Whiskey Roundup — Week of June 14–20, 2026
June 15, 2026
Whiskey Roundup — Week of June 14–20, 2026
Your weekly dispatch from the Backyard Whiskey Club.
Bardstown is the center of the whiskey universe this week. National Bourbon Day kicked things off on June 14 with one of Heaven Hill’s most anticipated drops in years, and National Bourbon Week runs through June 21 with ten partner distilleries throwing open their doors. Beyond Kentucky, Texas bourbon fans have a countdown clock running, Speyside has a storied name making its comeback, and the rye category keeps proving it’s not just bourbon’s little sibling anymore.
This Week’s Headlines
- Elijah Craig 21-Year-Old Single Barrel returned for the first time in over a decade, debuting at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience on National Bourbon Day (June 14).
- National Bourbon Week is underway in Bardstown (June 14–21), with rare pours and exclusive distillery experiences across ten partner sites.
- Garrison Brothers announced its new Ranch Reserve Series — two sherry-finished Texas bourbons drop June 27.
- Tormore Distillery marks its comeback on the single malt scene with three new Speyside expressions, hitting The Whisky Exchange June 15 and nationwide retailers June 29.
- World Whiskies Awards and IWSC 2026 results landed, with Teeling Whiskey picking up multiple Gold Outstanding medals.
New & Notable Releases
Bourbon
Elijah Craig 21-Year-Old Single Barrel is the headline release of the week — and arguably the year for Heaven Hill fans. It’s the oldest age statement the brand has ever put out, bottled at 94 proof with an MSRP of $299.99, and arrives in a custom wooden display case. Expect toasted oak, leather, and complex spice on the nose, with milk chocolate, toasted nuts, and burnt caramel on the palate finishing into molasses and barrel char. The launch happened at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience with wristband-gated sales, but don’t despair if you missed it — Heaven Hill has reserved 1,789 bottles (a nod to Elijah Craig’s founding year) for select markets later this year ahead of the holidays.
Maker’s Mark x The Little Book Chapter 10 is also rolling out this month. This one’s a finishing-cask showcase, combining bourbon rested in sherry casks with bourbon finished in toasted barrels, bottled at a hefty 121.8 proof. If you’ve enjoyed past Little Book chapters for their barrel-proof intensity and willingness to get weird with cask combinations, this is shaping up to be another one worth tracking down.
Rye
Michter’s 10 Year Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Rye makes its 2026 return this month, bottled at 92.8 proof with an SRP of $210. Michter’s aged rye releases have become an annual event for collectors, and this one continues the brand’s reputation for soft, well-integrated barrel proof expressions that don’t beat you over the head with spice.
Angel’s Envy’s first-ever age-stated rye is still very much worth seeking out if you haven’t found it yet. The Cask Strength Straight Rye Whiskey, aged 10 years, launched alongside Angel’s Envy’s annual Cask Strength Bourbon during Derby season and represents a genuine milestone for a brand that’s spent most of its life known for finishing rather than long-aged proofs.
Scotch
Ardbeg Dolce is this year’s Ardbeg Day release, and as always with Ardbeg’s annual specials, expect the brand’s signature Islay peat smoke wrapped around something a little sweeter and more playful than the core range — a fun one for the Ardbeg completists in the club.
Tormore Distillery is having a moment. Acquired by Elixir Distillers back in 2022, the Speyside distillery is relaunching its single malt lineup with a Tormore 12 Year Old, a Tormore 16 Year Old Sherry Cask, and a non-age-statement Tormore Timeless. The Whisky Exchange gets first access starting June 15, with broader retail availability landing June 29. Sherry-cask Speyside fans should keep an eye on the 16 Year — early word suggests it leans into rich, fruit-forward territory.
Irish & Japanese
Teeling Whiskey had a strong showing at the IWSC 2026 awards, picking up Gold Outstanding for both its Distillery Exclusive 20-Year-Old Mongolian Oak Cask Single Malt and its 33-Year-Old Very Rare Cask Single Malt — proof that Teeling’s experimentation with unusual cask types continues to pay off. The distillery also released a Negroni Cask expression for World Whiskey Day back in May, which is still floating around at retail if you can find it.
Ballina Whiskey, one of the newer names on the Irish scene, put out another release in early June, continuing a steady cadence of drops since launching last fall. Worth a look if you’re trying to get ahead of the next wave of Irish craft producers before they’re impossible to find.
Craft & Limited Editions
Sweetens Cove’s 2026 First Release blends aged Kentucky and Tennessee bourbons finished in cuvée wine barrels, bottled at 98 proof. The wine-cask finish brings forward cherry and red berry notes — a nice change of pace if you’re burned out on sherry and port finishes. As an annual collectible release, expect this one to move fast.
On the awards front, Denmark’s Thy Whisky Distillery earned Gold Outstanding at IWSC 2026 for its Casks 1035+1036 Single Malt — a reminder that the craft whisky boom is very much a global story, not just an American one.
Texas Distillery Spotlight
This week’s spotlight goes to Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, Texas — the first legal whiskey distillery in the state and the first outside Kentucky to produce a true corn-to-cork bourbon. Garrison Brothers just announced its new Ranch Reserve Series, a rotating collection built around exceptional finishing casks layered onto their Texas Straight Small Batch Bourbon.
The first two releases drop Saturday, June 27 at 8 a.m.: a Texas Straight Bourbon Finished in PX Sherry Casks, and a Texas Straight Bourbon Finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks. The Oloroso version starts as a 4-year bourbon aged in new charred white American oak, then spends another four years in Oloroso sherry casks sourced from Jerez, Spain. It’s bottled at 110 proof with an SRP of $149.99, and the finishing brings walnut and baking spice to what’s already a structured, savory bourbon. If Texas heat-accelerated aging plus eight years of total cask time plus Spanish sherry sounds like a lot — it is, and that’s the point. Mark your calendar for the 27th.
What We’re Pouring This Week
With National Bourbon Week running in Bardstown, this feels like the right week to pour something with Kentucky roots even if you’re nowhere near it — an Elijah Craig Small Batch or Toasted Barrel makes a nice (and findable) stand-in while you wait to see if that 21-Year-Old trickles into your market later this year. If you’re more in a rye mood, Michter’s 10 Year is the kind of release that rewards patience: pour it slow, let it open up, and don’t rush past the dried fruit notes underneath the spice. And if you’re already planning ahead for the 27th, now’s the time to check in with whatever Texas retailer carries Garrison Brothers near you — sherry-finished Ranch Reserve bottles like this won’t sit on shelves long.
On the Horizon
Mark your calendars: Garrison Brothers’ Ranch Reserve PX and Oloroso releases drop June 27, Tormore’s new Speyside lineup hits nationwide retail June 29, and the International Whisky Competition announces its 2026 winners on June 30 — closing out the month with one more round of “best of” lists to argue about.
As Marcus Aurelius put it, “Confine yourself to the present.” A 21-year-old bourbon and an 8-year sherry-cask finish both started as a simple pour of new spirit into an empty barrel, with no guarantee of what they’d become. Most of what’s worth drinking — and most of what’s worth doing — only gets there because someone was willing to wait without knowing the outcome. Pour slow, and let it open up.