Catoctin Creek Distilling Co.

Covered Bridges Whiskey Co. is launching Ruddell’s Mill Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Named for the Ruddell’s Mill Covered Bridge, erected in 1861 over Bourbon County’s Stoner Creek, the new entry retails at $60 and is non-chill filtered and bottled at 46.1% abv.

San Francisco, California’s Hotaling & Co. has brought Severo, a new luxury priced Tequila, to the U.S. The Tequila, made by the team behind Tequila Don Roberto, comes in four expressions—Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, and Cristalino—all bottled at 40% and priced from $50 to $80. The Severo portfolio is now available in California and New Jersey, with Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Texas coming soon, ahead of a full national push.

Purcellville, Virginia’s Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. has announced the May 28 release of Ragnarök Rye, the distillery’s collaboration with metal band Gwar. The 46% abv whiskey was first matured in new charred American oak barrels before finishing in cherrywood and sugar maple. Each bottle of Ragnarök is topped with a cast metal stopper featuring one of the five members of Gwar. The limited release will retail for $99 a 750-ml. and will be available in Catoctin Creek’s U.S. distribution footprint, which covers 29 markets.

Heaven Hill is releasing Square 6 Kentucky Straight Bourbon. The new brand was produced at the distillery within the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Louisville and its name is a reference to the original plot of land where Williams built Kentucky’s first commercial distillery in 1783. The first Square 6 expression is High Rye Bourbon with a mashbill of 52% corn, 35% rye, and 13% malted barley. It was distilled one barrel per day in the distillery’s copper pot still, aged five years, and bottled at 95 proof. Square 6 is a limited release, available at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience and at select Kentucky retailers for $90 a 750-ml.

Bombay Sapphire is launching Bombay Bramble, a new gin featuring berry flavors. It’s the brand’s first new release since Bombay Sapphire East in 2011. Bombay Bramble features real fruit infusion and is a crimson red color, with the flavor of blackberries and raspberries without concentrates, additional sugars, or additives. It’s at 43% abv and comes out this month, with wide availability by June, retailing for $23 a 750-ml.

Diageo has announced George Dickel Bottled in Bond Spring 2007 Vintage, the latest annual release in the brand’s series of limited edition bonded whiskies. This third whiskey in the series is a 13-year-old Bourbon and is now rolling out in select markets across the U.S., retailing at $45 a 750-ml. The Fall 2005 vintage release was named Whisky Advocate’s Whisky of the Year in 2019.

Courtesy of Shanken News Daily

Brown-Forman has launched the winter 2020 iteration of the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection. This season’s whiskey, Woodford Reserve Very Fine Rare Bourbon, is blended from Bourbon aged up to 17 years, dating back to 2003, when current master distiller Chris Morris took the helm. Very Fine Rare Bourbon will also feature assistant master distiller Elizabeth McCall’s name on the bottle’s tag for the first time. The whiskey is bottled at 45.2% abv and is now available in select markets across the U.S. for around $130 a 750-ml.

Brooklyn, New York’s St. Agrestis has expanded its line up of bag-in-box cocktails to three releases, now including Black Manhattan and Boulevardier, in addition to the company’s original Negroni. Each cocktail comes in at 24% abv and is made with St. Agrestis’ amaro and Inferno bitters (the two new cocktails are also made with high-rye Bourbon sourced from Indiana and Kentucky.) St. Agrestis’ bag-in-box cocktails retail for around $60 a 1.75-liter package and are available nationwide in select retailers and DTC through the company’s website to 31 states.

Brooklyn-based Widow Jane Distillery has announced The Vaults 2020, a limited edition offering and the second annual release in the series. The 49.5% abv Bourbon is a blend of 15-17 year old whiskies distilled in Tennessee and Indiana before finishing in casks made from air-dried Appalachian oak. Roughly 5,000 bottles of the Vaults 2020 will be available for around $200 a 750-ml. in 24 markets across the U.S.

’Merican Mule, a brand of canned Moscow Mule cocktails, has launched Fire Mule, its latest seasonal offering. The spirits–based RTD is made with Bourbon, ginger beer, and cinnamon, and is packaged at 7% abv. The new release joins Moscow Mule, Mexican Mule (made with Tequila), Tropical Mule (rum), Southern Mule (Bourbon), and seasonal Pumpkin Spice Mule (vodka) in the portfolio. Fire Mule is now available in 4-packs of 12-ounce cans for around $14 in chains like Whole Foods, Total Wine, and Target in New England and the Southern U.S.

Frankfort, Kentucky-based Castle & Key has launched Restoration Rye, its first whiskey offering. Alongside Restoration Rye ($40 a 750-ml.), Castle & Key will also release Roots of Ruin Gin ($33) and Sacred Spring Vodka ($27), all in newly designed bottles. The new releases will be available in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia beginning this month. Founded in 2014 by partners Will Arvin and Wes Murry, Castle & Key is based in the former Old Taylor distillery, which Arvin and Murry restored and opened to visitors in 2018.

Purcellville, Virginia-based Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. is releasing a new whisky expression created in partnership with metal band GWAR. Launching in February 2021, Catoctin Creek Ragnarök Rye pays homage to GWAR’s elaborate monster costumes and mythos, and is bottled at 46% abv and aged in charred new white oak barrels followed by sugar maple and cherrywood. It will retail for $99 a 750-ml. “Ahh, such a powerful spirit,” said The Berserker Blothar of GWAR. “A delicious sacrament to drink in preparation for battle.” Founded in 2009, Catoctin Creek Distilling distributes to 27 states in the U.S.