Bardstown Bourbon Company is releasing two new limited whiskeys this fall, and they couldn’t be more different from each other.
2026 Discovery blends bourbons aged 7, 10, and 11 years, then finishes the mix for four months in custom-toasted Garryana oak, a rare Pacific Northwest hardwood also known as Oregon White Oak.
Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish takes a different route entirely: a bespoke blend of straight bourbon and rye whiskey, aged an additional 32 months in ex-Scotch casks from Scotland’s Isle of Jura, a remote island with just 238 residents.
Master Blender Dan Callaway said the two releases came from different questions — Discovery asking how far an already excellent blend could go, Lochs of Jura asking what character those specific casks could contribute over time.
2026 Discovery comes in at 112.8 proof, while Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish is bottled at 104 proof. The latter recently won Best American Whiskey at the 2026 IWSC Awards with a score of 99 points, one of the highest scores handed out in this year’s North American judging.
I think both of these are worth exploring — Lochs of Jura is somehow more Scotch-ish than a ton of American Single Malts, while also simultaneously keeping that non-barley flavor in the profile. Meanwhile, the Discovery series is just plain cool; the nose is incredibly robust, the whiskey itself is flavorful, and it ends up way, way more sessionable than you’d expect from a whiskey above 56% ABV.
The fact that these are just another in a series of great releases is the cherry on top.
Bardstown can’t keep getting away with this!
How many winners does it take to call something a streak? Because Bardstown’s put out a genuinely good release every couple of months this year — the Bardstown-based brand’s Distillery Reserve line kicked things off with Cascadia in March, another Garryana oak finish, before Victoria Pineapple Barrel Finish landed in July, a fresh-pineapple-in-the-barrel expression that had no business working as well as it did.
My personal favorite of the bunch, though, is still last year’s Cathedral French Oak, finished in barrels made from 300-year-old French oak sourced from the Bercé Forest, the same trees used to help rebuild Notre Dame after the 2019 fire. It even was good enough to land its own segment on 60 Minutes.
That’s the real story with Bardstown right now: most distilleries get one or two opportunities a year to drop something interesting. Bardstown’s doing it every couple of months, and it keeps landing.
Where to buy it
2026 Discovery and Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish launch nationwide on August 21, in limited quantities, at a suggested retail price of $139.99 per 750mL bottle.
Both are available through select retailers, or you can check Bardstown’s store locator at BardstownBourbon.com
