Beam Suntory owned House of Suntory has announced a 55 year old Yamazaki. This release is a blend of single malts featuring components distilled in 1960 under the supervision of Suntory’s founder Shinjiro Torii and then aged in Mizunara casks; and in 1964 under Suntory’s Second Master Blender Keizo Saji and then aged in White Oak casks. This is one of the oldest releases I've ever seen and is limited to 100 bottles that come in with a whopping $60,000 suggested retail price!
Columbus based Watershed Distillery has announced the September 18th release of their 2021 Watershed Barrel Strength Bourbon Batch 002. This batch has been aged aged four years in virgin char #4 White Oak barrels and finished for 34-45 months in Ohio apple brandy casks.
The Bourbon Review has a nice op-ed laying out the argument that barrel picks nowadays are no different than the vast amount of bottles you can already buy on the shelves. As you may already know, a barrel pick is a where bars, individuals, or retailers purchase all the bottles from a single cask and sell them as an exclusive offering.
