Limited Whiskey Releases for Winter 2023-2024

Limited release special edition bottles are some of the most prized. They are also some of the most expensive. These in particular are not easy to get your hands on, but there are reasons why they are worth looking at more closely.

Retailers can price their product as they wish. It’s common to find limited edition whiskies selling as much as twice their suggested retail price, if you can find them at all If these products are unavailable, consider what else the distiller may have to offer. Also do check out the 2023 Fall Bourbon (and Rye) Releases You Don’t Want to Miss and 30 Top Splurge Bottles for Whiskey Lovers from 2022.

Mortlach Midnight Malt 30-Year

This incredibly rich, full-bodied whisky is distilled in six stills a total of 2.81 times (not sure how they figure the math on that), split and finished in three casks—Bordeaux, Guatemalan rum, and calvados—then married in custom quarter casks. The result is intense, but with complex fruit notes, chocolates, caramel, and a long black pepper finish. Mortlach bills itself as the “first legal distillery in Dufftown,” dating back to 1821 (with bootlegging happening on site before that), the whiskies are elegant and complex, but reflect their coastal origins with a bold intensity (the Mortlach 20-Year won Double Gold at this year’s New York International Spirits Competition). Only 350 bottles of this extra-aged spirit (49.1% ABV) are released annually.

$5,000

Teeling 33-Year Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Extra-old Irish whiskeys, especially single malts, are hard to come by. But Teeling, a family-run label with a long distilling heritage and a willingness to push boundaries, has been able to hang onto a decent amount of “family reserve” stock over the decades. All that waiting is finally paying off. This 33-year aged expression is a follow-up to last year’s launch of the newly released 32-year. Distilled in 1990 and matured in ex-bourbon for almost 30 years, master distiller Alex Chasko then finished this year’s expression in barrels that first held Pineau de Charentes, a French aperitif. The result is a rich, round 49.7% ABV whiskey with deep stone fruit notes, toasted almond, and a hint of peat smoke. Limited to 270 bottles, the brand claims it’s the oldest bottling of Irish Single Malt yet released, and is only available in the U.S.

$3,700

Prima & Ultima Collection Fourth Release

This fourth collection of exclusive and rare Scotch whiskies from spirits giant Diageo features “firsts and lasts.” The eight bottles, curated by master blender Dr. Emma Walker, highlight the oldest, the last, and more from several of the company’s iconic Scotland distilleries. Among the eight releases are Talisker 46-year (the oldest whiskey bottled from Talisker Distillery), a new experimental single malt from Clynelish, the last of the 1996 casks from Oban, and the last of the 1977 and 1978 American oak hogsheads from Islay’s Port Ellen. There are only 413 full sets available worldwide, and a limited number of individual bottles are also available.

$44,000

Widow Jane The Vaults 2023 15-Year Bourbon

This is the fifth in the Vaults series from the Brooklyn-based Widow Jane Distillery, and it’s become an eagerly awaited annual release. Old and rare whiskeys from Tennessee and Indiana aged at least 15 years have been expertly blended by new head blender/distiller Sienna Jevremov. They are then married and finished in Kentucky Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii). The blender and brand are highlighting the variations in barrel air seasoning (drying out and curing over a year or more) each of the component whiskey barrels undergoes. “The Vaults shows the impacts of rare and fragile finishing wood on older bourbon.” Whatever the case, the whiskey is deep in color, elegant, complex and an excellent example of a well-aged and well-blended older bourbon. Every year I have trouble making this bottle last, it’s so good.

$250

Talisker Glacial Edge 45-Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Located on the Isle of Skye, Talisker is one of those remote Scottish distilleries known for releasing bold expressions with tons of character. Glacial Edge is the latest release in Talisker’s Xpedition Trilogy (completists take note). It’s the brand’s first ever 45-year-old bottling, and the third year partnering with Parley for the Oceans, an organization to documenting and preserving marine ecosystems. Single malt Scotch was aged over four decades, and then finished in “ice-fractured oak casks.” The technique is a first for Talisker: a dozen heavily-chared American oak casks are transported to Canada’s glacial ice fields. The ends are removed and the wood exposed to freezing temperatures and high Arctic winds for four days, creating unique fractures in the wood. The idea is that there is additional surface area in each cracked stave to interact more intensely with the aged whiskey. The result is a dry, deep single malt with bright pepper spices. You’ll get tons of vanilla, oak, hints of stone fruit and green apple, and light smoke and earth.

$5,000

Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami

Umami (that unctuous flavor note found in mushrooms, soy, and most of the tastiest things on Planet Earth) has of late become a popular flavor component in cocktails and spirits. Now Johnnie Walker’s master blender Emma Walker has partnered with chef Kei Kobayashi to create a limited-edition Blue Label variant highlighting notes of smoked meat, wood, blood oranges and other mouth-watering sweet-and-savory flavors. Walker says the goal was as much a “gastronomic experience” as a blending one. To launch the product, JW partnered with Pearl Street Caviar to promote a Blue Label Elusive Umami Caviar Pairing Set (starting at $407). You’ll receive a specialty tin of Ossetra Supreme caviar and mother-of-pearl tasting spoons, along with the whisky (check availability at Reserve Bar).

$400

The GlenDronach Grandeur Batch 12

Don’t let the number fool you, this Batch 12 is a rare 29-year single malt Scotch from one of Scotland’s oldest licensed Highland distilleries (1826) from master blender Dr. Rachel Barrie, one of the preeminent Scottish blenders in the industry today. Each numbered batch in this collection is progressively a bit older. The whisky is “crafted from a bespoke selection of our oldest and most magnificent Oloroso sherry casks,” says Barrie. The result is a deep ruby-walnut whisky (48.9% ABV) with a large, fragrant bouquet of honey, almond and baked stone fruit. Each bottle is sealed with wax and hand numbered. Looking for something even more exclusive? A GlenDronach 50-Year expression ($25,000) dropped last year.

