Whiskey Roundup — Week of March 1–7, 2026
March 1, 2026
Your weekly dispatch from the Backyard Whiskey Club.
Texas is making headlines this week with not one but two landmark rye and bourbon firsts, while Kentucky juggernauts drop their annual heavy-hitters and Islay continues its cask strength crusade. It’s a week that rewards patience — both in the whiskeys themselves and in tracking them down. Pour something good and read on.
This Week’s Headlines
- Garrison Brothers drops Texas’s first-ever Bottled-in-Bond bourbon — six years in the making and available now at the distillery, with nationwide rollout beginning in March
- Michter’s 2026 Edition 10 Year Bourbon begins shipping to retailers this month at $195 — a benchmark release from one of Kentucky’s most meticulous producers
- Ardbeg 10 Year Cask Strength hits the Committee release market at 61.7% ABV — a new chapter for one of Islay’s most beloved expressions
- Elijah Craig unveils its first-ever Barrel Proof Rye, Batch A126 — a 12-year aged expression joining the storied ECBP family
- World Whiskies Awards America 2026 crowns its winners at Louisville’s Brown Hotel — New Riff and E.H. Taylor among the standouts
New & Notable Releases
Bourbon
Michter’s 2026 Edition – 10 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon is the kind of annual release that keeps enthusiasts checking store shelves every March. Approved by Master Distiller Dan McKee and Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson, the 2026 expression comes in at 94.4 proof (47.2% ABV) with an SRP of $195 for a 750ml. If you’re hunting it at retail, move quickly — allocated releases like this tend to evaporate fast.
Also worth chasing: Barrell Bourbon New Year 2026, a limited-edition blend pulling from seven states (Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Wyoming, Maryland, New York, and Ohio) with ages ranging from 5 to 16 years, bottled at cask strength of 110.3 proof. It’s a love letter to American whiskey’s geographic breadth, and Barrell’s blending expertise makes it greater than the sum of its parts.
Rye
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Rye A126 may be the most talked-about rye debut of the year. This is the first release from the new ECBP Rye program — bottled cask strength from a 12-year, 3-month-aged expression — and it delivers on the name’s promise: spicy but not chaotic, with caramel, cloves, mint, baking spice, and butterscotch playing nicely together. Expect a Michter’s US*1 Barrel Strength Rye to follow close behind when it ships to bars and retailers this month as well.
For the budget-conscious rye hunter, Buffalo Trace’s newly permanent Sazerac Rye Full Proof at 125 proof and a $39.99 SRP is a genuine overachiever emerging from the distillery’s $1.2 billion expansion.
Scotch
Ardbeg 10 Year Cask Strength landed in Committee members’ hands on February 24th, bottled at 61.7% ABV and priced at £75. Ardbeg’s classic 10 at full cask strength is the kind of release that reminds you why you got into Islay whisky in the first place — expect peat, citrus, and a long, briny finish with the volume turned all the way up.
Speyside fans should note that 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of Speyside Distillery (founded 1876 by John Duff), with commemorative releases expected throughout the year. And the MacNair’s Lum Reek 12 Year Old — a Gold winner at the 2026 World Whiskies Awards — is a beautifully constructed blend of peated Islay and unpeated Speyside malts, aged at GlenAllachie in bourbon, PX sherry, and red wine casks at 46% ABV. It punches well above its price point.
Irish & Japanese
Copeland Distillery’s 26.1 — named for the distillery’s founding year — is a limited-edition five-year-old double-distilled single malt from Northern Ireland’s Ards Peninsula. Bottled at cask strength (57.8% ABV) from a combination of ex-Pinot Noir and ex-Syrah barriques previously used for Copeland Overproof Rum, only 860 bottles exist at £125 each. It won Best Single Malt Irish Whiskey (11 Years and Under) at the Irish Whiskey Awards 2025, so this one is as decorated as it is scarce.
On the Japanese front, Kanosuke Distillery released its 2026 Limited Edition Single Malt, inspired by the spring landscape of Fukiagehama beach beside the distillery. Distilled across three pot stills and matured in ex-shochu, sherry, bourbon, and red wine casks, it’s available through the distillery’s Japanese online shop (~€90) — a beautiful expression of where Japanese whisky is heading.
Craft & Limited Editions
Talnua Distillery (Colorado) opens pre-orders on March 13 for Olde Saint’s Keep 2026, a single pot still whiskey built Irish-style on 50% malted and 50% unmalted barley, triple distilled and finished in casks from six fellow Colorado distilleries. Only 1,200 bottles at $110 each — and Talnua’s 2025 edition just won Best American Pot Still at the 2026 World Whiskies Awards, so the bar is set high.
Texas Distillery Spotlight
Garrison Brothers — Hye, Texas
Big news from the Texas Hill Country: Garrison Brothers — America’s first legal bourbon distillery outside of Kentucky — has released its first-ever Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon, the 10th expression to join the lineup and a genuine milestone for Texas whiskey.
The bourbon was distilled in the fall of 2019, aged six years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof, meeting the strict federal Bottled-in-Bond Act requirements: one distillery, one distillation season, minimum four years aging. Garrison Brothers did them one better with six. It debuted at the distillery in Hye on February 28th — Texas Independence Day — for $100 SRP, with nationwide distribution rolling out through March.
For a distillery that has built its reputation on small-batch, single-harvest Texas bourbon aged under the brutal Hill Country sun, entering the BiB category is a statement of confidence in their process. The accelerated aging that Texas heat provides means six years in Hye can develop complexity that rivals considerably older Kentucky expressions. Worth tracking down as it hits shelves.
What We’re Pouring This Week
If you can find the Garrison Brothers Bottled-in-Bond, that’s the clear pick of the week — a historic Texas release at a fair price with serious heritage behind it. For rye drinkers, the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye A126 is the debut worth seeking; allocated but not impossible to find at better whiskey shops. If you’re in the mood for Islay and have Committee access, the Ardbeg 10 Cask Strength is a no-brainer at £75. And for anyone curious about American craft whiskey’s frontier with Irish tradition, keep an eye on Talnua’s pre-orders opening March 13.
On the Horizon
The World Whiskies Awards Global competition takes place this month, where American and regional winners compete for world titles — expect announcements in mid-March. Lock Stock & Barrel’s 25-Year-Old Straight Rye (111 proof, $999.99, only 250 bottles) is trickling into select retailers for collectors willing to splurge on the oldest rye on the market. And Aberargie Distillery — a new independent Highland distillery — is expected to launch Scotland’s newest first-ever single malt this month, a release worth watching for Scotch enthusiasts tracking what’s emerging from new producers.
“Do not indulge in dreams of what you do not have, but count up the chief of the blessings you do have, and then thankfully remember how eagerly you would have sought them if they were not yours already.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII.27. The best whiskey is always the one already in your glass — if you’re paying attention.