The 17 Most Exciting New Bourbon and Whiskeys of 2021

Speculators and detractors have written of the dreaded whiskey bubble for close to a decade now. Are we ready to accept that American bourbon, whiskey and rye aren’t going anywhere? Last year, bourbon eclipsed $4 billion in sales, despite huge losses in emerging European markets, thanks to retaliatory tariffs stemming from airplane subsidies. If a trade war and a pandemic can’t stymie the aftershocks of the Bourbon Boom, what can? These are the best new American whiskeys I’ve tried in 2021.

Oak & Eden Anthro Series

Oak & Eden

Presented by Oak & Eden

You know Oak & Eden not just because of its celebrated roster of whiskeys, but also for its signature Spire. A revolutionary in-bottle finishing technique that sees a literal spiral of carved wood placed into every bottle, the Spire imparts unique flavors and complexities long after the spirit has left the distillery. In celebration of its own unique approach to aging and finishing whiskey, Oak & Eden has introduced its “Anthro Series.” The project taps creatives from various industries to remix, rethink and put their own spin on the brand’s spirits. The latest iteration features five “Troubadours,” a group of singers and songwriters from across the music industry who share Oak & Eden’s exploratory — even rebellious — spirit. These creatives include the likes of John Paul White, Jamestown Revival, Abraham Alexander, Penny & Sparrow and Filmore. Far more than just a co-branded collaboration, these artists are invited to create a completely new product, with the ability to tweak everything from the base whiskey and the proof, to the wood species of the signature Spire. If you’re a longtime fan of Oak & Eden, or simply looking for something a bit more adventurous than your average bottle of bourbon, these are bottles you won’t want to sleep on.

Price: $64+

Stellum Bourbon

Stellum

Stellum may as well have “for whiskey nerds” written on the label. Produced by the master blenders at Barrel Craft Spirits, the new company is launching nationally with a high proof bourbon blend and rye blend, with barrel proof single barrel selections coming soon. The bourbon — a mad scientist blend of bourbons of different ages, mashbills and distilling locations — is worth the $55 sticker price and then some.

Jack Daniel’s 10-Year-Old

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It’s time for whiskey nerds to take Jack Daniel’s seriously. The brand’s methodical expansion of its premium line has led to its first age-stated whiskey in 100 years, and it’s a doozy. Bottled at a near-perfect 97 proof, 10-year-old Jack tastes like bananas foster on vanilla ice cream and I can’t get enough. It’s also a modern, premium whiskey, though, so it doesn’t come cheap. Expect to pay $70 for a bottle for as long as they last.

A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength

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Bowman has put out bourbon well worth the spend for years now. The Virginia whiskey maker, owned by the Sazerac Company, put out this high-calibre bourbon in June, but it’s better served as a cold weather whiskey. At 10 years old and 141 proof, it was designed to please bourbon enthusiasts and few others. The first thing you notice is the richness of the whiskey; it is thick, and the nose is sweeter and more welcoming than a spirit bottled at 141 proof would suggest.Pour a short glass, add a dash of water (for your own wellbeing) and ride the lightning.

George Dickel 8-Year-Old Bourbon

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From a brand dedicated to making loads of Tennessee Whisky (the brand prefers the Scottish spelling) comes a nice value buy. Dickel’s 8-year bourbon can be had for a little more than $30, and it’s available everywhere. It’s also a nice, easy-drinking 90 proof, making it ideal for warm-weather sipping. Chalk it up as another W for Nicole Austin and the Cascade Hollow team.

High Plains Rye Whiskey

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At first glance, High Plains Rye isn’t something to write home about. It’s blended rye whiskey sourced from four states — New York, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky — and it’s priced at $55 SRP. There are a number of ryes in that price range, and most of them are very good (Pikesville Rye, Stellum Rye, Willett Family Estate Rye, etc.), but none bear the name of Jim Rutledge, a living legend of modern American whiskey. Rutledge, who’s widely credited with the 21st century revival of Four Roses as a premium bourbon brand, is the author of this particular blend. High Plains is his first straight rye whiskey, but it doesn’t taste like it. Expect a bready, spicy, warm whiskey bottled at an inch-perfect 97 proof.

Old Forester Single Barrel Rye

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Brown-Forman’s Old Forester introduced rye whiskey to its lineup two years ago with a stupidly affordable 100 proof expression that’s available everywhere. Its second stab at the category is another, more premium 100 proof bottling that’s available across the U.S. It’s spicy, it’s thick on the tongue and, as with all single barrel products, there’s a chance you get something truly special.

New Riff 6-Year Malted Rye

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If you don’t know New Riff, you should. The Newport, Kentucky outfit’s specialties are its single barrel program and commitment to Bottled-in-Bond whiskey. Its new 6-year-old whiskey is the latter, but its the malted rye — a process usually reserved for barley which allows the rye to germinate and convert starch to sugar — is what does the legwork here. Where a 10o percent rye whiskey would normally be spicy as all get out, this rye drinks almost like a scotch. It’s only available in Kentucky for now, but the company is planning to expand distribution soon.

Laphroaig 10-Year Sherry Oak Finish

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Getting your hands on sherry-ified Laphroaig in the past meant sacrificing age statements; not anymore. This is classic Laphroaig 10-year with a slight fruity twist, and though it is available in limited amounts, the brand says it’s a permanent addition to its catalog. If you like the peaty, briney flavors of classic Laphroaig, you’ll love this riff on it.