$830

Blade and Bow 22-Year Bourbon 2023 Edition

A relatively recent label which incorporates and blends the final remaining stocks of the legendary Stitzel-Weller Distillery (which closed in 1992), with other aged and rare Kentucky whiskies. Blade and Bow quickly became a popular destination bourbon whiskey for collectors. Its extra-aged bourbons regularly win industry awards, quickly sell out and generally sell for two or three times the suggested sale price at both retailers and on the secondary market. Each year’s releases vary a little bit and can often trend oaky and tannic. This year’s release (which dropped in September) is a bit of fruit and spice. It opens a little sweet with a bit of heat, but milder tannins than you might expect for the age, lightly drying the tongue, gum and lips. You get caramel, a hint of menthol, honey and barn wood, and tart plum, bread and a long apple-and-cinnamon spice finish. The brand distributes to allocated retailers in 14 states, including Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, and Texas, among others. Or you can head to the Garden & Gun Club bar at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky and participate in the Blade and Bow 22-Year Tasting Experience ($150).

$550

Eagle Rare 25 Bourbon

Eagle Rare is already a pretty sought-after Kentucky straight bourbon. Buffalo Trace Distillery upped the stakes even more with this latest release, the oldest expression in the Eagle Rare portfolio. Aged in BT’s experimental Warehouse P (this is the first release from that Warehouse), master distiller Harlen Wheatly says the specific warehouse conditions allowed for quality aging and flavor complexity, rather than simply displaying heavy wood. “Eagle Rare 25 defies the conventional limitations of typical bourbon aging.” The end result is a dark, rich whiskey with noes of dark chocolate, red cherry, oak, caramel, a hint of vanilla. The extremely long finish is bold but tasty with pepper and barn notes. Only about 200 (very attractive) bottles were released globally in November.

$10,000

Aberfeldy 25-Year Anniversary Edition

The distillery, located in central Scotland, is celebrating its 125th anniversary (it opened in 1898) with a special bottling of its Oloroso Sherry cask finished 25-year expression. Featuring a special label and commemorative gift box, the non-chill filtered single malt whisky (46% ABV) is rich in notes of heather, honey, ripe stone fruit, cooked fruits and vanilla. An elegant sipper that Highland whiskey fans will savor for a good long time.

$550

Michter’s 25-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Among its passionate fans, Michter’s is known for a variety of coveted annual and periodic releases. But the brand’s 25-year straight bourbon (58.1% ABV) is something of a unicorn even for avid collectors. It’s been three years since a 25-year bourbon came out of Michter’s warehouses. This year’s expression features sourced and matured barrels selected by master distiller Dan McKee and master of maturation Andrea Wilson. “It is a wonderful journey with its transition through sweet and savory depth, world spices, dark chocolate, fruit characters, and nut oils,” Wilson said in a press release. This one is almost certainly impossible to find at the MSRP, but you knew that (expect to pay five to ten times that at retail).

$1,500

Jacob’s Pardon Batch #3

So-called light whiskeys are a style of whiskey so named not because of their color, calorie count or age, but for the distillation technique which runs higher than most whiskeys, removing congeners that normally contribute to a “heavier” flavor. This new collaboration between Palm Bay International president Marc Taub and veteran spirits writer and consultant F. Paul Pacult pays tribute to Taub’s Prohibition-era ancestors who were apparently arrested on bootlegging charges and later pardoned (get it?) by Franklin Roosevelt. It’s a high proof spirit (71.35% ABV), but the careful build of the 99% corn mash and 18 years (at least) aging, creates a strong but flavorful spirit.

$195

The Glenrothes 25

This new luxe release from The Glenrothes is aged a minimum of 25 years in mostly ex-sherry barrels with a mix of American and European oak, and was bottled at 43% ABV. The brand doesn’t reveal a lot else about the well-aged single malt Scotch whisky, but expect both the aromatics and flavor to be pleasingly complex with soft notes of vanilla cream, ripe peach, toasted almonds, chocolate, leather, oak and a long nut-and-spice finish. This year, Glenrothes won for 18-year Speyside single malt in the Individual International awards at the New York International Spirits Competition.

$750

Westward Whiskey Milestone

Portland, Oregon-based Westward has been producing praiseworthy whiskeys in the Northwest since 2004. But this is its first luxury release. Milestone—celebrating 20 years of Westward—leans into European winemaking, distilling and maturation traditions with a modern twist. Using a 21-barrel Solera system (including 20-year-aged component whiskeys), master blender Miles Munroe draws off a small amount for each new batch, then replacing that liquid with a distinct offering from the barrel warehouse. Fractional blending and careful proofing (43% ABV) will mean each new batch of Milestone is slightly different and unique. Each custom bottle is individual numbered and presented in a stylish gift box.

$250

Dickel Bourbon 18 Year

Tennessee-based George Dickel launched Dickel Bourbon in 2021 with an eight-year expression. Two years later, the brand has expanded the label with Dickel Bourbon 18. A limited-edition bourbon, charred oak barrels house the juice in Dickel’s Cascade Hollow single-story rickhouses. Nicole Austin, the brand’s director of whiskey says they sought an “approachable and balanced” bourbon with a complex flavor profile (older bourbons can be notoriously woody, and sometimes “slim” when it comes to complexity). At 45% ABV, the end result of the 84% corn whiskey is a flavor profile highlighting fruit and cream notes alongside oak, vanilla, and a hint of raw leather, with a pleasingly long nutty finish.

$510