A bottle of rare, prestigious whiskey isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A collection of rare, prestigious whiskeys. Just ask anyone who’s ever tried the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (Me. Ask me.) and they’ll tell you there’s something extra special about running through a series of extra-special bottles, comparing and contrasting the different expressions as you go.
And although the BTAC remains the Holy Grail of annual American whiskey collection releases, a new challenger arrived on the scene in recent years and has been making waves. That challenger is the Bardstown Collection, which unlike the BTAC, is made up of whiskeys from multiple distilleries rather than one single distillery, meaning imbibers can expect even greater variety between bottles.
The lineup for 2024 was recently announced, and it includes bourbons from seven distilleries — up one from last year — all located in Bardstown, Kentucky. And while they all offer something special, it’s the bottle from Jim Beam — or rather, its parent distillery James B. Beam — that excites me the most.
The Oldest Bottle of Beam Ever Released
There isn’t a ton of info out there yet about the Bardstown Collection releases, with only brief descriptions of the bottles provided by Bardstown Tourism, the organizer of both the collection and the town’s National Bourbon Week where the bottles’ release will take place.
But here’s what we do know: The Bardstown Collection James B. Beam Distilling 2024 Release will be the oldest release ever from the brand. It’s aged for “close to 20 years,” putting it in the rarefied air of super-aged bourbons like Buffalo Trace’s Eagle Rare 25, which debuted last year.