Sweeten’s Cove 2021 Release

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This Tennessee whiskey label launched in 2020 with a 13-year-old bourbon available in extremely limited supply. It tasted great, but it was more or less unobtanium. Its second release is a blend of 4-, 6- and 16-year-old bourbons produced at different distilleries and aged in different locales. It’s also significantly more available now, with distribution to Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and three more TBA states as well as a bottle count nearing 50,000. Just like the first release, it’s absolutely delicious. Expect fruity, light notes on top and deep, sweet flavor as you sip it. It tasted like cherry pie to me.

Jura 12-Year-Old

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A win for all value-minded scotch drinkers. Jura has been slowly expanding its core collection of whiskies for a few years now, and a $50 12-year-old always-available expression provides the perfect stepping stone from liking scotch to loving scotch. It’s not aggressively peaty, but there are lighter smokey notes. The sherry cask finishing plays well with this and makes for a really pleasant sweet-and-savory dram.

Booker’s Bourbon (Donohoe’s Batch)

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After a brief hiatus, Booker’s is back. Still selected by Fred Noe, son of the bourbon’s namesake, Booker, the barrel proof whiskey is one of Jim Beam’s most-loved brands (especially by whiskey geeks). Named after the sales manager that pushed the whiskey from Booker’s secret stash to a super-premium national brand, this particularly batch is just under 7 years old and bottled to a mighty 127 proof. It delivers a familiar high-octane burst of wood and vanilla flavors, but it’s the finish that sets it apart. I mean this in the best way: it reminds me of burnt peanut butter toast.

Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing 2021 Limited Edition (FAE-01)

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Maker’s Mark Limited Edition is one of the most accessible and delicious limited-run whiskeys you can buy. It’s the distillery’s bourbon mad science experiment shop, and while past year’s bottlings have honed in on fruitiness and vanilla, this year’s highlights the earthy, woody vibe of a whiskey aging warehouse.

Pursuit United

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It would be naïve to suggest bourbon is the only spirit with an engaged and enthusiastic community of drinkers, but bourbon certainly hosts the largest number of fanatics, compared to its distilled counterparts. No whiskey exemplifies this quite like Pursuit United, a whiskey made by the bourbon world’s most popular podcasters — Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil of Bourbon Pursuit — turned whiskey blenders. The brand’s debut bottle blends whiskey from Finger Lakes Distilling in upstate New York, Bardstown Bourbon Company out of Kentucky and an undisclosed Tennessee distillery into a truly wicked pour. It smells like maple syrup and tastes like burnt sugar.

Ezra Brooks 99 Proof

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It’s unlikely Ezra Brooks 99 — sibling to the great and underappreciated Old Ezra — will garner much attention in the whiskeysphere. It’s a brand few have heard of made by a distillery no one knows (Luxco) that was just purchased by a notoriously mysterious mega-producer. More for me, I guess. Ezra 99 is a higher proof variant of the brand’s standard 90 proof offering, and the flavor and body are better for it. Sitting on the very competitive lower-middle shelf, it holds up.

Lost Lantern American Vatted Malt (Edition 1)

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While it officially released late in 2020, Lost Lantern’s debut bottle is as delicious as it is innovative. Founded by a former Whisky Advocate writer and a liquor store manager, the brand follows in the footsteps of the independent bottlers and blenders of Scotland, which buy up barrels of aged whiskey from distilleries with extra stock and spin them into something new. This American Vatted Malt is the first blend of American single malt whiskeys from different distilleries, and it’s unlike anything I’ve tasted. Find exactly what went into it here.

Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye

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Absent from the Michter’s lineup for two years due to supply constraints, thank goodness Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye is back. While there are more than enough full strength bourbons on any given liquor store shelf, rye hasn’t received the same love. These bottlings are high-powered, but not as aggressive as you’d expect from a rye at this proof; expect a creamy, nutty whiskey with some sharp spices on the back end.

Dewar’s Portuguese Smooth

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In 2019, scotch whisky let down its hair (a bit). The world’s most tightly defined spirit could now be the subject of the cask-finishing experiments so popular in the rest of the whiskey world. Distillers immediately seized at the opportunity to diversify their lineups, and none have done it as well as Dewar’s, whose offerings are affordable, weird and — very quietly — excellent. Portuguese Smooth is 8-year-old scotch that hangs out in ruby port casks for four months before bottling. In the absolute best sense, it smells like boozy Capri Sun and tastes like pie.

Benriach The 21

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The Speyside distillery that relaunched last year fills out its core lineup with some well-aged, delightful scotch whisky. It’s lighter on smoke than your classic Speyside (Benriach is a rare Speyside maker that offers both peated and unpeated scotch). The downside, which you may have guessed from its 21 years of maturation, is the suggested retail price: a heavy $200. It’s been a hard year; give it as a gift to yourself.

Thomas S. Moore Chardonnay Cask Finish

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A new line of whiskeys from Barton 1792 distillery that focuses on what the brand calls “extended cask finishing” and includes a chardonnay-finished whiskey is not something I expected to enjoy, but here we are. The whiskey is moderately aged (5 to 7 years) then holed up in an ex-chard barrel for another 2 to 5 years. Considering most cask-finished whiskey gets, I don’t know, six months or so in the secondary barrel, Thomas S. Moore whiskeys are going full send. Bottled just under 100 proof, the chardonnay-finished variant is very fruity, but not overly so. It tastes a bit like Four Roses with a strawberry dropped in it.

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