caramel, along with a palate that includes some spice, oak, honey and salted caramel.

Learn more about Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat here.

Glenmorangie A Tale of Tokyo

This whisky wasn’t the first time we’d seen a mashup of Japanese whisky and single-malt Scotch, and it won’t be the last, but that doesn’t make it any less notable. Glenmorangie’s director of whisky creation, Dr. Bill Lumsden, aged some of the Highland distillery’s classic single malt in rare Mizunara oak casks, the darling of the Japanese whisky world, along with spent bourbon and sherry casks to create a unique limited edition with spectacular original bottle artwork by Japanese artist Yamaguchi Akira.

Learn more about Glenmorangie A Tale of Tokyo here.

Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Heritage Barrel Rye

Jack Daniel’s has been experimenting outside of its Tennessee whiskey comfort zone quite a bit lately. Also in 2023, the brand released its first-ever American single malt as part of its experimental Single Barrel Special Release collection along with a 12-year-old Tennessee whiskeys and others featuring exotic finishes. But our favorite is this bold and toasty rye, which undergoes JD’s trademark charcoal-filtering process following a double-barrel maturation using new American white oak barrels and heavy-toast Heritage Barrels from the Jack Daniel Cooperage.

Learn more about Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Heritage Barrel Rye here.

Ardbeg BizarreBQ

If you’re a Scotch lover, then you’re no doubt familiar with the peat smoke flavor associated with Islay whiskies like Ardbeg. This is not that. BizarreBQ lives up to its name perhaps better than any whisky we tried this year, as it’s both incredibly unusual and smells and tastes of actual BBQ (which is what makes it so unusual). The whisky achieves its unique flavor profile thanks to a trio of casks used in the aging and finishing processes: double charred oak casks, Pedro Ximénez sherry casks and … BBQ casks.

Learn more about Ardbeg BizarreBQ here.

WhistlePig The Béhôlden

American single malt was the whiskey category du jour of 2023 (and likely will be again in 2023), and although this Vermont-bottled hooch technically comes from Canada, it still qualifies as a North American single malt, and the oldest one we’ve ever seen at that. Highly viscous with a flavor palate that ranges from honey-sweet to warmly spiced to lightly smoky, this “super-aged” North American single malt is a profound showcase for what single malts can be on this side of the Atlantic.

Learn more about WhistlePig The Béhôlden here.

Jefferson’s Marian McLain

Marian McLain was one of the earliest known women involved in American whiskey production — she was arrested for moonshining and bootlegging in 1799. She is also the eighth-generation grandmother of Jefferson’s Bourbon founder Trey Zoeller, who launched this blend in her honor. The impressive and complex hooch is a blend of five whiskeys: a 14-year-old Tennessee bourbon, an 11-year-old Kentucky bourbon, an 8-year-old Kentucky bourbon, a wheated double-barrel bourbon and a rum cask-finished bourbon, with the final mix bottled at 102 proof.

Learn more about Jefferson’s Marian McLain here.

Talisker 30 Year Old

Talisker was not messing around in 2023 — the brand also released a 45-year-old whisky that was finished in casks cracked by Arctic winds. But its most impressive launch to our palate was the comparatively young 30-year-old single malt. It’s perhaps the most refined and exquisite representation of Talisker’s maritime flavor imaginable, which we described as a “beach bonfire in a bottle” upon tasting it. We stand by that delicious assessment.

Learn more about Talisker 30 Year Old here.

Hibiki 21 Year Old 100th Anniversary Edition

In 2023, Suntory marked 100 years since opening its first distillery, and it celebrated with centennial versions of some of its most prized whiskies. Chief among them was this incredible dram, a divine blend of malt and grain Japanese whiskies aged for 21 years in rare Mizunara oak casks in place of the usual sherry butts. The result is one of the smoothest whiskies we’ve ever had the pleasure of sipping, with a clean and light floral taste that gains some exotic hints of flavor from the Mizunara.

Learn more about Hibiki 21 Year Old 100th Anniversary Edition here.

Eagle Rare 25

Pushing the boundaries of what bourbon can be, Buffalo Trace launched a version of Eagle Rare that’s a quarter-century old. The distillery’s new experimental warehouse, Warehouse P, is what made the whiskey possible (it’s the first release to come out of the endeavor), as it’s a completely climate-controlled environment that allows Buffalo Trace’s distillers to sidestep some of the undesirable side effects that normally come with aging bourbon for so long. It’s very expensive and even harder to track down, but this stuff shows how Buffalo Trace is continuing to strive for new levels of greatness despite already winning over the hearts and minds of enthusiasts.

Learn more about Eagle Rare 25 here.

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